GetUp Campaign to save our native forests

This is a once in a generation opportunity to protect our native forests. But to do that we have to let the Commonwealth Government know that the nation is serious about reform as Premier Bartlett flies to Canberra for their backing.

That requires a massive sign up to the core principles of the Australian Native Forests Charter, which served as the basis for the breakthrough agreement between the forest industry, unions, timber communities and our friends in the conservation movement:
A swift transition of industrial logging out of our native forests and to our plantations.
Establishing 'protected areas' for all of our high conservation value native forests.
Add your name to the call for protection, by signing up below, and check out the Native Forests Charter to the right for more policy detail.

Sign the initiative at GetUp campaign to Save Our Native Forests

Friends of the Earth Evening of Presentations

Information Night – Melbourne
Saving the East Gippsland Forests

Australia remains one of the only developed countries still logging its old growth native forests. In Victoria these logging operations are carried out by the Government owned corporation VicForests. Each year thousands of hectares of old forest are clearfelled by VicForests for low value woodchips. Last financial year VicForests  incurred losses of up to $34 million dollars to carry out these environmentally disasterous practices.

YOU ARE PAYING TO HAVE YOUR PUBLIC FORESTS CLEARFELLED FOR WOODCHIPS.
Veteran Forest campaigner Charley Daniel will give a first hand account of the appalling Government mismanagement of the diminishing public forests of East Gippsland and what we can do today to preserve their many values for the future.

Blackfellow Rd Picnic photos

Blackfellows Track Picnic - 22nd August

The picnic at Blackfellows track logging coupe is going ahead this Sunday as the weather is forecast to be sunny and calm.

We will meet at Pattersons Cutting at the junction of Gelantipy Road and Forest Creek Track at 11.00am and take a short stroll into a magnificent old growth fern gully where DSE are planning a fuel reduction burn next Autumn.

We will then proceed up Gelantipy Road to Glenmore Road and on to the picnic area at the intersection of Glenmore Road and Blackfellows Track. (see attached map) and after a picnic lunch take a leisurely stroll into the proposed logging coupes.

Bring some sturdy shoes/boots and picnic lunch, we will boil a billy for tea etc. Hope to see see you there it should be a great day.

Congratulations Brown Mountain!

Yesterday you wrote a page in the history of Australia keeping our most precious value: the nature.

Thank you to all the people involved and who supported the protection of Brown Mountain.

Go and write a support message to GECO people and Environment East Gippsland on facebook.

Go to http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/05/28/191341_opinion-news.html for an excellent article by journalist Leslie White published May 28, 2010. It reads on to an intersting debate on forest logging practices

Clearfelling?

Iconic forests in East Gippsland are relied on by millions of species of flora and fauna but also enjoyed by residence and tourist alike. Clear fell logging in East Gippsland is a controversial practice. As some people believe it is necessary creating jobs and a lucrative industry bringing economies to rural towns. The truth is there are huge negative impacts contributing to climate change, habitat loss and water. It is our responsibility to make the right decision regarding these forest that are so great.

The forests of our area have rare overlap rainforest's, and rainforest eco tones mixed forest types in a dynamic equilibrium exhibiting evolutionary stages of Australians flora and fauna. From gondwana cool temperate and warm temperate rainforest's, eucalypts and lowland forests all containing habitat trees providing a significant home to rare and threatened species. East gippsland covers less than 5% of Vic but supports 3000 plus native species including over 300 rare and threatened species. Clear felling Native forests for wood chipping is unnecessary, unjust, unsustainable, unviable and unpopular.
Climate change is a huge problem were facing today and one of the biggest carbon sinks we have is our forests. The act of clear felling, releases vast amounts of carbon once stored safely within the tree into the atmosphere. Trees are the lungs of the earth and without lungs it's quite impossible to breath.
We are currently experiencing mass extinction of species at a great rate. As most species are loosing there habitat to clear fell logging this is the single greatest cause and threat facing our native flora and fauna can we really afford to keep this practice up with so much loss as a result, as well as huge amounts of money going into programs trying to save the very species.

Clear felling native forests in water catchments in a climate of increasingly unreliable water supplies makes no sense. With every state on water restrictions and more than $1billion spent on drought relief over the last five years. The practice of clear felling has huge negative impacts reducing flows, creating muddy run off, also creating huge areas of fast growing young trees drinking vast amounts of water compared to a mature forest which acts as a filter. The amount of money the government spends educating people on water saving measures while allowing the practice of clear felling water catchments doesn't make sense. The government is spending 7.7mil for water quality improvements in east gippsland this is to clean the water after logging, all the areas getting treatment plants are heavily logged around water catchments.

So along with subsidising the logging industry of around 2 mill and the cost of maintaining roads heavily deteriorated from log trucks all for a profit of around $110,000 worth of wood chips the sums don't add up.

We make more money from honey in east gippsland than we do from logging, there are no figures present of the amount tourism generates in the area but i can guess it would be way more than what logging generates and tourism is sustainable whereas logging is not and logging puts the future of tourism in jeopardy.

Half of the mills in east gippsland are under receivership. Terra timbers of bairnsdale is finding it difficult to sell its intended volumes. Recent auctioning of hardwood timber lots were left unsold and those that did sell sold for 10% of their value. Pine makes up more than 80% of the market for building timbers, there are few applications were pine is not the preferred product. The five star energy rating favours concrete slabs over stumps and bearers. In buildings where sub-floor construction is still used pine is preferred and is cheaper and better wearing than hardwood tongue and groove.


So with heavy evidence that the native logging industry is in real trouble and there is way than enough existing plantations which are having to import workers to work at the plantations and they will soon need around 1,100 workers so there is no reason for job losses.

Australia is the only western country in the world logging old growth forests and the only country legally doing it. It is way over due to stop the destructive practice that makes no sense, so why are we still selling off our future.