The Victorian government has released a draft strategy for the future of the Forestry industry which includes lifting the current ban on burning native forests to burn as renewable energy and increasing timber contracts from ten to twenty years. These measures would undermine efforts to transform the logging industry into a climate-positive, value-adding, innovative, job-creating …
Last year almost a third of the native forest logs that came from East Gippsland was sold to the Geelong-based export woodchipper Midway. The state-owned logging enterprise, VicForests, sold them as dirt cheap, low-grade pulp logs. The Victorian Government has undermined its own forests policy that says public forest logs must be sold so that …
Radiocarbon dating has confirmed that a recently logged old growth tree on Brown Mountain was growing before America was discovered. “This is a significant find and should now see the government value and protect all our remaining ancient forests – not just as natural relics but as ancient carbon stores”, said Jill Redwood from Environment …
The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (the Act) is the main Victorian legislation governing the conservation of threatened species and ecological communities and addresses the management of processes that threaten native flora and fauna. The Act applies to public and private land and establishes a listing process. Once an item is listed, there are …
In late June 2008, the government enquiry into bushfires (how many is this now?) recommended to State parliament to triple its burn program to almost half a million hectares annually. This would be a gamble, a waste of money and ultimately counter productive. Governments should instead be funding programs to help landowners and townships be …
Many friends of the environment were lost to us over the February fires this year. Many others lost their friends, family members and their homes. It was a shocking time. Besides having to deal with these losses, the environment movement was accused of being responsible. Let’s analyse this … The shameless politicisation of such an …
Here’s another example of the government being at odds with itself. Two recent reports contradicted each other. In early December, at the same time the Environment Commissioner, Dr Ian McPhail, released his damning State of the Environment report for Victoria, the Brumby Government supported the other bushfire report and a trebling of burns across our …
Science is clearly not a part of the Brumby government’s justification to triple burns across the state to almost 400,000 ha, or 1/20th of public land a year. Despite the ENRC inquiry quoting scientific papers, Jenny Barnett from the VNPA, discovered that these papers didn’t back up calls for increased burning at all. They in …
Over Autumn/Winter 08, farmers were given permits to shoot dozens of native Black Swans who were moving from the Gippsland Lakes’ onto farm paddocks to graze. Why? Because the Lakes have become so sick and contaminated that much of the area is dying, including the Swan’s food, the water grasses. The issuing of permits to …
The immense trees that have sheltered and raised hundreds of generations of owls and gliding possums are now being hacked down by VicForests. The under-storey of tree ferns and waratahs, twining silkpod and musk daisy bush is being crushed into the mud by 40 tonne dozers. Victoria’s Brumby government is allowing their logging department to …
