The release of the findings of the Victorian Bushfire Inquiry on 14 October should have put an end to the unsophisticated, self-interested and blame-apportioning comments that followed the 2002-3 fires. It is refreshing indeed to have the old furphies of fuel reduction, grazing, tracks and Aboriginal burning knocked on the head as ‘solutions’ to fire. …
After the illegal logging of the Snowy National Park last summer, the public was promised a full investigation and outcome. But the joke now goes: How many DSE officers does it take to do an investigation? Five. One to notice logs were stolen from 300 ha of National park, one to go “damn, we shouldn’t …
In February, when the Snowy National Park was illegally logged during the bush fires, we immediately put in a Freedom Of Information request for all relevant documents, to determine how this could have happened. We asked for: a.. Incident Management Log, b.. Any assessments done of Park values and significant trees, before clearing c.. Maps, …
Industry demands public money to salvage logs. Another logic-lacking media release put out by the logging industry in July called for more and faster access to log all the burnt forest. They claimed they needed government assistance to cart the logs long distances to their mills and maybe even money to help with storage (they …
In 1996 the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) provided figures to the public about its ‘success’ of growing back trees after forests are ravaged by clearfelling. Seven years on and DSE has released a new report to the public. This report covers regeneration attempts during the period 1993/94-1996/97 and has been delayed for years …
An EEG investigation into the auditing of a tiny percent of logging coupes for adherence to environmental logging regulations has shown there to be huge abuse of the system by DSE foresters and overseers (or gross incompetence). This is not shown in the publicly available audit findings. DSE has released the results of another audit …
Last issue’s front page story was of the needless logging of a 70 km swathe through the Snowy National Park during the January fires under the direction of a logging company boss seconded into the Department to help with fire fighting management. He was put in charge of this back burn line. Findings from …
The Regional Forest Agreement promised the MAXIMUM amount of logs that could be taken from public forest, while providing the MINIMUM area to meet conservation criteria. No allowance was made for fire. There was no margin of error for events outside the control of governments. If fires destroy even part of the reserve system or …
About 90% has already been logged over the past 25 years, but before the November 2002 State election, Bracks promised no more woodchipping the Wombat – never ever. Some logging will continue – around 8,500 m3 a year. Congratulations to all who helped get the chippers out. BUT – the Minister was unwilling to say …
Reopening the 63 km rail line from Sale to Bairnsdale for passengers has been a political promise for years – and it’s finally happening. But the down side is that 44,000 Redgum sleepers are to be used for the upgrade. The patronage on the current bus service is very low so the passenger line might …
