Logging roads funded under environment budget!
Did a page get mixed up in the 2005 Victorian Budget papers? Under the ‘environmental initiatives’, we see a page titled “Roads in State Forests”. This looked good – will they be sealing these roads to prevent 40 tonnes of silt washing off every kilometer of road into our streams each year? Now that WOULD be an environmental plus. No – it’s to make these roads safer and allow better access for the ‘many users’ we are told. So why is it under ‘environment’ and not ‘transport’?
There’s to be an annual $4.7 million on-going fund to maintain and improve (and no doubt construct) forest roads. We were told this state has 3.4 million ha of public forests that have 26,000 km of roads. This is just another gift to the industry all dressed up as funds for the environment – but even an intellectually challenged blind rabbit can see this is a massive industry gift manipulated into an environmental win.
Maybe what VicForests gains in log prices will just be given back to the industry by another arm of the government.