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 …
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 …
WELLINGTON Shire Council has asked its chief executive officer David Morcom to prepare a report into the feasibility of establishing a school of timber and forestry education precinct within the shire. Mr Morcom will investigate if the school is achievable and needed; if there would be industry support; if education providers are available; if the …
A former senior Treasury officer has waded into the heated debate about the future of Australia’s native forests. Dr. Frances Perkins worked as an economist in Canberra for 30 years for Treasury, the Department of Foreign Affairs and at the ANU. Dr. Perkins has launched a stinging critique of the economics of native forest logging …
Just before Christmas the State Government introduced new native vegetation policy that significantly weakens the protection of native habitat across Victoria. It did this despite more than 100 respected ecologists and scientists and a 70 strong force of local conservation groups pushing for the new land clearing laws to be overturned. Our remaining bushland and …
THE state government has intervened in a Zoos Victoria campaign encouraging its visitors to buy sustainably sourced paper products, ordering it to be dumped or altered. Department of Primary Industries representatives called Zoos Victoria management on several occasions late last year to warn that its ”Wipe for Wildlife” campaign was contrary to government policy. The …
