416 – Oceania Tree News
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In this Issue:

Oceania includes New Zealand, Australia, Eastern Indonesia and most of the South Pacific Islands,

Index:

–Fiji: 1) True value of Mahogany and Pine being estimated

–French Polynesia: 2) Motu Manu rainforest

–Indonesia: 3) Annual rainforest burning season, 4) More from New Yorker’s article on Illegal logging, 5) In Guinness Book of Records for deforestation again! 6) Wood stocks audited throughout the supply chain,

–Papua: 7) Greenpeace says Save pristine rainforests! 8) Observations from the air in the Lereh region, 9) Esperanza arrives, 10) More observations from the air,

–Papua New Guinea: 11) Governance surrounding forestry is out of control,

–Solomon Islands: 12) Unsustainable timber made up 73 per cent of total export

–New Zealand: 13) New industry advertising campaign: “breathe in and hold,” 14) Twelve serious buyers expressing interest for the 140,000ha estate, 15) Cobalt deficiency in soil is no excuse for deforestation, 16) Greens want imports of illegally logged timber halted,

–Australia: 17) More on saving Murray River Blue Gums, 18) Wild Wielangta defends Swift Parrot habitat, 19) Gunns’ hired celebrity will not be drawn into televised debate, 20) History of Victorian nature lovers and enviros since 1995, 21) Workshops about unsustainable logging in South West native forests, 22) NSW is illegally logging river red gum forests, 23) NSW police warn protesters, 24) 40 scientists sign open letter to Premier, 25) Forestry union’s warns that too much native forest is being harvested, 26) World’s tallest hardwood tree discovered in Tasmania, 27) More on Gunns’ celebrity hired to misrepresent facts, 28) Immediately ban logging in all water catchment areas! 29) Activists disrupt logging in Tasmania, 30) Wife of a convener of Australian Conservation Foundation destroys forest, 31) Protestors charged $10,000 for being successful at stopping logging,

Articles:

Fiji:

1) The Ministry for Lands will be working closely with stakeholders and landowners to ensure that all mahogany and pine forests in the country are surveyed to determine the true value of the forests in Fiji. The Permanent Secretary for Lands, Maria Matavea says there are fourteen mahogany plantations which make up about 58,000 hectares in Fiji and most of these sit on unsurveyed native land. Some of the biggest areas identified by the Lands Ministry are in Galoa in Serua, Naboutini, and Nukurua in Tailevu. Smaller areas includes Wainunu, Bua, Sawakasa in Tailevu and Navonu in Cakaudrove. Matavea also stated that the survey would start as soon the budget for 2009 is announced as it is top priority for her Ministry, this is to be in line with the Cabinet decision on the 23rd of September this year. http://www.radiofiji.com.fj/fullstory.php?id=15020

French Polynesia:

2) Residents of Ahe are also particularly proud of their Motu Manu rainforest. A rarity on any atoll, these trees were planted by the Spanish 300 years ago. It is a marvellous refuge for migrating sea birds and for very large spiders. From the calm lagoon we walk through the rainforest across the small island and reach the ocean pounding a shell-covered shore. Within minutes, I collect a handful of big cowrie shells, but I soon toss them aside when Franck shows us the rare oursin tortue, a strange sea creature endemic to just 100m along this beach. This is a favourite place for turtles to lay eggs each November. We leave the rainforest and again plough by boat across the lagoon to the island’s communal fish trap. Franck dons mask and snorkel and dives in, trying to persuade us to join him. But we are reluctant starters, because although there are good-sized parrot fish ready for the pickings, there is also a shark, bigger than us, swimming around the trap. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24425870-5002031,00.html

Indonesia:

3) Narrated by Hugh Jackman, this exploration by Australian filmmaker Cathy Henkel of Indonesia’s annual rainforest burning season is insightful, scary and ever so slightly hopeful. The burning season contributes massively to global warming, covers South-East Asia in a haze of pollution and threatens the survival of Indonesia’s forests and the orang-utan. Henkel tells the story of Indonesian palm oil farmer Achmadi who burns rainforest to feed his family; Danish-born Lone Droscher-Nielsen who cares for scores of orang-utans left sick and displaced by forest fires; and Australian environmental entrepreneur Dorjee Sun who thinks he has a solution to both their problems. The young Aussie wants to establish a carbon trading scheme that effectively values forests for their carbon storage, not their timber or palm oil. Under his plan, carbon credits represented by forest areas would be sold to big polluters in the West. But with time fast running out for the trees and the orang-utans, he has to build the profile and the credibility of his scheme quickly if there are to be any credits to trade. This splendid documentary is thought-provoking but not polemical. It illuminates a complex problem in a way that’s surprisingly engrossing and easily understood. http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv–radio/tv-reviews/the-burning-season/2008/10/13/1223749922718.html

4) E.I.A. began to focus on illegal logging after receiving a plea for help from scientists working in the jungles of Southeast Asia. In 1999, Biruté Mary Galdikas, a leading expert on orangutans and an acolyte of Louis Leakey, told Thornton that men with chain saws were cutting into protected Indonesian forests where she had been conducting her research. “It turned out that someone had just illegally redrawn the boundary of the park so that the local timber baron could have access to the trees,” Thornton said. Indonesia is home to more endangered species than any other place in the world, and logging was conducted in a state of near total anarchy. By the late nineteen-nineties, the government estimated that as much as seventy per cent of the country’s total timber harvest was illegal, and the World Bank calculated that Indonesia was losing three and a half billion dollars annually because of it. In a series of undercover investigations, E.I.A. and an Indonesian group called Telapak discovered that many loggers were targeting a tree called ramin, which had great strength, was easy to stain, and could be sliced into thin pieces. Ramin turned up in the West in countless cheap items: paintbrushes, two-dollar pool cues, dowels. Even after Indonesia banned the export of ramin, in 2001, the wood was still smuggled out of the country in large volumes. Von Bismarck’s first undercover job, he told me, was “following the ramin trail.” By temperament and upbringing, he seemed well suited for clandestine operations. He once told me that his favorite book, which he had read in the fourth grade, was “All the King’s Men.” When I asked him why, he said, “In terms of how the world works, you have people interacting in a very sensible way, and in some cases it added up to corruption, and in some cases it added up to good things. The book presents a very complicated system, a muddled world, but also a very human world.” Von Bismarck’s family life was also complicated and muddled and very human, of course, and Gottfried, his father, told me that “as a result, I think, he has developed a great ability to integrate conflicting parties.” Occasionally, I heard von Bismarck speak empathetically about the very people he was trying to catch—”poor guys doing really hard work, destroying the natural resources of their own area, and getting arrested.” http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/06/081006fa_fact_khatchadourian

5) In the Guinness Book of Records (GWR) 2009 Edition released this month, Indonesia is once again referred to as the country with the world’s highest rate of deforestation. Citing the FAO’s State of the World’s Forests 2007 (SOFO), the country has “destroyed” its forests at a rate of 1.8 million hectares annually during the period 2000 to 2005. Indonesia was also listed with the record in the previous edition. Last July, Indonesia also placed poorly at 102 of 149 countries in the 2008 Environmental Performance Index published by Yale and Columbia Universities. The poor position is mainly due to the minimum score for forest management as deforestation in the country was seen as very massive. Jakarta has been angered by such notorious images and subsequently questioned the validity of data and methodology used. It hit back that neither were based on scientific merit, and were only a “piece of sensationalism” for political agitation. The Forestry Ministry officially released the country’s annual deforestation in its 2006 Forestry Statistics of only 1.08 million hectares over the same period. Interestingly, the data was developed based on FAO’s definition of forests — the same data used in the GWR and SOFO 2007. Judging whose arguments are scientifically sound should be based on precise use of some key terms, such as “forests”, “deforestation” and “degradation”. However, various attempts to define those terms result in unclear definitions. It is not uncommon for different agencies to selectively adopt, use and interpret different definitions and information depending on their tastes and values, even for tendentious purposes. Let us start by recalling the definitions of important terms by some agencies. First, it is worth to compare the extent to which a particular canopy cover is classified as a forest. The FAO in its final definition in the Global Forest Resources Assessment Update 2005 uses “more than 10 percent”. On the other hand, environmental groups usually adopt more stringent criteria. For instance, Greenpeace in its “World Intact Forest Landscape” adopts “20 percent or more”. Also in some cases, they do not refer to “plantations” as “forests”, but “wood gardens”. Clearly, due to the different definitions of “forests”, the forest tracts a particular country has will be different. It is also worth noting that there is a spectrum of values on “deforestation”. First, instead of “deforestation” or “forest loss”, such emotive terms as “assault” and “destruction”, are nonexistent in the FAO and “forestry societies” across the globe, while they are employed by many environmental groups, to psychologically touch and raise concerns amongst contemporary society. http://old.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20081006.E03&irec=2

6) The Indonesian Forestry Ministry’s bold move to require forestry companies to have their wood stocks audited throughout the supply chain to ensure the wood is derived from sustainably managed forests could go a long way in reducing illegal logging in the country. Hadi Pasaribu, the Forestry Ministry’s director general for the management of forestry production, who revealed the new policy recently, did not elaborate as to when the audit — internationally known as forest certification scheme — would be mandatory for wood-based companies. But surely the new measure needs thorough preparation because the audit or certification process requires independent certifiers who must be accredited according to the international standards as those applied by the Bonn-based Forest Stewardship Council. It is international market forces (consumers and traders) united into a global green consumer campaign that have forced wood-based companies to have their wood certified as green by independent certifying companies. Hence, whatever the system used by the Forestry Ministry for the wood audit, an inspection or certification scheme, it must be based on international standards to gain international recognition. Wood audit for forest certification aims at verifying that a particular wood is derived from sustainably managed forests. This process requires companies in the whole wood supply chain to hold chain-of-custody certificates so that the label or bar-code can follow the word from the forests to the finished product. The chain of custody itself is the process of wood harvesting, primary and secondary processing, manufacturing, distribution and sales. The wood audit, as referred to by Pasaribu, inspects each of these processing steps to ensure that the timber or wood originated from forests which are being managed in accordance with social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable forest management. http://naturealert.blogspot.com/2008/10/audits-could-curb-illegal-logging.html

Papua:

7) Indonesia must do more to save pristine rainforests in Papua from destruction, particularly with plans to open up huge tracts of land to develop palm oil plantations, environmentalists said on Wednesday. The rapidly expanding palm oil industry in Southeast Asia has come under attack by green groups for destroying rainforests and wildlife, as well the emission of greenhouse gases. “Although the deforestation rate in Papua is still low, the threat is very high, for instance, with palm oil plantation expansion,” Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace said. He was speaking by telephone from aboard a ship the group is using to tour Indonesia’s easternmost province to raise awareness on forests and climate change. Indonesia’s administration in Papua has said it is opening up to 15 million acres (6 million hectares) of land for palm oil, despite earlier pledges to save Indonesia’s last forest frontier by tapping carbon trading projects. Alex Hesegem, Papua’s deputy governor, said at least 93,000 hectares of land had been opened for palm oil plantations, but that was being done following environmental principles and government regulations. “Some regencies have signed a contract with the government and private companies for this palm oil plantation and some more will sign a contract in the near future,” Hesegem told Reuters. Activists said they suspected some companies aimed to use the licenses for logging. “In my estimation, the maximum they can open is 200-300 thousand hectares because the contour of the area is mountainous,” said Jefri Saragih of Sawit Watch, a pressure group that monitors the impact of palm oil on forests. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report that Indonesia was suffering the fastest forest loss in the world at almost 1.9 million hectares per year. Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, produced 17.18 million tons of crude palm oil in 2007, and production is expected to rise to 18.6 million tons this year. http://papuastory.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/indonesia-papua-forests-seen-under-palm-oil-threat/

8) Observations from the air in the Lereh region near Papuan capital Jayapura showed palm oil producers including Indonesian giant Sinar Mas had started widespread clearing to make way for palm oil plantations, Maitar said. Continued clearing and expansion of the concessions will have a devastating impact on Papua’s forests, Maitar said, adding the land-clearing is allowed under Indonesian law. Greenpeace in a statement called for an immediate moratorium on all forest conversion in Papua, which has so far been largely isolated from Indonesia’s palm oil boom by poor transport links. Fears are that the expansion of palm oil and logging could send Papua down the road of other Indonesian islands Sumatra and Borneo, where land-clearing and the illegal logging that has followed has stripped once-great forests. “It is crucial that the last remaining intact tracts of Indonesia’s forest are protected in order to combat climate change,” Maitar said in the statement. Local people in the area are heavily reliant on the forest for food and building materials and face the collapse of communities if clearing goes ahead, Greenpeace said. “The locals can’t depend on getting basic necessities from Java island or other places. And because of climate change, they can’t predict the timing of rice harvests,” Maitar said. Sinar Mas could not be reached for comment. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j43bNvNJbN3vxoGLPWxe2F9l8-cQ

9) The Greenpeace ship Esperanza arrived this morning in Jayapura, Papua, the last frontier of intact ancient forest in Indonesia, to highlight the catastrophic impact that deforestation – for palm oil, logging and other industry expansion – has on the global climate, biodiversity loss and forest-dependent people. The Esperanza (Spanish for «hope«) carries the message ‘Melindungi Hutan, Menyelamatkan Iklim’, Indonesian for ‘Protecting Forests Saves our Climate’. The Esperanza will be touring the world’s largest archipelago until 15 November, calling on the Indonesian government to implement an immediate moratorium on all forest conversion, including expansion of oil palm plantations, industrial logging, and other drivers of deforestation. This moratorium will not only help curb the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, but will also safeguard the wealth of tropical biodiversity and protect the livelihood of forest dependent communities all across Indonesia, said Shailendra Yashwant, Campaigns Director, Greenpeace Southeast Asia. http://www.diariodelweb.it/Articolo/Mondo/?d=20081006&id=48231

10) For several days now, we have been making flights over the forests of Papua in our helicopter. Here are the highlights – good and bad – of what we have seen so far. Today we are flying using our Greenpeace helicopter to cover one of the biggest palm oil operations in Papua. We are supposed to be flying with some VIPs – the head of parliament’s Member of Papua Province and the head of forestry planning office of Papua – but at the last minute they were not available. A journalist from the major news paper in Indonesia, Media Indonesia, did fly with us, and they will publish a big story. Our flight today covers the palm oil plantation in Lereh, near Jayapura, owned by Sinar Mas Group. Sinar Mas is the one of the biggest palm oil companies in Indonesia where they already have more than one million hectares in concessions. In Papua, Sinar Mas is planning to develop almost two million hectares palm oil plantation plan and most of this area is still intact forest. What we see is a surprise because we found new areas of Lereh being cleared. Two months ago we flew over the same area and found a very small operation clearing the forest. Today, we found at least seven pieces of heavy machinery actively clearing in the middle of forest with lot of sago tress (the Papuan local food) in the same area; we also found some areas that had just been burnt. Burning the forest is the one of simple way of clearing the forest but it also releases large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. We still have many more flights during the transit to Manokwari when we expect to see more logging activity in Papua forest. http://forest4climate.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/surveying-the-forest-from-on-high/

Papua New Guinea:

11) New revelations that K100 million have gone missing from the PNG National Forest Authority is further evidence that the governance surrounding forestry is out of control. In April this year, the current Forest Minister, Belden Namah, said, “I have noticed a lot of corruption going on within the forestry department. Most [forest] officers are not supporting the landowners with their issues and are not promoting government laws and policies that are already in place to penalise the logging companies”. Currently, there are 15 cases where landowners are taking logging companies to court for breaching forestry laws. Greenpeace crew from the ship Esperanza have visited remote areas of Papua New Guinea’s Gulf and Western Provinces during September to document what is going on. We found there were many social and environmental problems caused by industrial logging, as well breaches of the PNG Logging Code of Practice by logging companies. Local people tell of total disrespect from the company towards them. Examples of this include the destruction of sacred sites, lack of promised development, withholding royalty payments, logging too close to villages and endangering the food supply. Infrastructure like roads, airstrips and ports are rudimentary for the benefit of the logging operation and usually falls into disrepair once a company moves on. The schools and medical facilities do not have materials, equipment or medicines. The logging industry is involved in a deception where exploitation masquerades as development. The industry also makes over-inflated claims about the numbers of people it employs and its contribution to rural development. Foreigners do most of the skilled work, while PNG nationals are paid a pittance for dangerous work, usually done with no safety equipment. Payslips obtained by Greenpeace from two Rimbunan Hijau (RH) concessions—Vailala and Wawoi Guavi—show workers working long hours for very little pay. Many camp workers are brought in from other areas and have no local fishing or hunting rights so must buy goods at inflated prices from the company’s canteen, the only store in the area. One fortnightly payslip showed a worker being paid K185.25 for 114 hours of work. After costs for food were deducted, he took home K5. Forestry workers are trapped in a debt cycle with logging companies and have no option but to continue working. http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=18198/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl

Solomon Islands:

12) Dr Duncan spoke from an economic survey done here recently. He said a more permanent change in the logging revenue stream would put the Solomon Islands government under severe pressure. “Because the timber industry has been a large factor in the country’s recent economic success,” he said. “Timber export made up 73 per cent of total exports in 2006 and 67 per cent in 2007,” he said. Dr Duncan said this timber boom cannot sustain the current logging rate because it is far above the natural replacement rate. “The decline is now expected as soon as 2010 given the huge increase in extraction in the past couple of years,” he said. He said the budget position of the Government is particularly vulnerable to change. According to the Central Bank report for this year the export duty from logs fell by $16.6 million in June during a dispute with logging companies over the export price. This fall represented approximately 15 per cent of the entire monthly revenue for the government. Dr Duncan said despite warnings from Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Central Bank, the rate of logging here had increased in the first part of this year. “It seems likely that the end of Solomon Islands’ timber boom is fast approaching – whether 2010 or some short later,” he said. The recent sharp fall in timber export revenue due to price dispute by loggers and government has impacted on the government’s revenue base. Dr Duncan said this should be a warning of what is to come. “When Solomon Islands’ timber industry collapses, the government has to find a way to make up for the loss of 15-20 per cent of total tax revenue,” he said. He said sustainable logging is an option for the future of forest in the country. Edith Bowles, Country Manager of World Bank, said this is a serious case for Solomon Islands whose economic base depended much on logging revenue. http://solomonstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3954&change=71&changeown=84&Itemid=26

New Zealand:

13) A new advertising campaign for the wood processing industry was aiming to educate the public on the ability of wood products to sequester and store carbon from the atmosphere, using the slogan “breathe in and hold”. As the price of carbon and the energy costs of production continued to be incorporated into the cost of building materials, wood would become increasingly competitive as a building material. But it was up to local and central government to walk the talk in their own purchasing decisions, he said. “You are representatives of this community and I’m challenging you to put your money where your mouth is. “I notice you have put a nice concrete footpath by the river; ask the question – if you’re into the environmental benefits to the community, what example are you setting? “The image of a wooden clad, wooden finished building is tremendous, it makes us feel good, but we’ve got to promote that as we go forward as communities of the future. “We can provide timber elements that will last. You’ve got to make the decision as community leaders to use those elements if you believe that, from a sustainability point of view, wood is better. It will also support the forests you have in this region and the people who work in the industry.” http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/Default.aspx?s=3&s1=2&id=6172

14) As the Matariki Forests sale moves into its final stages, international interest is growing despite the turmoil in credit markets. Paul Nichols of Rayonier New Zealand, which manages Matariki Forests, says there are 12 serious buyers expressing interest for the 140,000ha estate. Indicative bids should start coming in some time in the next 10 days, once the sale flier is sent out today, he says. The tender process has an estimated closing date of “before Christmas” with a final sale expected in quarter one 2009. Shareholders Rayonier (40%), AMP Capital (35%) and Deutsche Bank (25%) unanimously agreed on the sale at a board meeting earlier in the year, and have received a series of expressions of interest from international bidders. Matariki Forests is 85% radiata pine, 10% Douglas fir and the remainder consisting of mixed wood types. There has been no reserve set yet. The last major sale of this kind was in 2006 when Carter Holt Harvey sold 187,000ha to Hancock Timber Resource Group for $1.6 billion, equating to around $9000 a hectare. Although this kind of price is probably no longer viable in the current market, applying those figures to the current sale would equate to around $1.26 billion. Mr Nichols places this figure at the top end of Rayonier’s valuations. When asked why shareholders were looking to divest themselves of the company, he said that the investors wanted to “realise their valuation.” Under current credit conditions there’s no sign of any debt-funded bids. Mr Nichols says almost all of the interest has come from fund managers, with a high percentage from pension funds. The majority of these buyers are coming from North America, with some interest from the EU. There has also been some sovereign fund interest from the Middle East. Australian bids are described by Nichols as “muted” at this stage. The forestry industry is often cited as a “counter-cyclical” industry given its resilience in any market conditions. “Forestry is also quite flexible in that harvests can be changed to suit market conditions,” Mr Nichols said. With the falling New Zealand dollar, lower transit costs and continued strong demand from China, the sale is certainly less risky than most investments at the moment. http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/buyers-stack-matariki-forests-despite-credit-crunch-36135

15) “It is time for politicians and farm leaders to stop using knowledge of cobalt deficiency and incomplete economic analysis as excuses for deforestation”, says Andrew McEwen, President of the NZ Institute of Forestry. He was responding to comments made by Chris Kelly, Chief Executive of Landcorp, on National Radio on Tuesday that the forests his company was converting to dairy farms north of Taupo were only established because there was no known cure for stock “bush sickness”. His comments reflected similar ones made by the Minister of Forestry and Agriculture, Jim Anderton, speaking as leader of the Progressive Party at the Institute’s “meet the political party forestry spokespeople” in Wellington on Monday evening and previously by Pete Hodgson a few years ago when, as Minister for Climate Change, he said “the trees were planted in the wrong place”. “Bush sickness on the Central North Island pumice soils was found to be caused by cobalt deficiency in the early 1930s. By 1937, topdressing large areas of deficient land became the norm, virtually eliminating bush sickness”, says Dr McEwen. “All of the trees that have been deforested in the last few years were planted since that time, so there must have been some other reason for their establishment.” A detailed study1 in the 1960s by agricultural and forestry economists of a Waikato land development scheme demonstrated that, at that time, forestry would generally give a better return than agriculture. There were differences in the relative performance depending on assumptions of social costs (such as effects on rural communities). “The study compared agriculture and forestry over the full life of a forest crop – rather different from using a relatively short period of high prices to say that agriculture is superior, while all the poor years are ignored”, said Dr McEwen. “But the study did not include environmental costs, and we now have significant evidence of the effect of land use on these”. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0810/S00180.htm

16) The Greens want imports of illegally logged timber halted. Green co-leader Russel Norman today released the party’s forestry policy which he said aimed to protect New Zealand’s timber industry from cheap, illegally logged rainforest timber. Dr Norman said the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry estimated the cost of overseas illegal logging to the local industry at $266 million a year. “A ban on the sale and import of illegal timber and wood products, combined with certification of indigenous forest products and country-of-origin labelling will go a long way to protecting both our industry and workers — and the irreplaceable rainforests of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia,” he said. He said New Zealand also needed to avoid introducing genetically engineered forests and said diversification into higher value species including hardwood natives was needed to reduce the need for toxic treatments. The party said the emissions trading scheme added value to the forestry industry. http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/greens-forestry-policy-tackles-illegal-logging-36122

Australia:

17) Recent scientific reports and media coverage have highlighted the dire predicament facing the Murray from drought, over-allocation and climate change. Poor management of land along the river is compounding the ability of these important wetland forests to function naturally and is placing further stress on ecosystems in crisis and species facing extinction. The VEAC has recommended to the Victorian Government a system of new national and regional parks to protect river red gum ecosystems and the many threatened plants and animals that live there. It has also recommended flooding frequencies for these wetland areas that have suffered for decades due to over-allocation of water for irrigation and drought. Climate change now adds a third, more urgent need for governments to buy back water to protect the environment. The VEAC has also recommended joint-management arrangements for the proposed national parks — a first for Victoria. A new Barmah National Park covering part of the most significant river red gum forest in Australia would be co-operatively managed with the region’s traditional owners, the Yorta Yorta. Another smaller park would also be established further along the Murray near Swan Hill in the Nyah-Vinifera Forest, and be jointly managed by the Wadi Wadi. This model would bring employment plus renewed dignity and purpose to the lands’ traditional owners. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/heritage-is-more-than-buildings-20081012-4z3m.html

18) On 3rd October 2008, three members of Wild Wielangta, South East Forest Protection Group had a 30 minute meeting with David Llewellyn – Minister responsible for Forestry and Threatened Species. David Llewellyn agreed to send scientists into Coupe 19D and surrounding areas to verify the sightings of swift parrots by community members. He said he would make a decision about logging Coupe 19D once he had obtained information from the scientists. A reprieve for the parrots for a little bit longer!!!! Forestry Tasmania have since agreed to stop the logging and woodchipping of Coupe 19D until after the 2008/09 swift parrot breeding season! This decision is a direct result of survey information provided to Forestry Tasmania by members of the community. Congratulations! and Thank you!! Forestry Tasmania are collaborating with the Threatened Species Unit in DPIW and the Forest Practices Authority (who authorise logging plans) to “…carry out a strategic assessment of the Wielangta forests”. (Dr Hans Drielsma, Forestry Tas) The Forest Practices Authority wants to “…assure us that all parties are working towards ensuring a sound scientific basis for the long term management of habitat for Swift Parrot across its range”. http://wildwielangta.edublogs.org/2008/10/11/breaking-newstemporary-reprieve-for-swift-parrots/

19) The suggestion for a head-to-head between celebrity gardener Don Burke and former ABC gardening personality and anti-pulp mill campaigner Peter Cundall came after Mr Burke was appointed environmental adviser to the board of timber giant Gunns. ABC TV’s Lateline program approached both men to appear on Friday night’s program to debate the company’s controversial proposal to build a pulp mill in northern Tasmania’s Tamar Valley. Mr Cundall said he’d would have loved to face Mr Burke in a debate, Fairfax reports. Mr Burke’s appointment is a publicity stunt that will backfire, he said. Mr Burke, meanwhile, said that while he respected Mr Cundall, he did not want to be drawn into a televised debate. “I don’t think you ever get anywhere with a debate,” Fairfax quoted him as saying. Mr Burke told AAP: “When I arrive in Tasmania in a couple of weeks I want catch up with Peter and say hello.” “I don’t want to make a big media thing out of it. “I just want to chat with him and see what his concerns are.” A Gunns spokesman told AAP there had been no challenge from Mr Cundall for a debate and Mr Burke simply declined the Lateline invitation. “He doesn’t want to make it a big head-to-head thing on TV. “We have employed Mr Burke as an environmental adviser not as a media spokesman.” Greens leader Bob Brown said he had also phoned Mr Burke on Friday. “He says that Gunns has told him that they won’t be logging old-growth forests,” Senator Brown told AAP. “If he believes that, he’ll have a stocking at the end of his bed this Christmas.” http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/No-pulp-mill-debate-for-gardening-stars-KAD9P?OpenDocument

20) Nature lovers and environmentalists were not common in these parts they came from outside and they were not particularly welcome. They were regarded as “blow-ins”, having come on an ill wind of new wave environmentalism. When the Victorian Greens held their first branch meeting in Healesville in 1995 there was already some concern from Melbournians about the devastation of the forests caused by clear felling. Hence, the major issue for the Greens was conserving the biodiversity of the area. Greens member’s brought with them new knowledge about conservation and a determination to stop the logging in old growth forests and the water catchments. They posed a serious threat to the old guard. The memory of the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires that killed 49 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes was still fresh in the minds of local residents. And the representatives of the forest industries traded on claims that logged forests were safer. They also claimed that the forest workers were the first at the fire front saving lives and this gave many of the loggers a hero status. The Greens, they claimed would stop the clear- felling and this would be the cause of future fires. Seemingly, both the major political parties gave their support to the pro-logging fraternity. The Liberals were believed to serve the interests of business and Labor was perceived answerable to the CFMEU. The entry of the Victorian Greens acted as a catalyst to challenge this monopoly but it also raised the angst of some old-timer’s and other pro-logging community. It was probably fair to say that in the early to mid 1990s the environment movement’s campaigns across the nation were beginning to make some inroads towards exposing the logging industry’s practices as well as the long term consequences for the environment. There were major successes in reclaiming lands for national parks and in protecting the vulnerable creeks and waterways, in revegetating vast areas of eroded land and in the constant monitoring of planning decisions. Local environment groups in the area gradually grew in members and along with their city counterparts they were able to mobilise against the forest devastation. Then the tide turned. The environment groups were suddenly confronted with a groundswell of fierce opposition from a well organised, well resourced pro-logging lobby, with some groups even operating under the guise of conservation. http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7977

21) Preston Environment Group (PEG), the Global Warming Forest Group and Murdoch University Student Guild converged on the Wellington Discovery Forest near Wellington Mills over the weekend. The groups participated in a series of workshops and eco-activities relating to what they describe as unsustainable logging in South West native forests. Almost 30 people attended the activities, including a number of international students from Italy, Germany, Sweden, India and America. PEG spokesman Peter Murphy said the weekend event was a wake-up call for all politicians, especially new Minister for Logging, Terry Redman and Opposition Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, Mick Murray. He reminded them the forest issue had not gone away and any plans to increase logging quotas would be fought vehemently. “We want to see an immediate end to all logging and thinning in native forest, as the native logging industry can now source all of its timber requirements from plantations which are already in abundant supply,” Mr Murphy said. Activities throughout the weekend included bushwalking, bush tucker gathering, wildflower and wildlife spotting. Murdoch University student and guild representative Vicki Edwards said the protest aimed to raise awareness of what she said was unacceptable logging of old growth trees. “We mainly went down as a learning tool and to see for ourselves how it affects the local community,” Ms Edwards said. “There were 15 guild members who went down and we feel it is important for people to be aware of the unacceptable logging.” Mr Redman is currently not speaking to the media. A representative said he was undertaking briefings to familiarise himself with his new portfolio. Mr Murray said he did not see an immediate end to native logging in the short term. “The logging industry has its own problems,” he said. “We have to look at the timber industry and logging practices. “Waste needs to be controlled, if we were able to control wastage we wouldn’t need to cut as much native timber as we do.” Well-known local documentary filmmaker Kim Redman was also on hand to deliver a presentation showing what he described as third world logging operations in the South West. http://collie.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/environmental-groups-converge-on-wellington-forest/1323939.aspx

22) The Federal Government has received a report that claims New South Wales is illegally logging river red gum forests. The National Parks Association’s report on internationally recognised wetlands on the Riverina says logging has intensified since the river red gums were listed on the international Ramsar convention. Georgina Woods’s analysis has found more than 6 per cent of the trees are being illegally logged each year. “The logging on the river red gums does not have an approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act,” she said “We’ve written to the Federal Government to try and bring this issue to a head, to try and draw attention to the NSW Government before it’s too late.” NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says he is confident the report will be rejected. “We believe we have been acting entirely within the law in NSW and complying with the biodiversity laws at a federal level,” he said The state is performing the first ever environmental impact assessment on Riverina red gum logging. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says the Commonwealth has launched its own investigation. “I expect to work collaboratively and cooperatively with the State Government,” he said. “But I will take very seriously the responsibilities we have under the Act for matters of national environmental significance.” Mr Garrett says he expects a report back in a few weeks. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/01/2378576.htm

23) NSW police are warning protesters not to interfere during planned forest logging in the state’s south, with reports activists plan to converge on the area. NSW Forests plan to log sections of the Bermagui State Forest in late October, and police say any illegal or dangerous protest activities will not be tolerated. Police said they planned to protect the loggers and would issue on the spot fines or court attendance notices to protesters who disrupted the tree felling. “Police from the local area command and various sections, including the public order operations support group, highway patrol, and rescue squad will be part of an operation which will be conducted in the area of the logging and will focus on ensuring the protection of persons engaged in lawful activities,” Superintendent Michael Willing said in a statement today. “We have received information which leads us to anticipate that a number of protesters will converge on the area. Our message to them is clear. “We are committed to maintaining public order, and anyone who engages in unlawful or dangerous activity in or near the logging operation will have action taken against them.” Police would allow peaceful protests, but swift action would be taken if a “hard core minority” disrupted or hijacked genuine protests. “Anyone who intends on protesting is encouraged to contact police to discuss their intentions so we can facilitate lawful activity,” Supt Willing said. “Our policing operation at the Bermagui State Forest is not focused at preventing lawful and peaceful protest as we respect peoples rights, but rather at unlawful and dangerous activity.” http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/10/03/Police_warn_protesters_ahead_of_forest_logging

24) More than 40 scientists have signed an open letter to Premier John Brumby urging an end to mismanagement of water-starved river red gum forests along the Murray. The letter calls on the Government to accept advice that it protect 103,000 hectares of forest, including creating five new national parks and establishing a regional park from Wodonga to past Mildura. But an angry rally in Echuca yesterday heard an opposing view: that timber workers, farmers and hunters also want forest management improved, but believe banning forestry and cattle grazing would be a disaster for the local environment and economy. The Government is yet to formally respond to a three-year investigation by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, which in July reported that river red gum floodplains — home to 300 threatened or near-threatened species — would be lost without increased water flows. Citing research that found up to 75% of red gum forest was under stress, the council’s advice included boosting protection for the internationally listed Barmah Forest wetlands. It estimated its recommendations would cost about 50 jobs. The scientists’ letter, seen by The Age, describes the Murray forests as an ecosystem in decline, degraded by current use. “It’s a beautiful place that is suffering from the way we are currently managing it,” Monash University hydrologist Dr Tony Ladson said. The Echuca rally, attended by about 1000 people, was told the council had ignored research suggesting properly managed grazing and logging would lead to healthier forests. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/action-sought-on-river-gums-20081005-4uc3.html

25) The Conservation Council of Western Australia has welcomed the forestry union’s warning that too much native forest is being harvested. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has called for a meeting with WA Premier Colin Barnett, saying harvesting rates are 30 per cent too high. The union has warned the industry needs urgent intervention or jobs will be lost. The council’s Beth Schultz says it is about time the industry publicly acknowledged that too much native timber is being felled. “We think that the over-cutting rate is a great deal more than 30 per cent, 50 per cent is probably nearer the mark,” she said. “It’s been going on for so long that the forests are in a very degraded state. “We think now is the time to end all native forest logging and that is the policy of the conservation council.” The council will seek its own meeting with the Premier to convince him to end native forest logging. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/08/2385347.htm?site=southwestwa

26) The world’s tallest hardwood tree has been discovered in Tasmania just 4km from a popular tourist attraction, the state government’s forestry body says. Forestry Tasmania managing director Bob Gordon said the swamp gum (eucalyptus regnans), dubbed Centurion, stands between 100 and 101 metres tall. “It is the only known standing hardwood tree in the world to be over 100 metres tall,” he said. Mr Gordon said it was the tallest known tree in Australia. It is the world’s tallest eucalyptus tree, the tallest hardwood tree, and the tallest flowering plant, he said. Centurion is 405cm in diameter and its height was measured using laser survey equipment. It was discovered in a state forest near the Tahune Airwalk tourist attraction, 80km southwest of Hobart. A second giant swamp gum named Triarius, standing 86.5 metres tall with a 390cm diameter, was found alongside Centurion. Forestry Tasmania officer David Mannes said Centurion may have been taller in the past. “It appears to have broken off at the top, then re-sprouted a new healthy crown,” he said. The two trees will be safeguarded under the state’s Giant Tree Policy, which provides immediate protection for trees taller than 85 metres. Previously, the tallest known hardwood tree was Icarus Dream, a swamp gum measured at 97 metres tall, in the state’s Styx Valley about 100km northwest of Hobart. http://news.smh.com.au/national/worlds-tallest-hardwood-tree-in-tas-20081010-4y6r.html

27) Green thumb Don Burke is already uncomfortable in what he said was a new job as Gunns Limited’s paid “honest broker” for its environmentally challenged Tasmanian pulp mill. The giant mill plans to be 80 per cent reliant on the island’s native forest for its 3.2 million tonnes of feedstock at start-up, said the timber company. Mr Burke said he understood that in five years the feedstock would be 60 per cent plantation timber. “I said to them I’d like to do that quicker. Obviously, it would be better for Tasmania to use plantation timber.” The choice of Mr Burke, 61, follows his vocal support for the mill over the past year, including as president of the green sceptics’ group, the Australian Environment Foundation. Mill opponents said Mr Burke could lose national standing for working for a company that woodchips old-growth forests and is four years into a contentious civil prosecution of protesters. The TV bushman Harry Butler was criticised for his decision to take a similar consultancy for the Tasmanian government over the Franklin dam. “If the status quo of environmental destruction in Tasmania’s forests remains, Mr Burke will be little more than a high-profile messenger in a ‘greenwashing’ public relations campaign,” said Vica Bayley, a spokesman for The Wilderness Society. Mr Burke confirmed he would be paid for his consultancy, but said his opinions could not be bought. “I don’t like old-growth logging,” he said. “My track record is going into the areas where the greenies will never go, and actually getting better outcomes.” He pointed to his voluntary work for the federal government setting up the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority 15 years ago. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/burkes-back-in-gunns-yard/2008/10/09/1223145542016.html

28) I understand the Victorian Labor (ALP) State Conference this weekend considered the following motion: Preamble: Climate change is already well under way and consequently Victoria’s water supply is very seriously endangered in both rural and urban regions. Despite this, logging continues unabated in what remains of our mountain ash forests and in the areas supposedly set aside as water catchment. This is permitted to occur because of contracts with logging companies that have export commitments for wood chips that are sold to millers at ridiculously low prices (in the order of $8.50 per ton) i.e. the State is subsidizing the millers at the expense of our water supply. Given that Victoria now has plantation timber available to fulfil all our requirements for construction and for paper, it is clear that continuing to destroy the source of our water supply is an unsustainable practice. Conference therefore resolves that it request the State Government to: 1) Immediately ban logging in all water catchment areas 2) Review forest management practice overall with the intent of transferring all logging activity to plantation timber. http://petercampbell.blogspot.com/2008/10/will-labor-stop-logging-melbournes.html

29) Forest activists have disrupted logging in a part of Tasmania that was subject to a protesting truce, the state’s forestry body says. Police said they were called on Monday to remove a tree-sit protester and about 20 other activists blocking a road to a harvesting area of state forest in the Upper Florentine Valley, 120km west of Hobart. Forestry Tasmania spokesman Steve Whiteley said the area was formerly covered by a truce signed between Forestry Tasmania and the Still Wild, Still Threatened activists in early 2007. “The truce provided the opportunity for this group to peacefully lobby politicians in the lead up to the last federal election.” Mr Whiteley said logging resumed in the area last week after it was suspended in June last year to give protesters time to convince politicians to reduce the legislated logging effort. “Having failed to convince politicians the 10 per cent of the Upper Florentine available for harvesting was too much, it would be disappointing if this group again resorts to unlawful activities that hurt contractors.” Mr Whiteley said the protest could cost contractors up to $10,000 a day. Still Wild, Still Threatened activist Christo Mills said the action could last for days and would continue until police arrested all of the protesters. “A forest defender is perched high on a tree-sit to protest against the continued decimation of Tasmania’s carbon dense old growth forests. “We are speaking out against the climate crimes which continue to be perpetuated by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns Limited, and are calling on Kevin Rudd to take immediate action and put a stop to the rampant woodchipping of some of our most significant carbon sinks.” http://news.theage.com.au/national/activists-disrupt-logging-in-tasmania-20081013-4zk0.html

30) The wife of a convener of the Australian Conservation Foundation is being charged with the alleged removal of 150 trees on the couple’s Blue Mountains property. Suzanne Tzannes, owns the weekender with her husband, Ross Tzannes, who is also a governor of WWF, at Mount Irvine, next to the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains National Park. In the bizarre land-clearing case, she is being charged in the Land and Environment Court by Blue Mountains City Council. Ms Tzannes will plead not guilty to the charge, which her husband described as “absurd and embarrassing”. The couple own the Mount Irvine Road property jointly but there is no suggestion that Mr Tzannes was involved in clearing the trees. Only Ms Tzannes is named in the court documents. “I deny the allegation and am defending the matter,” she told the Herald in a statement. The council confirmed it was pursuing the land-clearing charges but said it could not comment publicly about a court case. The contractor who allegedly bulldozed the site is facing separate charges in the court, relating to the unauthorised removal of trees in October 2006. The cleared land, visible from a nearby fire trail, shows piles of felled logs and heaped branches, mostly from eucalypt trees. But the Tzanneses say most of the felled timber dates from before they acquired the land four years ago, and the recent work took place at the request of the Rural Fire Service, with the council’s knowledge. Ms Tzannes alleges a council officer had recommended that dead wood be cleared from the property, and cited a statement from a retired Presbyterian minister as a supporting witness to that conversation. “The work was performed in an environmentally sensible way by a qualified contractor, solely for the protection of the community and the lives of our fire fighters,” Ms Tzannes said. “The old fallen timber had completely blocked the official fire trail through the property and to the fire hydrant located on the land in question. “I have done everything that a reasonable person would do to resolve the issue with council. The small area of bush that this matter is about is now in better condition than it has been in decades.” The couple say they have planted hundreds of trees and shrubs on their property. Mr Tzannes, who isalso a lawyer and a former president of the Sydney Film Festival, said he and his wife were overseas when the contractor was working on the property. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/conservationists-wife-in-trees-row/2008/10/12/1223749845503.html

31) Forestry Tasmania wants protesters who blocked access to a harvesting area of state forest to repay the estimated $10,000 cost of their actions. A protester tethered to a boom gate and 16 other activists from the group Still Wild, Still Threatened abandoned their blockade of a site in the Upper Florentine Valley, 120km west of Hobart, after a police warning on Monday. There were no arrests. Forestry Tasmania spokesman Steve Whiteley said the protest cost up to $10,000 in lost production. “It was a publicity stunt to start the protest season,” he said. “We make an offer each year to discuss the issues but the evidence suggests that this is just the start of another protest season and we can expect more of them.” Police Inspector Glen Woolley said the protesters had aimed to delay forestry employees from reaching their workplace. If they did so again they faced legal action, he said. Still Wild, Still Threatened activist Christo Mills said the group was speaking out against “climate crimes” perpetuated by Forestry Tasmania and the timber company Gunns Limited. “We are calling on (Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd to take immediate action and put a stop to the rampant woodchipping of some of our most significant carbon sinks,” he said. Mr Whiteley said the activists were using global warming as a cover. “Forestry is the only carbon positive industry and it’s a shame that some forest activists are so focused on their anti-forestry campaign, they can’t see the real threat to the planet is not forestry, but those industries reliant on fossil fuels.” But Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said Forestry Tasmania’s claim that logging was carbon positive was “a stunning lie”. The Tasmanian Senator said he had written to Mr Rudd appealing for urgent federal intervention to stop Gunns Ltd destroying heritage tall eucalypt and rainforest in the Upper Florentine Valley. “This forest is habitat for many native species and is a huge hedge against climate change as it holds more than 2000 tonnes per hectare of greenhouse gases,” he said. http://forestaction.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/first-tassie-treesit-of-the-season-costs-logging-company-10000/