Timber yards just don’t bother stocking hardwood timber any more. Why? It is because no one wants to buy hardwood timber. There are no uses for native forest hardwoods which pine and other plantation products cannot replace, and at a lower price. Many sawmills that cut native forest logs are teetering on the brink of …
The latest porky to come from the makers of Reflex paper, is that their product is now 100% forest sensitive, in fact it’s so eco-friendly it is bursting with endangered species. Australia’s biggest paper company, PaperlinX in the Latrobe Valley, is congratulating itself for this bodgie eco-label given by the normally reliable Forest Stewardship Council …
A recent scientific survey of the impact of the 2003 fire in the upper Snowy River on Tiger Quolls calculates a reduction in the quoll population of between 67.5-90%. The impact of this loss on the state population (without taking into account the impact of the 2003 fires from the north-east through the Alps and …
‘If the logging industry was an irrigator they would be charged millions for using this water’ Melbourne’s catchments are empty, so we’re looking at the skies searching for rain. Right idea, but wrong direction. Look at the Thomson dam, and ask why we still allow clearfell logging in its catchment, then look at Steve Bracks …
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) and the National Party has criticised the Bracks Government for plans to ban new dams on 18 Victorian rivers. Under the plan, the Snowy, Mitchell, Genoa, Aberfeldy, Thomson, Bemm and Upper Buchan rivers could not be dammed. The VFF said it was wasting water that would just go out to …
We have to wonder if we are in Indonesia or Australia sometimes. The latest incidents of government foresters approving illegal logging is in the Red Gum Forests at Barmah on the Murray River and in the Central Highlands. Thompson catchmentWorld Water Week began on 20th of August – the same day that conservationists from the …
It started off with cross cut saws and bullocks, then to chainsaws and bulldozers, now the future is in computerised harvesting machines in plantations. Three-way solution The logging union has recently been outraged about the need to import skilled workers to fill the new jobs in the plantation industry. They have also been outraged about …
Federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, has promised $3.2 million to help save the Orange-bellied Parrot. The endangered parrot gained attention when it was used as a tool to stop the controversial windfarm in Liberal member, Russell Broadbent’s seat.
Our Gippsland East Independent pollie, Craig Ingram, has the image of a champion for our rivers. You’d think this concern for the water would spill over to include our rivers’ catchments, but not so. His attitudes to logging forests were spelled out very clearly in the Herald Sun and on the ABC in early September.Here’s …
The Federal Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act is a waste of money, according to researchers at the Australia Institute. The Act is designed to protect threatened species and world heritage areas that may not be covered by state environment laws. The Institute’s deputy director, Andrew Macintosh, says only four out of 1,900 developments have …
