What about East Gippsland?

Double Standards? It's distressing to hear of "PNG logs going to foreign interests" (30/7)but what of Australia's forests, magnificent and diverse, cleared, not for furniture as often claimed, but to be burnt on site to make room for monocultures suitable for paper. It's difficult to find supporting arguments for any logging of Australia's small proportion of remaining native forests to provide woodchips for the export market when you see satellite photos of Australia, when you read the list of endangered species at risk from logging and when you see the stockpiles of woodchips that cannot be sold. Forests, poor in valuable timber are razed and burnt, and reseeded with more desireable timbers, turning biodiversity into monocultures, abandoning endangered species to extinction and sacrificing our children's natural heritage and potential long term carbon credits for short term gains. Why be concerned for PNG and yet remain silent about the forests of south eastern Australia which are being cleared to turn state parks into agricultural land.

Loads of Chips

Vicforests continually claims that their need to clearfell Victoria's Native Forests is to provide timber for construction, and that woodchips are a byproduct. Yet soon they will raze a section of forest that is predominately Manna gum (ideal for arboreal mammals) or Peppermint gum, in areas where Department of Sustainability and Environment surveys have found a number of vulnerable species including bandicoot, for a small proportion of Messmate Stringybark which is that is both suitable for construction and accessible for removal. The timber that is not required, or which is too difficult to remove, will be burnt. Five trees per acre will be left standing to provide the seeds to regenerate a forest of many species of trees, grasses, shrubs, wildflowers, mosses, ferns and fungi, which provide breeding sites for birds, mammals and insects, and protection and feeding grounds for reptiles and marsupials. It is difficult to imagine how five trees will restore a diverse forest.
Is Vicforests condemning our unique animals to extinction simply to keep a few loggers in jobs?
We tell our school children that on average they will have 5 to 7 career changes in their lives, and that change is an opportunity for growth.
Why do we need to protect loggers as a species to the detriment of our natural assets and tourism potential?
And which of these is the eco-terrorist? The committed tree sitter braving all weathers to bring attention to a cause, or one who supports their cause under cover of darkness assisted by a steel picket afraid of being identified in a photograph, but brave enough to attack a tree with a chainsaw?

See photos of Australian Paper's Maryvale Mill here

Abuse by any other name

In any other context Tony Abbot's behaviour towards Julia Gillard would be classified as workplace harrassment, family violence, schoolyard bullying or road rage.
Why is thisbehaviour tolerated in Parliament House?
If this is his behaviour on the global stage, one can't help but wonder how he behaves in private.

Letter

To: Mr Peter Walsh MLA
Minister for Agriculture and Food Security

Re: Native Forest Harvesting
(Your Letter)

Dear Mr Walsh

Thankyou for your responses to my email.

However, your letter has raised a number of questions some of which I have included below. Could you please supply me with answers where possible, or point me in the direction where I might be able to find the information so I may be better informed.

You mentioned that I was incorrect regarding harvesting in Special Protection Zones. I am aware that the Threatened Species Verification Report conducted by the DSE on July 18^th 2011 in the Gunbarrel and Froddo reserves and submitted on July 29^th 2011 recommended Vicforests carry out further surveys. So, it seems the correct delineation of the SPZ is a matter still being debated.

Has Vicforests undertaken additional surveys as a result of these recommendations? What survey methods were used, who evaluated the survey results and are the results publicly available. If so where?

Are you aware of an Action Statement or Forest Management Plan for the Leadbeater’s Possum?

You may not be aware that there are an estimated 1000 individual Leadbeater’s Possums left on the planet, placing it amongst the 50 most endangered mammals on earth, and yet DSE has no Species-specific Standards for monitoring this nocturnal creature as it has for other some species.

Why has DSE not published Species-specific survey standards for Leadbeater’s possum as it has for other species? Are the existing Survey-standards followed when Vicforests undertakes surveys for other species prior to logging? Are the survey results publicly available and if so where. And if not why not?

Does the current State Government stand by the stated aims of the Department of Sustainability and the Environment Flora and Fauna Guarantee Action Statement –

“To guarantee that Leadbeater's Possum can survive, flourish and retain their potential for evolutionary development in the wild. In quantitative terms this may be described as to ensure the survival of Leadbeater's Possum by managing its forest habitat towards a target of no more than a 1% probability of extinction over 250 years?”

You may be aware that David Lindenmayer, has recently said that Leadbeater's possum will probably only last for another 30 to 40 years.

You have also stated that no timber harvesting is permitted within the reserve system designed to protect Leadbeater’s possum habitat. However, according to the United Nations Redlist for Endangered Species, approximately 31% of its Ash forest habitat is protected, while about 69% is allocated for timber production. Who is responsible for determining the extent of this reserve system and under what criteria?

You have acknowledged that “forestry and native timber harvesting has endured a “history of … debate” and has “tended to divide communities.” And you have also noted that there are 6.6million hectares of public native forest 3million of which are in protected reserves.

Why, when there is, by your figures, an alternative 99.92% of native forest annually available for logging, have you chosen to allow Vicforests into areas of the Central Highlands and East Gippsland which are amongst the most sensitive to disruption, most fought over, most fire ravaged and most important to our endangered species, especially the Leadbeaters Possum and the Long Footed Potoroo, the Powerful Owl, the Spot Tailed Quoll to mention just a few that rate amongst the most endangered species on the planet.

Have you read any of the peer reviewed papers or published books by our world recognised forest experts David Lindenmayer or Judith Adjani, both lecturers at ANU, regarding fire in Victoria’s forests, the sustainable management of Ash Forests and the sustainability of the forestry industry and its future in plantations? If not then who are the people and organisations you turn to for expert opinion in determining forestry policy and who reports to you on research and development in the debate on forestry operations in the Central Highlands and East Gippsland?

Do you have any update on Vicforests’ attempts to regenerate of logging coupes? You will be aware if the most recent DSE report on Monitoring Annual Harvest Performance findings that over 7000 hectares of harvested forest required additional treatment to achieve satisfactory regeneration and a further 19000 hectares were overdue for regeneration surveys. It would seem this is an area where more personnel are necessary.

In your letter you state that 11,000 people are employed in the timber and wood products industry yet the DSE reports that only 9% of these are employed in forestry and logging, and with currently 14% of forest products coming from native forests it would seem that our endangered species and our environmental heritage is being sacrificed for fewer than 150 jobs. The forestry industry itself refers to a declining numbers wanting to enter the industry. Why has no thought been given to employment in the eco-tourism industry? Tourism in Victoria is at risk from forestry activities despite considered to be one of the fastest growing employment industries for the past 25 or more years. (I have experienced unemployment myself and I understand how challenging it can be to retrain and start a new career late in life, but it can be done.)

And finally, given all the evidence publically available and the persistent breaches of conditions, is there a reason why Victorian Governments, both past and present, continue to support the activities of Vicforests so passionately?

Yours Sincerely

Pretty Helium balloons turn into colorful streamers

Today we hear that a third of turtle deaths are attributable to soft plastic.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2011/06/07/3237848.htm
Take a walk along the Ninety Mile Beach or the coast alongside Waratah Bay and look out for colorful shredded balloons - many with ribbon and plastic seals attached.
Drop litter on firm ground and you cop a fine, but send thousands of balloons onto the wide blue yonder and it's a celebration.
I may be a party pooper but the rubbish on the beach can only be a small percentage of that in the ocean or in sea creatures' guts.
Biodegradable balloons are NOT the answer - NO MASS HELIUM BALLOONS is the answer!

Logging Errinundra 2011 on Youtube

Latest videos of logging of the corridor promised by the then Victorian Government prior to the election in 2006 are now at http://www.youtube.com/user/wallabyjlw
I've also added a few photos to Flickr... Logging Errinundra 2011
This is part of Vicforests' 'essential' annual harvest of 5500ha of native forest.
When you have a look at the forest before the logging commenced, and see how much timber has been left behind and torched, ask yourself how much timber was taken.
What was so vital to Vicforests' requirements that it was necessary to destroy so much for so little.
Becase this 'harvest' was not for use in building fine furniture. At best it was for fence palings, but more likely is was for chipboard, cardboard or woodchips. If Vicforests gets its way, these timbers will be used to fuel furnaces for so-called green energy.
Look at the forest as it was. Can you see what is missing? Can you see what is lost?
And after the fire, the 'Prescribed Burn' that is carries out for "both fuel reduction and ecological purposes' according to the notice nailed to the tree, 1080 baits are laid to prevent wallabies, such as those pictured, from eating the new shoots.
Yet research shows logging and burning increases the risk of fire.
And common sense would say that an ancient ecosystem is self perpetuating - it does not need human intervention.

Dargues Reef Mine Proposal

Jackie French, author of many books for children and young adults on Australia's history and wildlife is asking for support for a petition demanding that a proper and complete environmental assessment is conductied prior to the approval of
The Dargues Reef Gold Mine Project - Reference Number: 2010/5770
which is directly threatening the gully which is home to the wombats she has written so much about, numerous other endangered plants and animals, and an area identified by the Commonwealth Government as a High Conservation Value Aquatic river system.
A comprehensive submission can be found at
http://www.acr.net.au/~coastwatchers/sub122010darguesreef.html
A list of background material is being compiled at http://www.delicious.com/bimbimbi/DarguesReef
And if you would like to support this call for assitance and common sense, sign the petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/dargues-reef-mine-proposal/
And go to Jackie's website and start your own petition - http://www.jackiefrench.com/petition1_darguesreef.html
Why don't we value our wildlife higher than pieces of silver?
The precautionary principle demands that a proper and complete study be done of the area. Let us not drive our native animals to extinction before our children even learn of their existance.