The $1.5 million grant to trail logging as a means of bushfire mitigation by the Abbott Government is a suspicious attempt to dress up fire control as another logging industry subsidy, says a regional conservation group. Environment East Gippsland says that the Australian Forests Products Association has been lobbying for this for a long time. …
For almost two decades, the management of forests in parts of Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales has been underpinned by state and federal Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs), defined as “20-year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australia’s native forests”. The broad aim of RFAs is to “provide certainty for forest-based …
A NEW method of fuel reduction, physically removing trees, shrubs and undergrowth on public land, will be trialled across Victoria as part of bushfire prevention. “Mechanical fuel reduction” is widely used in the US and Canada as a move away from solely relying on burning off during winter. Prime Minister Tony Abb¬≠ott last week announced …
Australian Paper which manufactures REFLEX paper from the Central Highland ash forests, is Victoria’s major user of natural gas. The price of gas is set to rise astronomically due to increased sales offshore. This will be a serious financial burden for this Nippon owned pulp and paper mill. As a result it is pleading for …
Soil plays a big role in the global carbon cycle, but how much or how quickly forest soil carbon pools decline after logging is poorly understood. This may have serious implications for how carbon emissions from deforestation are accounted for. The U.S. Forest Service, for example, currently operates under the assumption that forest soil carbon …
Australian Paper says unless it lifts performance, and soon, the business may not survive, following four straight years of losses. Chief operating officer Peter Williams says a turnaround in financial performance is ‘critical’ for Australian paper production to continue. The company has just announced the closure of its 60-year-old Shoalhaven mill. “We want to see …
Australian Paper mill at Maryvale in the Latrobe Valley could close if it can’t find a way to make a profit. Australia’s biggest forest-devouring pulp and paper mill has been losing money for years. The Japanese owners have said: Japanese paper manufacturer Nippon Paper Industries (NPI), shares the long term vision of continuing to manufacture …
Fresh legal action has been launched against Victorian energy provider Ausnet over the Black Saturday bushfires. VicForests is seeking unspecified damages from Ausnet, and also maintenance company Utility Asset Management (UAM), over a timber yard that was razed in the devastating 2009 bushfires. Documents lodged with the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday claim Ausnet, and …
This is something to watch. In a Productivity Commission draft report cited in early January 2015, the suggestion was that more needs to be spent on bushfire mitigation exercises (to save on disaster relief and recovery). Sounds reasonable? But this suggested $200M mixed with the lobbying influence of the Australian Forest products Association (AFPA), and …
In April last year NIPPON announced it would not renew the woodchip licences after December 2014. VicForests has not been able to find another customer for its booty. Nippon owns the chipmill and export facilities at Eden in NSW where millions of tonnes of EG forests have been shredded and shipped for over 40 years. …
