Discovered in 2003 in an area planned for logging, the Darejo tree has now had its immediate area protected from logging, but its giant Shining Gum relatives were not so lucky – they didn’t meet the 12.5 girth minimum that gains them protection. Darejo is a very impressive tree. It has a huge base with …
(not to be confused with the ‘whoops’ factor) If only I had the negotiating skills of VicForests when I was growing up, I would never have had to eat my vegetables. I could have argued that Mum said, “You should eat your vegetables”, rather than “You must eat your vegetables”. This is the reasoning used …
First we had the Bracks government, via the DSE/VicForests, doing a trial to see if they can log old growth more slowly (the Old Growth Project), then in late February, the Minister for forests, John Thwaites, announced a new six month consultation process with the logging industry in East Gippsland to work out how many …
So why does the government not go in all guns blazing on climate change like it did in Iraq for regime change? The evidence is clear on the dangers of climate change – unlike the hunch about mythical weapons of mass destruction. We don’t have to look very far to find the answers. It was …
The TV show, Australian Story, exposed popular ALP minister, Julia Gillard, as a staunch supporter of logging (6.3.06). She went in batting for Forestry Union boss and woodchip promoter, Michael O’Connor. She talked about how much the ALP’s forest policy for Tasmania lost Labor crucial votes at the last election. However internal analysis showed the …
The Tambo or Gippsland forests, north of Bairnsdale, first suffered a 700% increase in woodchipping after its RFA was signed in 2000. On top of that, they were burnt in the 2003 fires and have been “salvage” logged at eight times the legally sustainable yield level since then. Salvaged to death Since they lie in …
One of the main reasons for blockading logging is to generate media and alert the public to what is happening in their own forests. The ’05-06 summer was a great success with plenty of blockades and good media coverage. We hear the protests have even been noticed in Spring Street. All up 12 protests were …
A quick click on the Environment Protection Authority’s website, and one is presented with an echidna claiming litterers are “going to get stung”, because littering damages the environment. Click a little further and you find another report about damage to the environment. The report is an audit by the EPA entitled Timber Production on Public …
]You probably remember the story of Stan Howard, the PM’s brother, and the company on which he was a board member when it went belly up, owing tens of millions of dollars to its workers. You probably recall how the PM himself bailed him out, whilst thousands of other workers at Ansett and other companies …
A December 2005 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 …
