All gardeners know that turning and aerating a compost pile decomposes it far more quickly. The resulting rich humus is a soil conditioner, encourages good fungi and invertebrates, holds water and provides nutrients to the garden. This is a simple example of how our forests function when the many players are healthy and in balance.The …
VOTERS in three inner-Melbourne electorates overwhelmingly want the Victorian Government to stop logging native forest in favour of the proposed 355,000-hectare Great Forest National Park. Polling conducted by Lonergan Research for the Greens shows that 96 per cent of voters in Richmond, Brunswick and Northcote believe the State Government has an obligation to protect Victoria’s …
Victoria has taken the dubious title of being the largest logger of Australian native forest by volume, accounting for around a third of all native forest logged in the country over the past year. The state government agency VicForests logged more than 1.3 million cubic metres of wood from Victoria’s native forests, almost 100,000 cubic …
The call by the Auswest sawmill and Tim Bull for long term log contracts to be renewed (EGN/SRM 2 Nov) is a misguided ‘Magic Pudding’ mindset, according to Environment East Gippsland. “Long term contracts are not being signed because there has been serious uncertainty of resource availability for quite a while”, said Jill Redwood from …
Having a list of rare and endangered species is not much good if there is no binding plan to protect them. As a result of the legal proceedings initiated in the Supreme Court on 21 May 2013 by EDO on behalf of EEG, the then environment Department, DEPI, agreed to immediately prepare protection plans called …
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost been 10 years to the day since the Victorian Liberals had a comprehensive environment policy. While that might sound ridiculous in the context of global warming and other environmental woes, the sad reality is that an entire decade has passed since the state Liberals offered voters a detailed vision to tackle …
Repairs to the Eden chip mill are under renewed scrutiny, with Minister for Primary Industries, Lands and Water Niall Blair admitting in the Budget Estimates review that “a range of [government] assistance” is being provided to Allied Natural Wood Exports. Last week, ANWE general manager Jarrod Wallis advised the Eden Magnet that the mill was “funding the repair work without government assistance”, …
I spent the first four years of my life living in the middle of the forest in southeastern NSW. Our log cabin was at the end of a dirt road, surrounded by stringybark, spotted gum and the sounds of kookaburras and lyre birds. Wombat holes and lichen-covered boulders dotted the hillside and the creek ran …
National Threatened Species Day on September 7 is held each year to commemorate the day the last Tasmanian Tiger died in captivity in a Hobart zoo in 1936. Environment groups Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO), Wildlife of the Central Highlands and Fauna and Flora Research Collective decided to commemorate the day this year by presenting an …
After much blood, sweat and tears, the Forest Taskforce finally gave birth to the long awaited agreed position called the Statement of Claim on Friday 9th September. The basic details are… there needs to be 2 VEAC enquiries – one on our forests and their natural values and one looking at what ‘resource’ is left …
