Firebreak offsets
It’s not just those on the green side of the fence who are outraged about plans to whack in massive firebreaks through forests across the landscape. Even many fire experts are a little upset by the lack of thought and evidence that they will be effective. In many cases they could just be providing wind tunnels and helping dry out the forest edges (not to mention becoming a barrier for small mammals and possums).
In January 2007, the then acting premier, John Thwaites, announced there would be offsets to counter the loss of forest.
His media release of the 5th January stated:
“Any impacts on native vegetation will be addressed according to the Native Vegetation Framework, which may require vegetation removal to be offset through other DSE activities”.
You’d think he should have said “DSE INactivities”.