An excited Bert to join us Beneath the Wisteria this month

by Robert McLean

“Have you heard the latest news?” was the first thing Bert Lobert excitedly asked when I called to confirm arrangements for his visit this month to Beneath the Wisteria.

Well, the “latest news” was mostly about the New South Wales, Queensland bushfires, but for Bert, the latest news was what had happened regarding Victoria’s Strathbogie Forests.

He reminded me that Victoria’ Andrews Government’s recently announced that it would remove all logging and immediately protect the Strathbogie Forest. 

Bertram Lobert.

Bert, the spokesperson for Save our Strathbogie Forest, said, on the group’s blog: 

“By taking this step the Andrews Government is showing far-sighted leadership with regards to Victoria’s natural environment and climate-change action – recognizing the over-arching value of these forests for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, water yields, recreation and ecotourism, over and above their short-term value for low-grade timber products.  

“This is a great day for our forest, and for many other significant areas of native forest to be protected forever as a part of this package announced by the Government last week.  What we now need to ensure is that these commitments are followed through and that the Government keeps working to protect other, irreplaceable native forests in Victoria,” he said.

Bert is one the key players among those who have worked tirelessly to see protection invoked for this rich ecological area and will talk about that Beneath the Wisteria late in November.

Those keen to hear Bert talk about this major step forward for the Strathbogie Forest should join us Beneath the Wisteria at 11:00 am on Saturday, November 30, at the northern end of the Maude St Mall.

The event is free, lasts for about an hour and those who join us will have the opportunity to talk with Bert about this significant change in the life of the Strathbogie Forest.

Some public seating is available, but those attending are encouraged to bring a folding chair.

Bert forwarded a short biography and this is what it said:

I grew up in the outer eastern suburbs of Melb in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, when there were still plenty of wild places and natural bush for kids to explore and when the creeks still ran above ground! Since completing under-graduate and post-graduate studies in zoology and ecology at Monash University in the mid ‘80’s, I have spent 30 years professionally engaged in, and learning about, natural history and ecology. My work in wildlife research and fauna survey has taken me all over Victoria, but since the early 1990’s I have lived and worked in the Goulburn Broken Catchment. 

From 1990 to 1993 my wife and I built a solar-passive, eco-friendly house in the Strathbogie Ranges, Boho South, on 24 ha of native bush, where we still live and work, managing a large vegetable garden and fruit orchard. Between 1994 and 2000 I coordinated and taught the Diploma in Natural Resource Management at Goulburn Ovens TAFE, Benalla. Since then I’ve been working with community environment and land management groups, government agencies, local government and as a private consultant. My professional work in this region has involved a variety of community-oriented projects including: conservation of Striped Legless Lizards, dung beetles & soil health, forest & woodland habitat protection, Bush Stone-curlew conservation in the Koonda Hills, wetland protection and research, landscape history tours, Strathbogie Forest citizen science, nest-boxes for threatened species and, importantly, community engagement across all these projects. 

For the last six years, I’ve made a major personal commitment to fight for better appreciation, management and protection for the natural values of the Strathbogie Forest, a place that I regard as part of my home and my stewardship responsibility. I regard this current work as the culmination of all the networking, professional experience and credibility I’ve built up over the decades and because it’s personal, it’s perhaps the project closest to my heart. 

Once I discovered blogging, about ten years ago, I quickly realized it was a way to document and share ideas, as well as engage a whole new group of people. Currently, I contribute to, manage and have involvement with several blogs, including: Strathbogie Ranges Nature View, Boundary Hill Forest Blog, Focus on Fauna, Strath Creek Biodiversity Project, Strathbogie Ranges CMN. Blogging and other forms of social media, is a doorway that, once open and mastered, provides enormous potential, but it does require careful time management. 

I am currently Chair of the Strathbogie Tableland Landcare Group, Chair of the Save Our Strathbogie Forest Group, project officer for the Strathbogie Ranges Conservation Management Network and Senior Conservation Officer with Trust for Nature in north east Victoria.