“Black Saturday” Bushfires

WORKING BEE REPORT

SATURDAY 21^ST MARCH 2009

Many hands make light work.......

The Australian Trout Foundation and was extremely delighted with the response for volunteers to help with the recovery process at Buxton Trout Farm on Saturday March 21st.

In total we had 33 volunteers who were from the Australian Trout Foundation, Yarra Valley Fly Fishers, Australian Deer Association, Southern Fly Fishers, Futurefish Foundation, Fisheries Victoria, Mansfield and District Fly Fishers, Victorian Fly Fishers Association and a number of private individuals and we would like to thank each and every person who devoted their time to helping out.

The amount of work completed was outstanding and more than we had originally anticipated, but despite the devastation around & including the farm itself from the bushfires, it was a great pleasure to be helping Mitch & his wife Deb in the painstaking process of rebuilding.

Just to see the appreciation on their faces with the amount of work that was being done as well as having customers coming through to have a fish was enough to make it all worthwhile.

The work that was undertaken on the day and successfully completed included;

·      Sand bagging and building retaining walls to keep dirty flood waters out of ponds,

• Cutting ,splitting and stacking enough firewood to supply the trout smokers for two

          years +,

• Felling of unsafe trees,

• General gardening and grounds tidy up,

• Preparation, clearing and leveling of site for hatchery,

• Mowing of farm grounds including family fishout areas,

• Leveling walking areas around ponds,

• Removal of dead fish from ponds

Despite the amount of work that was done on the day, it is only a very small step towards rebuilding the farm and all future volunteer help would be greatly appreciated!

I personally, despite all the blisters & bad sunburn (and the depressing drive through the Black Spur to Buxton), really enjoyed being up on the farm helping out and have since offered my own personal time again to help out wherever & whenever it is needed outside of the working bees we have planned for the near future.

If you also would like to volunteer your spare time to help Mitch & Deb with anything that maybe required or to offer your help with future working bees, please email us at bushfires@atfonline.com.au and if possible, please include any specialized skills you may have that could be of great benefit and we will pass on your information to the guys at

Buxton Trout Farm.

The only regret I have from the weekend is not taking before & after shots of the farm just to show the impact of the work done by all the volunteers.

I also had a number of chats with Mitch and Deb over the course of the day and both of them were so overwhelmed by the generosity & support being offered, it was almost too easy to forget the horror they had suffered during the bushfires.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the chefs for the day who supplied everyone with a sensational feast for lunch!!

There are further working bees currently being planned for the near future, but as mentioned above, donations are desperately needed for any further work to take place.

Further working bees are planned for –

• Erection of hatchery shed and other out buildings

• Laying of concrete flooring and pathways.

• Installation of new plumbing and electrical for hatchery

• Installation of troughs, tanks, pumps etc

• Removal of burnt fencing and erection of new.

• Facelift of office /shop/storage shed area

• Further grounds / garden clean up

Dates for these working bees will be announced on the ATF website and through emails to our members.

Regards

Shane Beggs, ATF Liaison Officer 

All the photo's from the working bee can be viewed here in our photo gallery.