Secret SFRI data

NRE is currently trying to produce estimates of how much forest and log volumes are available that don’t leave everybody rolling around the floor with fits of laughter. The Statewide Forest Resource Inventory (SFRI) aims to replace the old system of estimates on “log volumes” (read “forests”). NRE has produced quite a little PR campaign …

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Massive increase in woodchip production

Figures released by DNRE in August have revealed a massive increase in woodchipping for the second year in a row. Bracks allowed Victorian loggers to rip out 1.09 million m3 of residual wood – a new record for the State. He still claims the RFA is balanced! At the same time as woodchip volumes are …

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Quoll’s extinction looms

It’s not guns and hunting like it was with the Thylacine, but the Spot-tailed (Tiger) Quoll is knowingly being annihilated by logging, poisoning and NRE’s latest “protection” plans. Spot-tailed Quolls, the largest meat-eating marsupials surviving on the mainland, are on a slippery slide to extinction. They have gone >from rare to vulnerable to endangered in …

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Good news on biomass – Wood-fired power plan rejected

Stanwell Corporation is re-designing its proposed cogeneration plant at the Maryborough Sugar Mill, after the Queensland Government rejected its original plans to use native forest waste. It said “any project that depends on the use of native forest hardwood residues as supplementary fuel cannot be supported, even as an interim measure.” The Government suggested the …

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WA’s forest “win” was a con-job

he February WA election saw Labor promise to end 99% of old growth logging immediately and phase out export woodchipping by 2003. However, their commitment to the logging companies to supply huge volumes of logs until the end of 2003 has seen an increase in destruction of other important forests to account for protected old …

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$2.5m for Creswick forest facilities

Victoria’s logging industry has received yet another massive tax-payer funded gift – a $2.5 million grant to build new facilities at the Creswick Forest Science Centre. A new office, laboratory and lecture theatre will ultimately accommodate a further 25 scientists and amenities for up to 100 people. Creswick conducts research and development into logging and …

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Latest $$$$$$$$$$$ give-ways

Gippsland’s biggest monthly welfare handouts were announced in May – and there’s no mutual obligation or eligibility tests. Another two and half million dollars goes to an already overfed few.   1) Neville Smith timber industries at Heyfield – They were the mob who pulled out of Swifts Creek a while ago (and caused a …

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100% partly or fully rehabilitated

For several years, NRE has been making available to the public a summary of its audit of the Code of Forest Practices (environmental guidelines to adhere to while ripping down ancient forests). NRE must hope that people will be left with the feeling that our forests are in the best possible hands – and that …

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Lawyers For Forests

Over 100 lawyers have joined a new group that aims to end woodchipping and the logging of old-growth forests in Victoria, and overhaul the entire management of the state’s forests. The group was launched by the Federal Court’s Justice Murray Wilcox in Melbourne in mid-May. The Lawyers For Forests group joins the Doctors, Liberals and …

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Dingo Creek rainforest

An inquiry is slowly cranking up into how many trees really are out there, compared to how many the government have promised. Meanwhile, important areas of acknowledged conservation value are being clearfelled to meet the demands of the logging industry. Nationally significant. Dingo Creek could become the next icon area to fight for. NRE knows …

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