The Thomson Reservoir is situated along the eastern escarpments of Mount Baw Baw and carries approximately 60 percent of Melbourne’s water storage capacity. It is surrounded by 48,700 hectares of forested catchment that includes the northern and eastern slopes of Mount Baw Baw, the southern slopes of Mount Matlock on the Great Dividing Range and …
(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 …
If a private land owner was to destroy native vegetation without a permit, they would be fined and forced to rehabilitate up to 15 times the same area that was destroyed. This is now part of the Native Vegetation Management Framework drawn up by The Department of Sustainability and Environment. But the department which is …
After months of delays, the EPA has released its report on the Audit it carried out in the middle of 2004, of logging compliance to the Code of Forest Practice. Each year the EPA selects a sample of logging coupes across Victoria and assesses how the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and loggers have …
A Supreme Court judge has ruled that the Bracks government’s environmental code for logging native forests (Code of Forest Practices) is enforceable under law. Prior to this ruling, DSE argued that the only lawful requirements were that the coupe be in a logging zone and that the loggers have a licence to log. The ruling …
The Bracks government has released new statewide logging prescriptions (though now they’re called “procedures”), combining all regional prescriptions into the one document. The procedures seem to have few changes, at least as far as rainforest is concerned. The Mixed Forest definition (rainforest and eucalypt) is now included but is complex and will be hard to …
Despite last year’s 43% cutbacks, there was still a serious overcutting by the industry – with the full approval of DSE foresters. This year is supposed to see a reduction to make up for it. However, this year’s draft logging plan (called Wood Utilisation Plans or WUPs) has shown again how slap dash the whole …
The damning results of the Environment Protection Authority audit of logging practices in East Gippsland was released in January. Never daunted by criticism, the DSE crowed about its ‘continuous improvement’! The results show a worsening of adherence to many environmental protection codes – not an improvement. In past internal DSE audits, loggers and foresters scored …
A Newspoll survey has shown that forest logging is not only turning tourists away but destroying the very thing most people holidaying in East Gippsland would want to experience – old growth forests and rainforests. Results from a Newspoll survey in late August show that the forests of East Gippsland are potentially as important in …
As a result of arrests at the Dingo Creek rainforest coupe last Autumn, two protesters are challenging the charge of ‘obstructing a lawful logging operation’. The case has been heard for two days so far and the last session is on January 18th at Bairnsdale. The public are welcome to attend. The NRE have made …
