East coast Australia, the new Amazon
Deforestation on Victoria’s Matlock Plateau – incorrectly termed ‘sustainable logging’. Australia’s east coast has been compared to the Amazon as a “deforestation front”. WWF’s The Living Planet report, produced every second year for the past 20 years, says global populations of vertebrate species have declined 60% since 1970. But koala numbers have disappeared at a much faster rate – more than 20% ...
Eagle slaughter
East Gippsland is a relatively rich ‘ark’ for Victoria’s remaining wildlife but these are under threat from many quarters.
Greater Glider – recently listed as threatened
Bad news: The Greater Glider, Australia’s largest (and fluffiest) gliding possum is under threat of extinction.
Good news: It has recently been added to the threatened list of Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (FFGA)
After decades of decline and zero government interest or surveys, the clear evidence is that local extinctions of the Greater Glider are happening. It’s still in decline due to ongoing threats like clearfelling its ...
A History of mammal losses in eastern Victoria
Leadbeaters Possum used to occur right across Gippsland in lowland dry forests as well. Research by Rohan Bilney on the diet of Sooty Owls over hundreds of years show that pre-European Sooty Owl dined on 28 species – now that’s down to 10!
It’s a question that haunts nature-lovers – what was Australia like before European colonisation? Zoologist Rohan Bilney follows clues left by Sooty owls in Gippsland. Read the report (PDF)
A win for Owls
This article was written for the VNPA’s September newsletter Parkwatch and summarises the legal case we launched on behalf of the three threatened forest owl species after the 2014 bushfires. The agreed settlement terms, as of late September 2015, are still being worked through by DELWP.Thanks to the VNPA for permission to reproduce it here.
Originally Published at http://vnpa.org.au/admin/library/attachments/PDFs/parkwatch/pw-no262-September-2015.pdf
Environment group wins legal battle to protect habitat for threatened powerful, sooty, masked owls
The Victorian Government has agreed to set aside 2,000 hectares of forest in East Gippsland to help protect three threatened species of owl.
Environment East Gippsland took legal action against the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and state-owned VicForests over the issue.
An agreement was reached on Friday between ...
Environment East Gippsland settles with Victorian DELWP over owls
Done deal: An agreement between the State Government, VicForests and Environment East Gippsland will see increased measures to protect the threatened sooty owl.
LOGGING will be put on hold in parts of Victoria’s forests to protect three species of threatened owl.
In an out-of-court settlement today, ...
Over 2000 ha set aside for owls! EEG’s 4th successful legal case
EEG’s fourth Court case challenging the government’s non-adherence to its own environment laws has been settled (17.7.15). This time it was for the owls.
EEG, DELWP and VicForests have agreed that the environment department (DELWP) take action to adhere to legal obligations and increase owl protected areas as well as assess the damage done to owl habitat and study owls ...
Endangered owls have legal win
The day after the national Threatened Species Summit ends, a Supreme Court case brought by Environment East Gippsland has reached an out of court settlement The case challenged logging in threatened owl habitat by the state government’s Environment Department and VicForests, which have now agreed to set aside over 2,000 ha.
This 10 month case sought to enforce the state government’s obligations to protect 3 threatened owl species – the Sooty, Masked and Powerful Owls. EEG argued that the government had ...