Last Friday, a group interested in the benefits of traditional cool burns met at Gobur Cemetery. The group included representatives from Trust for Nature, Euroa Arboretum, Taungurung, CFA, Yorta Yorta and Strathbogie Landcare. Our purpose was to inspect a special section of this particular land, an area that has never had superphosphate applied, but has had consistent second yearly traditional cool burns for decades.
The result is threatened and other indigenous flora are not only surviving, but are thriving. The cool burns activate many native seeds, bulbs and tubers. They also allow for post burn separation of plants. This creates opportunities for individual plants not to be crowded out by persistent weeds. Consequently, this land has maintained a diversity of lilies and indigenous flora not often seen elsewhere.
Some of the specimens found (and a few tasted)
- Early Nancy
- Snake wattle
- Bulbine
- Rununculus
- Chocolate lily
- Kangaroo grass
- Milk maid
- Creeping Bosseaia
- Lamandra
- Sun dew
- Purple coral pea
By contrast, an adjacent area of the cemetery showed previously disturbed ground that was a product of machine use. This area contained very different vegetation, that of a weedy patch heavily infested with periwinkle, dandelion, cape weed and onion grass.
Strathbogie Ranges - Nature View 