East Gippsland current forest issues




	Autumn 2008 Forests - the major player in climate calming Write, call or email ... JOHN BRUMBY - the two faces CLIMATE CHANGE AND FORESTS Snags, chops & forests Australia - world leaders in bovine poo GARNAUT REPORT acknowledges forests RUDD - Coal captured Forests and water Garrett digs to greater depths Blazing trails and forests The fire economy 1080 Women who were weaned on woodchips Sawlog driven - my arse POPULATION - the taboo topic
	THE INFAMOUS POTOROO REVIEW "The Potoroo Review is EEG's 12 page quarterly forest newsletter complete with cartoons and news you'll never read about in the mainstream press. It exposes the skullduggery which industry and government tries to hide. It uses humour to deliver the bad news, presents facts and statistics in an easy to read and jovial way and makes a mockery of the steely-eyed, planet-rapers who pretend to be concerned for our communities and environment. We pull no punches and have easily survived investigations by the Press Council. The Potoroo is a brilliant resource for anyone studying forest politics or just wanting to become more informed." If you want to keep up with the news that never reaches the news, you can subscribe for a bargain $15 a year or $12 if you're poor. *You only read the main headline stories on our website, so don't miss out on the cartoons and other stories. Send cheques to EEG Inc., Private Bag 3, ORBOST Vic. 3888* Tax deductible donations can be sent to our special tax deductible fund - the East Gippsland Forest Fund at the above address. Receipts will be issued promptly. The Potoroo is an endangered 'mini kangaroo' which survives in East Gippsland's forests. Being a fungus eater, it digs a lot of dirt, and like us, is threatened by the logging industry.						Become a member of EEG Inc, to get your copy of the Potoroo Review
	February 2003 Those with private commercial interests in using public land seem to be parroting a simpleton's explanation for bushfires. Here's just a few points that are worth considering: 2002 was Australia's hottest year on record. Unusually high temperatures, low rainfall and high evaporation have combined to make it a freak fire season this summer - the worst in at least 30 years. The worst fires are associated with extreme weather conditions. Fuel reduction burning and firebreaks do little to prevent their spread. CSIRO has predicted the mean Fire Danger Index will increase by 10% if carbon dioxide concentrations double (as predicted by the International Panel on Climate Change). This will mean twice as many extreme fire danger days each year for Victoria. The most severe fire damage occurs in those few high fire danger days per year and the few years per decade when fire danger is at its highest. 80% of fires are caused by humans, deliberately or accidentally. Research into the scale and frequency of wildfires in East Gippsland before Europeans arrived shows there were about 100 years between wildfires. Now the frequency is about every 10 years. Extensive burning-off has been a feature of past 200 years but has not prevented wildfires. Horrendous fires occurred in 1939-40, 1952, 1957, 1968, 1977-78, 1983, 1988, 1994. Frequent fuel reduction burning should not be confused with Aboriginal firestick farming. The latter was usually very precise and used over limited areas in the landscape. Broad-acre 'burning-off' is the opposite of firestick farming and changes the wetter forest ecology, encouraging drier fire adapted plants to dominate. Old growth forests are closed and damp with high moisture levels. They are much less fire prone. These forests are still being clearfelled and lost. We have also lost 50% of our rainforest cover since European settlement. Regrowth forests have thick growth of young trees and extensive fuel for fire in the wattles and other colonising plants. These contain high amounts of oil that encourages fire spread. The fires of Ash Wednesday and Black Friday were mostly in the dry logging regrowth forests. The Royal Commission on Black Friday concluded that alteration to the environment from logging had led to the severity and extent of the fire. There is no differences in fire control and suppression on private or public land, national parks or state forest. Land tenure is not an issue. The conservation movement has never campaigned against control burns. Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of fires start outside parks and burn into them. Jill Redwood Letter from Senator Bob Brown Canberra 27.6.02 Dear Jill, At 7am I heard about the massive earthquake in Iran. By 8 the impending collapse of Worldcom was on. At 9 I was office bound preparing a desperate motion on global warming. Come 10 and the debate on the Howard Bill allowing ministers to brand greenies as terrorists was underway. Labor acquiescing. Then it got worse until, somewhere about 4.36pm I spied Potoroo Review (No 173) in a pile of mail on the desk. After just ten minutes of this magic concoction of irreverence, humour, defiance and subversion-of-the-dominants, I had sore sides and tears in my eyes, and a deep feeling of contentment that there is an upside to the human spirit. We CAN win. Thanks a million. Make it biannual. Double the subscription. I love Potoroo! XXX Bob home \| current issues \| news archive \| image archive \| who is EEG \| links