Biologists hold grave fears for survival of Victoria’s frogs
Victoria’s frogs are facing a conservation crisis according to biologists, who warn that some of the state’s amphibians have “passed a tipping point”, while others have become extinct. Nick Clemann, program leader (threatened fauna) at the state government’s biodiversity research arm, the Arthur Rylah Institute, said the prospects for the Baw Baw frog, Victoria’s only …
Fresh Black Saturday legal action launched
Fresh legal action has been launched against Victorian energy provider Ausnet over the Black Saturday bushfires. VicForests is seeking unspecified damages from Ausnet, and also maintenance company Utility Asset Management (UAM), over a timber yard that was razed in the devastating 2009 bushfires. Documents lodged with the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday claim Ausnet, and …
It’s time to stop lighting fires
Bill Gammage’s popular book ‘The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia’ contains many fundamental flaws and represents ‘blind advocacy’ for repeated burning’ because ‘Aboriginal people did it’. Like Keith Windshuttle’s ‘Fabrication of Aboriginal History’, Bill Gammage only pursued references – and interpretation of references – that supported his ‘hypothesis’. For Gammage that hypothesis …
Victorian alpine grazing debate reignites
VICTORIA’S environment minister will visit the high country as cattlemen continue lobbying the government over alpine grazing. The State Government last month shelved a three-year trial which looked at the role of cattle grazing in preventing fire risk at the Alpine National Park. Environment Minister Lisa Neville at the time said “science is clear” that …
Did Australian Aboriginals burn the bush as we are told?
Fuel reduction and ecological burning etc. are based on the assumption that all Aboriginal people undertook fire-stick farming. Joel Wright, traditional owner in southwest Victoria, is an indigenous language, culture and history researcher. He finds no evidence of wide-scale burning in Aboriginal language and culture, but does find other explanations for the history of aboriginal …
VicForests extends moratorium on logging in East Gippsland owl habitat
State-owned timber company VicForests has agreed to extend its moratorium on logging in certain areas of East Gippsland. An environment group is suing the timber company and the Victorian Government, over the logging of old-growth forest that is home to endangered owls. After further legal wrangling, VicForests has agreed to halt any logging of the …
A regulator’s climate nightmare: carbon bubbles and market crashes
LIMA: The carbon bubble is no longer a concept promoted by environmental types, or a warning from progressive analysts in the mainstream investment banks. It is now officially recognized as a potential systemic risk to global financial markets. The Bank of England has revealed that it will broaden its investigation into “unburnable carbon” – and …
Salinity levels continue to cause concern for Gippsland Lakes
Rising salinity levels in the world-renowned Gippsland Lakes is putting the wetlands at risk, with a recent government report acknowledging it did not know the long-term risks of the problem. Salinity levels have risen dramatically in recent years, threatening the ecosystem. The shoreline has been eroded and vegetation and fish species are dying. In an …
Scratching lyrebirds create forest firebreaks
Australia’s superb lyrebird clears litter and seedlings from the forest floor, reducing the likelihood and intensity of bushfires, new research suggests. The birds’ activity also preserves their preferred habitat of an open forest floor, says fire ecologist, Dr Steve Leonard of La Trobe University . “They’re reducing fuel by their foraging,” he says. “Our hypothesis …