Over Autumn/Winter 08, farmers were given permits to shoot dozens of native Black Swans who were moving from the Gippsland Lakes’ onto farm paddocks to graze. Why? Because the Lakes have become so sick and contaminated that much of the area is dying, including the Swan’s food, the water grasses. The issuing of permits to …
Besides the new changes to the Tax Act, proposed carbon markets would further encourage forest destruction. The logging interests are trying to stitch it all up. This sounds arse-about but read on. “Native forests, the less efficient resource for forestry industry competitiveness, are tagged for wood production with lost opportunities for the job they do …
The immense trees that have sheltered and raised hundreds of generations of owls and gliding possums are now being hacked down by VicForests. The under-storey of tree ferns and waratahs, twining silkpod and musk daisy bush is being crushed into the mud by 40 tonne dozers. Victoria’s Brumby government is allowing their logging department to …
A December ‘05 truck-check vigil at the Eden woodchip mill showed that over 2/3rds of logs that entered the Nippon woodchip mill at Eden were large, meaning they are from mature and old growth forests. Of the 158 trucks that arrived between 4am and 7pm on just one day, 75% came from the south (the …
In August, a rare Spot-tailed Quoll was sighted at Eagle Point near the Mitchell River Silt Jetties. They were thought extinct in the East Gippsland Red Gum plains areas and along the coast. Most of these endangered large marsupial carnivores are now identified in the upper Snowy River area and occasionally in the tall wet …
After an Omeo farmer was nabbed in February 2008 for trapping kangaroos with a wire snare and leaving them to die, another farmer spoke to the media in defence of killing kangaroos. Evan Newcommen of Ensay said there needs to be a cull of Eastern Grey Kangaroos because they cause land problems. He said hundreds …
Bob Humphries (the old woodchip war-lord) pulled his annual stunt last August of threatening to sack his workforce, which would bring the entire town of Cann River to its knees, unless he gets more or cheaper logs. The town has a population of about 300 and Bob employs nine of them. Still, he seems to …
In 2008, the price of our native forest woodchips was more expensive than last year. Because of a shortage of wood supply from around the Pacific Rim and an increased demand in Japan, the mountain of chips sailing to Japan annually looks set to increase. However, the global economic turmoil could throw a spanner in …
We don’t often get such pleasure but it’s been delightful to watch. Stephen Mayne described it as “Australia’s most ethically challenged company”. Gunns’ planned pulp mill is all but on the scrap heap. Borrowing money or finding a backer is going to be impossible – no matter how many officials they bribe. Its shares dropped …
The rich, wet undisturbed forests of Victoria hold over 2,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare in the above-ground biomass. These are astronomical numbers that are far larger than the 90 tonnes the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was using as the default value. The forests of SE Australia, Tasmania and Queensland have an extremely …
