Franklin News and Views

Saturday 22 March 08 to Monday 24 March 08      I went on a walk to Mt Anne during a spell of fine weather. Click for details and Photos /    

Friends of Mt Field Maintenance of Lake Fenton historic hut at Mt Field NP on Saturday 15 Mar 08 The outside of the historic Lake Fenton hut was given two coatings of preservative. The timber was very dry and it soaked up the mixture, even the second coat absorbed a lot of liquid, so all of our 20 litres was a used up. At the time of applying the preservative the timber looked damp, but once it had dried there was no discernable change in timber colour. As the interior walls and ceilings of the two main rooms (S1 and S2 on conservation plan) were previously painted in an oil based finish, we gave them a coat of primer. The conservation plan suggests using an acrylic paint and this will be done on a future working bee. On some occasion prior to 2003 a fire in the fireplace looks to have very nearly burnt the hut down and this clearly remains a problem area. The conservation plan suggests that the fireplace should be blocked within the chimney or above the chimney

Friday 29 February 08 to Monday 3 March 08 4 A four day walk in lovely weather and for much of the time away from the other walkers. Details can be viewed at http://bushwalks.blogspot.com

We were camped in the little valley with the lake that is directly south and over the ridge from Lake Rodway. At about 7:30 AM we both heard a dog bark several times and it did not seem particularly distant, coming from the east near to the lake. On checking about we came upon a dead wallaby quite close to our tent spot (40 metres). It was lying in a somewhat awkward position but apart from a little disturbance to the fur near the neck, there was no great sign of what may have caused the animals death. It was reasonably big and well built. However we did not touch or move the wallaby. Some 100 metres further on we noticed animal fur lying about in a couple spots. Now as we had arrived at the camp site at 4PM on the previous day we had plenty of time to wander about and both feel that we would have noticed the wallaby then if it had been there. We both feel quite confident that it was a dog bark, it wasn’t a growl. The incident has been reported to the Parks & Wildlife

Wellington Park Bushcare Group Gorse Removal Lenah Valley Entrance at Wellington Park on Tuesday 4 Mar 08 Continued primary action on the Gorse remaining in the far northern corner of the park boundary was the focus for the work and a considerable amount was removed. The area is just above that which was subject to our previous Envirofund project and now clears the outskirts of most of the Gorse. A small patch still remains closer to the boundary plus a patch higher on the hill. Some seedling regrowth was noted in the area of the Envirofund work, but this was hardly unexpected. If you are interested in helping or for more information go to http://wellingtonpbg.googlepages.com/home