In the Strathbogie forests northeast of Melbourne, Murphy Fresh, a hydroponic tomato farm at Bridge Creek is buying up to 10,000 tons of native forest logs a year to chip and burn to heat their greenhouses. Murphy Fresh will be one of the largest, tomato grower in Australia when their new greenhouse is completed. They …
And just what is it that the govt burns kill when thousands of ha of forest is torched annually? ‘Ecological burning’ it is NOT! Jill It wasn’t just people, animals and trees that were affected by radiation exposure at Chernobyl, but also the decomposers: insects, microbes, and fungi Nearly 30 years have passed since the …
A senior scientist says the proposal for the Victorian National Alpine Park cattle grazing trial would receive a fail mark if it was the work of a student. Professor Mark Burgman, chair of the School of the Botany at the University of Melbourne, reviewed the proposal as part of a submission to the Victorian Government …
The economy has become a symbol for politicians to exploit rather than a system for them to manage. Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s recent speech about Tasmania highlights that talking about the economy is something politicians like to do, but making good economic decisions has become an optional extra. His speech, to the forestry industry last …
Research shows that where dingoes are trapped and poisoned, the ecosystem changes for the worst.“…we provide evidence that multiple cascade pathways induced by lethal control of an apex predator, the dingo, drive unintended shifts in forest ecosystem structure. We compared mammal assemblages and understorey structure at seven sites in southern Australia. Each site comprised an …
Poisoning of dingoes – the top predators in the Australian bush – has a deleterious effect on small native mammals such as marsupial mice, bandicoots and native rodents, a UNSW-led study shows. The research, in forested National Parks in NSW, found that loss of dingoes after baiting is associated with greater activity by foxes, which …
There is a parallel-universe feeling to the federal government’s hostile attitude towards the natural environment. In one universe, conservation and climate change are elements to be respected or brought under control for the very real benefit of everyone. In the other, nature is to be exploited with little restraint, and short-term political motivation is far …
Mountain cattlemen expect cows will return to Victoria’s Alpine National Park this month after federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved a controversial grazing trial – despite the Australian Academy of Science damning it as scientifically flawed. Sixty cattle can be released into a 262-hectare site in the Wonnangatta Valley in the first year of the …
TONY Abbott is under attack for “reckless politics” after he followed in John Howard’s footsteps by declaring Australia has “too much locked-up forest” and acclaiming forestry workers as “the ultimate conservationists”. The Prime Minister’s comments in Canberra on Tuesday night earned applause from a gathering of timber industry representatives and came 11 days from the …
Large old trees are critical organisms and ecological structures in forests, woodlands, savannas, and agricultural and urban environments. They play many essential ecological roles ranging from the storage of large amounts of carbon to the provision of key habitats for wildlife. Some of these roles cannot be replaced by other structures. Large old trees are …
