Dingo fence study shows dingo extermination leads to poorer soil
A comparison of conditions in the outback on either side of Australia’s dingo fence has revealed that extermination of these apex predators not only affects the abundance of other animals and plants, but also reduces the quality of the soil. The UNSW study indicates greater control of kangaroo numbers is needed across a third of …
Legal and scientific basis for an Interim Conservation Order
Legal and scientific basis for an Interim Conservation Order under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 to protect Leadbeater’s Possum – Summary Acting on behalf of Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum Inc., on 24th April Environmental Justice Australia submitted a letter and supporting documents to the Victorian Environment Minister, the Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio requesting an …
Will forest shredders stop fires?
Putting VicForests as the overseer of these trials has discredited the trial’s integrity right from the start. Trials are currently underway to assess ‘mechanical fuel reduction’ in our public forests. The details are sketchy but seem to be based on a US practice of using heavy machinery with mulching/shredding capacity to run through native forests …
Victoria’s logging industry faces supply dilemma
In 2009, 75,000 ha of Victoria’s forests were burnt in the Black Saturday bushfires. Over a 3rd of that was forests earmarked for the logging industry. The prospect of bushfires are never calculated into long term planning or log contracts with mills. Couple this situation with other bushfires and a history of overlogging and the …
How did the environment fare in the Vic budget 2017?
All up it has $306M was allocated to our environment (sport managed $308M). This is less than half of what the M80 Ring Road has been allocated, and less than half the schools’ budget. Biodiversity Plan 2037 – $86M for reveg and pest control. Parks – $32M for new rangers over 2 years and a …
Responses of invasive predators and native prey to a prescribed forest fire
Fire shapes biome distribution and community composition worldwide, and is extensively used as a management tool in flammable landscapes. There is growing concern, however, that fire could increase the vulnerability of native fauna to invasive predators. We developed a conceptual model of the ways in which fire could influence predator–prey dynamics. Using a before–after, control–impact …
Greater Glider – recently listed as threatened
Bad news: The Greater Glider, Australia’s largest (and fluffiest) gliding possum is under threat of extinction. Good news: It has recently been added to the threatened list of Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (FFGA) After decades of decline and zero government interest or surveys, the clear evidence is that local extinctions of the Greater …
Forest conservation might be an even more important climate solution than we realize: Study
According to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change late last month, sequestering carbon dioxide is only one of the crucial climate-regulating attributes inherent to the world’s forests. Trees are a crucial regulating factor in the cycle of water and heat exchange between Earth’s surface and atmosphere – and thus forests play …
The minister, the possum and the sawmill
Sometimes it takes a cute and furry species on the brink of extinction to get people thinking about nature protection laws. And when a federal politician recommends the furry creature’s threatened species status be downgraded to allow its dwindling forest habitat to be logged, well that’s sure to get the public’s attention. There has been …