Media Release
Prue Acton and Noel Plumb, South East Region Conservation Alliance, 25 July 2011
The South East Forests Cannot Wait Any Longer
The South East Region Conservation Alliance has said that it doubts the announcement of $250 million for forest conservation in Tasmania is sustainable, politically or environmentally.
“Sadly, it looks as though it is a dud that will cause the Gillard Government enormous political pain,” said Prue Acton and Noel Plumb, spokespersons for the South East Region Conservation Alliance (SERCA).
“We can no longer be confident that reform of the Tasmanian logging industry will be a blueprint to protect the South East Forests (covering the NSW south coast and Victoria’s East Gippsland), the critical next step in forest protection around Australia.”
“We are deeply disappointed that this deal does not clearly set out a quick and certain path to end native forest logging in Tasmania and elsewhere. It does not even stop the present targeted destruction of high conservation value forests identified by scientists and the community.”
“This looks like another massive waste of taxpayer’s money, prolonging the death throes of an unsustainable industry rejected by most Australians. (Galaxy Poll May 2010)”
“The money, part of more than one billion dollars announced in the Clean Energy Future policy just two weeks ago to protect biodiversity and carbon stores, needs to be used to genuinely protect forests, not to prop up a doomed woodchip driven industry. Saving forests, not destroying them, is the most cost effective way to reduce Australia’s carbon emissions and save our wildlife.”
“The Gillard Government now needs to urgently intervene to stop the woodchip monster that is eating the South East Forests as well as fixing up the dud deal in Tasmania.”
“We are calling on Prime Minister Gillard to immediately engage the NSW and Victorian Governments on the protection of the South East Forests.”
“The critical role of native forests in protecting biodiversity and fighting climate change has been highlighted by scientists around the world”
“ Yet, at this very minute, intensive logging is threatening to wipe out the last coastal koala population on the NSW south coast and is simultaneously threatening the future of tourism based on Australia’s ‘Wilderness Coast’ stretching from Bermagui to Bairnsdale in Victoria. (See below) “
“The once mighty spotted gum forests of Bermagui, home to the last coastal koalas, are being destroyed right now for export woodchips to Japan. For years the local community has begged the Federal and NSW Government to protect this forest and the those of Mumbulla, Tathra, Tanja, Murrah and Gulaga as home to the last south coast koala colony, with no more than 50 koalas left.”
“Lying at the northern entrance to Australia’s wilderness coast, recently declared by Martin Ferguson as an international tourism landscape, these forests are also winter feeding grounds of the last remaining Swift Parrots. The parrots and our coastal koalas are both on the knife edge of extinction.”
For further comment: -
Prue Acton SERCA 02 6494 5144 or 0419 393 203
Noel Plumb ChipBusters 0425 23 83 03
25 July, 2011
Tasmania in $274m forests deal
Andrew Darby, Hobart
The Age, July 25, 2011
PEACE is closer to being secured in the decades-long fight over Tasmanian forests after a $274 million government package aimed at ending most logging of native forests was agreed on at the weekend.
But while the deal hammered out between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings has the full backing of industry, it has been criticised by the Greens.
The deal puts into effect principles already agreed on by the two sides to shift the industry out of most public native forests, to protect many of those forests in national parks, and to compensate those forced to leave.
Tasmania's forests debate has been a defining national green issue since the 1980s, marked by repeated attempts at settlement that have only bought temporary truces.
Ms Gillard said the conflict had at times been "very bitter indeed", but the deal would ensure complete agreement could be be reached, she said.
Changing commercial conditions — chiefly the rejection of native forest woodchips by the Japanese — drove the industry and green groups into talks.
The package confirms the reservation of 430,000 hectares of native forest around the state.
Among areas protected will be the hotly disputed very tall forests that fringe the World Heritage wilderness, the Tarkine rainforests of the island's north-west, and a sprinkling of mountainous coastal forests around the east coast.
"People do want to see appropriate protection for ancient and iconic forests, for areas of high conservation value, and the agreement that has been struck . . . does enable us to do it," Ms Gillard said.
With the lion's share of funds to come from the Commonwealth, the package's big ticket items are $85 million for workers and contractors who lose their jobs in industry restructuring; $120 million in extra regional development money for Tasmania; and $43 million to implement the changes.
The deal ensures existing major logging contracts can be fulfilled from forests outside the protected areas, but halves the key sawlog quota.
The strategically important Triabunna woodchip mill, bought by the wealthy environmentalists Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood last week, is to keep operating.
But its chips will need certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, which means an end to the mass woodchipping of old-growth areas.
Ms Giddings called for an end to environmental protests targeting the industry, saying the agreement marked an end to debate over logging in old-growth forests. "It is clear that against the tide of changing market conditions, doing nothing is not an option," she said.
The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania said the deal delivered it certainty and security. "We do fully support the agreement," chief executive Terry Edwards said.
Green groups said they backed the governments' decision to reach an important decision. But one of the negotiators, Phill Pullinger of Environment Tasmania, said critical points still lay ahead in translating the weekend's federal-state heads of agreement into a fully operational process.
The Tasmanian Greens, who hold the balance of power in the state's Parliament, reserved the right not to support some elements of the agreement, which may need to be legislated.
And national Greens leader Bob Brown derided the agreement as a "Labor-Labor-loggers" outcome. "The popular expectation that a 610,000-hectare system of wild forest national parks would be established, as the loggers were bailed out of their failing industry, has been dashed," Senator Brown said.
The Age, July 25, 2011
PEACE is closer to being secured in the decades-long fight over Tasmanian forests after a $274 million government package aimed at ending most logging of native forests was agreed on at the weekend.
But while the deal hammered out between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings has the full backing of industry, it has been criticised by the Greens.
The deal puts into effect principles already agreed on by the two sides to shift the industry out of most public native forests, to protect many of those forests in national parks, and to compensate those forced to leave.
Tasmania's forests debate has been a defining national green issue since the 1980s, marked by repeated attempts at settlement that have only bought temporary truces.
Ms Gillard said the conflict had at times been "very bitter indeed", but the deal would ensure complete agreement could be be reached, she said.
Changing commercial conditions — chiefly the rejection of native forest woodchips by the Japanese — drove the industry and green groups into talks.
The package confirms the reservation of 430,000 hectares of native forest around the state.
Among areas protected will be the hotly disputed very tall forests that fringe the World Heritage wilderness, the Tarkine rainforests of the island's north-west, and a sprinkling of mountainous coastal forests around the east coast.
"People do want to see appropriate protection for ancient and iconic forests, for areas of high conservation value, and the agreement that has been struck . . . does enable us to do it," Ms Gillard said.
With the lion's share of funds to come from the Commonwealth, the package's big ticket items are $85 million for workers and contractors who lose their jobs in industry restructuring; $120 million in extra regional development money for Tasmania; and $43 million to implement the changes.
The deal ensures existing major logging contracts can be fulfilled from forests outside the protected areas, but halves the key sawlog quota.
The strategically important Triabunna woodchip mill, bought by the wealthy environmentalists Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood last week, is to keep operating.
But its chips will need certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, which means an end to the mass woodchipping of old-growth areas.
Ms Giddings called for an end to environmental protests targeting the industry, saying the agreement marked an end to debate over logging in old-growth forests. "It is clear that against the tide of changing market conditions, doing nothing is not an option," she said.
The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania said the deal delivered it certainty and security. "We do fully support the agreement," chief executive Terry Edwards said.
Green groups said they backed the governments' decision to reach an important decision. But one of the negotiators, Phill Pullinger of Environment Tasmania, said critical points still lay ahead in translating the weekend's federal-state heads of agreement into a fully operational process.
The Tasmanian Greens, who hold the balance of power in the state's Parliament, reserved the right not to support some elements of the agreement, which may need to be legislated.
And national Greens leader Bob Brown derided the agreement as a "Labor-Labor-loggers" outcome. "The popular expectation that a 610,000-hectare system of wild forest national parks would be established, as the loggers were bailed out of their failing industry, has been dashed," Senator Brown said.
24 July, 2011
PM signs historic forest peace deal
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), July 24, 201
The latest attempt at a peace deal for Tasmania's forests has been agreed to by both the Tasmanian and Federal Government.
Industry has backed the plan, but it has already been rejected by the Greens at both a state and federal level.
It comes after nine months of negotiations between conservation groups and the forest industry.
The agreement effectively halves the Tasmanian timber industry and moves it almost out of native forest logging.
The package highlights are:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard signed the historic heads of agreement with Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings in Hobart today.
"We have put cold hard cash on the table to get it done," Ms Gillard said.
"This is a very significant step forward in a process that is aimed at trying to end the conflict that has caused so much conflict, for so many, for decades in this State," Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings said.
Ms Giddings has until the end of the year to verify and protect 430,000 hectares of native forest from logging, which will be placed in an informal reserve immediately.
"As Prime Minister I've always said I'm all about jobs and this is about supporting jobs in Tasmania. But it is also about securing an environmental outcome," Ms Giddings said.
The deal has been forced on the industry because its markets have collapsed.
A decade-long campaign by conservationists aimed at international woodchip buyers started the rot and the global financial crisis brought the industry to its knees.
At the same time the biggest industry player - Gunns - decided to get out of native forest logging to win approval for the Tamar Valley pulp mill which will take plantation timber.
"What is fundamentally different here is this isn't Government telling people what to do. This is stakeholders coming together recognising that the industry has changed," Ms Gillard said.
The negotiations failed to mandate how long the strategically important Triabunna woodchip mill should keep operating.
Conservationists and industry are yet to sign the deal, that should be done within two weeks.
The Greens have rejected the package.
"This is not an agreement that we will go along with. It gives $148 million to the loggers in the financial year but does not permanently protect 1 hectare of what the Prime Minister calls ancient and iconic forests," Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said.
Senator Christine Milne says the agreement sells out the public expectation that there would be a breakthrough in the 30-year conflict.
"That opportunity has now been squandered. Appeasement as a strategy has never worked and it won't work in this case and now it's going to be over to the market," she said.
The Wilderness Society which was a key player in the peace talks says it supports the compensation package and will work to make sure the forests are protected.
"It is our intention to be sure that the detail that still needs to be worked through to end up in the actual inter-governmental agreement provides for the protection of the forests," campaigner Vica Bayley said.
The timber industry says it is a compromise driven by necessity.
"I don't think there's anyone that will say they got everything that they wanted. It's been a genuine negotiation process and like any negotiation process there's had to be some compromise," the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania chief executive, Terry Edwards said.
But industry wants one further guarantee.
"That there will be peace in our forests and in our markets as a result of this agreement."
The latest attempt at a peace deal for Tasmania's forests has been agreed to by both the Tasmanian and Federal Government.
Industry has backed the plan, but it has already been rejected by the Greens at both a state and federal level.
It comes after nine months of negotiations between conservation groups and the forest industry.
The agreement effectively halves the Tasmanian timber industry and moves it almost out of native forest logging.
The package highlights are:
- $85 million in immediate assistance to forest workers and contractors to exit the industry permanently.
- $120 million over 15 years will be provided for regional development projects to diversify the Tasmanian economy.
- $43 million will be given to the State to buy back native wood contracts, which would include Gunns.
- 430,000 hectares of native forest is to be put into informal reserves protected from logging.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard signed the historic heads of agreement with Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings in Hobart today.
"We have put cold hard cash on the table to get it done," Ms Gillard said.
"This is a very significant step forward in a process that is aimed at trying to end the conflict that has caused so much conflict, for so many, for decades in this State," Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings said.
Ms Giddings has until the end of the year to verify and protect 430,000 hectares of native forest from logging, which will be placed in an informal reserve immediately.
"As Prime Minister I've always said I'm all about jobs and this is about supporting jobs in Tasmania. But it is also about securing an environmental outcome," Ms Giddings said.
The deal has been forced on the industry because its markets have collapsed.
A decade-long campaign by conservationists aimed at international woodchip buyers started the rot and the global financial crisis brought the industry to its knees.
At the same time the biggest industry player - Gunns - decided to get out of native forest logging to win approval for the Tamar Valley pulp mill which will take plantation timber.
"What is fundamentally different here is this isn't Government telling people what to do. This is stakeholders coming together recognising that the industry has changed," Ms Gillard said.
The negotiations failed to mandate how long the strategically important Triabunna woodchip mill should keep operating.
Conservationists and industry are yet to sign the deal, that should be done within two weeks.
The Greens have rejected the package.
"This is not an agreement that we will go along with. It gives $148 million to the loggers in the financial year but does not permanently protect 1 hectare of what the Prime Minister calls ancient and iconic forests," Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said.
Senator Christine Milne says the agreement sells out the public expectation that there would be a breakthrough in the 30-year conflict.
"That opportunity has now been squandered. Appeasement as a strategy has never worked and it won't work in this case and now it's going to be over to the market," she said.
The Wilderness Society which was a key player in the peace talks says it supports the compensation package and will work to make sure the forests are protected.
"It is our intention to be sure that the detail that still needs to be worked through to end up in the actual inter-governmental agreement provides for the protection of the forests," campaigner Vica Bayley said.
The timber industry says it is a compromise driven by necessity.
"I don't think there's anyone that will say they got everything that they wanted. It's been a genuine negotiation process and like any negotiation process there's had to be some compromise," the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania chief executive, Terry Edwards said.
But industry wants one further guarantee.
"That there will be peace in our forests and in our markets as a result of this agreement."
22 July, 2011
Anger as logging begins at controversial Sylvia Creek forest near Melbourne
MEDIA RELEASE
Friday, 22 July 2011
VicForests has sent the chainsaws into the Sylvia Creek forest on Melbourne’s north east fringe, despite conceding that the area contains old-growth trees more than 110 years old.
Over 100 people protested at the site near Toolangi last weekend, forcing both VicForests and the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) to conduct new surveys to check the forest’s environmental values.
“DSE has confirmed the logging coupe contains old growth trees, even though VicForests and Government Minister Louise Asher insisted last week that it was not old growth forest,” said Wilderness Society forest campaigner Luke Chamberlain.
"We demand an acknowledgment from the then Acting Premier that she has either been deceived by VicForests or she herself has misled the public. Louise Asher must apologise to the people of Toolangi."
“As a result of community action, VicForests has been forced to remove three hectares of old growth and rainforest from their logging plans, but they have sent the chainsaws into the remaining forest today.”
DSE and VicForests claim that the area being logged is not suitable habitat for the endangered Leadbeater's Possum, but expert scientists and conservationists disagree.
“Over half the Leadbeater's Possum’s forest habitat was destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires, so every last bit that survives is incredibly precious, and essential to this tiny animals’ survival,” said spokesperson for local group ‘My Environment’ Sarah Rees.
“The criteria the government is using to identify Leadbeater's Possum habitat are too conservative. We’re talking about Victoria’s wildlife emblem, we should be making sure they multiply and flourish, not simply cling on to the edge of survival.”
“The local community is up in arms about losing this beautiful, high conservation value forest, and is planning further protests.”
The Burned Area Emergency Response Report (BAER) commissioned by the Brumby Government after the 2009 bushfires recommended preserving refuge areas such as those in Toolangi for biodiversity recovery.
Note: photos of Leadbeater's Possum available on request
For comment
- Luke Chamberlain, The Wilderness Society 0424 098 729
- Sarah Rees, My Environment Inc. 0438 368 870
Friday, 22 July 2011
VicForests has sent the chainsaws into the Sylvia Creek forest on Melbourne’s north east fringe, despite conceding that the area contains old-growth trees more than 110 years old.
Over 100 people protested at the site near Toolangi last weekend, forcing both VicForests and the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) to conduct new surveys to check the forest’s environmental values.
“DSE has confirmed the logging coupe contains old growth trees, even though VicForests and Government Minister Louise Asher insisted last week that it was not old growth forest,” said Wilderness Society forest campaigner Luke Chamberlain.
"We demand an acknowledgment from the then Acting Premier that she has either been deceived by VicForests or she herself has misled the public. Louise Asher must apologise to the people of Toolangi."
“As a result of community action, VicForests has been forced to remove three hectares of old growth and rainforest from their logging plans, but they have sent the chainsaws into the remaining forest today.”
DSE and VicForests claim that the area being logged is not suitable habitat for the endangered Leadbeater's Possum, but expert scientists and conservationists disagree.
“Over half the Leadbeater's Possum’s forest habitat was destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires, so every last bit that survives is incredibly precious, and essential to this tiny animals’ survival,” said spokesperson for local group ‘My Environment’ Sarah Rees.
“The criteria the government is using to identify Leadbeater's Possum habitat are too conservative. We’re talking about Victoria’s wildlife emblem, we should be making sure they multiply and flourish, not simply cling on to the edge of survival.”
“The local community is up in arms about losing this beautiful, high conservation value forest, and is planning further protests.”
The Burned Area Emergency Response Report (BAER) commissioned by the Brumby Government after the 2009 bushfires recommended preserving refuge areas such as those in Toolangi for biodiversity recovery.
Note: photos of Leadbeater's Possum available on request
For comment
- Luke Chamberlain, The Wilderness Society 0424 098 729
- Sarah Rees, My Environment Inc. 0438 368 870
17 July, 2011
Forests soak up third of fossil fuel emissions: study
Marlowe Hood (AFP)
Via Google News, 15 July 2011
PARIS — Forests play a larger role in Earth's climate system than previously suspected for both the risks from deforestation and the potential gains from regrowth, a benchmark study released Thursday has shown.
The study, published in Science, provides the most accurate measure so far of the amount of greenhouse gases absorbed from the atmosphere by tropical, temperate and boreal forests, researchers said.
"This is the first complete and global evidence of the overwhelming role of forests in removing anthropogenic carbon dioxide," said co-author Josep Canadell, a scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national climate research centre in Canberra.
"If you were to stop deforestation tomorrow, the world's established and regrowing forests would remove half of fossil fuel emissions," he told AFP, describing the findings as both "incredible" and "unexpected".
Wooded areas across the planet soak up fully a third of the fossil fuels released into the atmosphere each year, some 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon, the study found.
At the same time, the ongoing and barely constrained destruction of forests -- mainly in the tropics -- for food, fuel and development was shown to emit 2.9 billion tonnes of carbon annually, more than a quarter of all emissions stemming from human activity.
Up to now, scientists have estimated that deforestation accounted for 12 to 20 percent of total greenhouse gas output.
The big surprise, said Canadell, was the huge capacity of tropical forests that have regenerated after logging or slash-and-burn land clearance to purge carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"We estimate that tropical forest regrowth is removing an average of 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon each year," he said in an e-mail exchange.
Adding up the new figures reveals that all the world's forests combined are a net "sink", or sponge, for 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon, the equivalent of 13 percent of all the coal, oil land gas burned across the planet annually.
"That's huge. These are 'savings' worth billions of euros a year if that quantity had to be paid out by current mitigation (CO2 reduction) strategies or the price of carbon in the European market," Canadell said.
The international team of climate scientists combined data -- covering the period 1990 through 2007 -- from forests inventories, climate models and satellites to construct a profile of the role global forests have played as regulators of the atmosphere.
In terms of climate change policy, the study has two critically important implications, said Canadell.
The fact that previous science underestimated both the capacity of woodlands to remove CO2, and the emissions caused by deforestation, means that "forests are even more at the forefront as a strategy to protect our climate", he said.
It also follows that forests should play a larger role in emerging carbon markets, he added.
"The amount of saving which are up for grabs is very large, certainly larger than what we thought," Canadell said.
The UN-backed scheme known as REDD -- Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation -- allots credit to tropical countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa that slow rates of forest destruction.
It also provides a mechanism for rich countries to offset their own carbon-reduction commitments by investing in that process.
Two decades was not enough to discern possible long-term trends due to year-on-year variability due to fluctuations in weather, insect attacks and other factors.
But the tropics did show a clear decline in the capacity to soak up CO2 due to a so-called "once-in-a-century" drought in Amazonia in 2005.
The region suffered an even worse drought in 2010, beyond the time frame of the study.
The breakdown over the last decade for CO2 removal was 1.8 billion tonnes each year for boreal forests at high latitudes, 2.9 billion for temperate forests, and 3.7 billion for tropical forests.
Once deforestation and regrowth are taken into account, however, tropical forests have been essentially carbon neutral.
Via Google News, 15 July 2011
PARIS — Forests play a larger role in Earth's climate system than previously suspected for both the risks from deforestation and the potential gains from regrowth, a benchmark study released Thursday has shown.
The study, published in Science, provides the most accurate measure so far of the amount of greenhouse gases absorbed from the atmosphere by tropical, temperate and boreal forests, researchers said.
"This is the first complete and global evidence of the overwhelming role of forests in removing anthropogenic carbon dioxide," said co-author Josep Canadell, a scientist at CSIRO, Australia's national climate research centre in Canberra.
"If you were to stop deforestation tomorrow, the world's established and regrowing forests would remove half of fossil fuel emissions," he told AFP, describing the findings as both "incredible" and "unexpected".
Wooded areas across the planet soak up fully a third of the fossil fuels released into the atmosphere each year, some 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon, the study found.
At the same time, the ongoing and barely constrained destruction of forests -- mainly in the tropics -- for food, fuel and development was shown to emit 2.9 billion tonnes of carbon annually, more than a quarter of all emissions stemming from human activity.
Up to now, scientists have estimated that deforestation accounted for 12 to 20 percent of total greenhouse gas output.
The big surprise, said Canadell, was the huge capacity of tropical forests that have regenerated after logging or slash-and-burn land clearance to purge carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"We estimate that tropical forest regrowth is removing an average of 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon each year," he said in an e-mail exchange.
Adding up the new figures reveals that all the world's forests combined are a net "sink", or sponge, for 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon, the equivalent of 13 percent of all the coal, oil land gas burned across the planet annually.
"That's huge. These are 'savings' worth billions of euros a year if that quantity had to be paid out by current mitigation (CO2 reduction) strategies or the price of carbon in the European market," Canadell said.
The international team of climate scientists combined data -- covering the period 1990 through 2007 -- from forests inventories, climate models and satellites to construct a profile of the role global forests have played as regulators of the atmosphere.
In terms of climate change policy, the study has two critically important implications, said Canadell.
The fact that previous science underestimated both the capacity of woodlands to remove CO2, and the emissions caused by deforestation, means that "forests are even more at the forefront as a strategy to protect our climate", he said.
It also follows that forests should play a larger role in emerging carbon markets, he added.
"The amount of saving which are up for grabs is very large, certainly larger than what we thought," Canadell said.
The UN-backed scheme known as REDD -- Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation -- allots credit to tropical countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa that slow rates of forest destruction.
It also provides a mechanism for rich countries to offset their own carbon-reduction commitments by investing in that process.
Two decades was not enough to discern possible long-term trends due to year-on-year variability due to fluctuations in weather, insect attacks and other factors.
But the tropics did show a clear decline in the capacity to soak up CO2 due to a so-called "once-in-a-century" drought in Amazonia in 2005.
The region suffered an even worse drought in 2010, beyond the time frame of the study.
The breakdown over the last decade for CO2 removal was 1.8 billion tonnes each year for boreal forests at high latitudes, 2.9 billion for temperate forests, and 3.7 billion for tropical forests.
Once deforestation and regrowth are taken into account, however, tropical forests have been essentially carbon neutral.
16 July, 2011
Wilderness wolf dons woodchipper's clothing
Andrew Darby, Hobart,
The Age, July 16, 2011
A CONTROVERSIAL former head of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society has been hired to run a strategic woodchip mill bought by two wealthy environmentalists.
Wotif founder Graeme Wood and Kathmandu creator Jan Cameron have hired green hard man Alec Marr to manage the Triabunna mill, which chipped millions of old growth trees he had tried to save.
As general manager, Mr Marr will negotiate on behalf of the pair, who with their surprise $10 million purchase have dealt themselves in on historic peace talks on native forest logging.
Once the chief defendant in a civil prosecution launched by Triabunna's seller, Gunns, and forced out of the Wilderness Society last September in a power struggle, Mr Marr's choice amazed industry observers.
''Alec Marr is going to be a woodchipper?'' said Timber Communities Australia state manager, Barry Chipman. ''It is probably a fitting way to end a bizarre week.''
Senior Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said: ''This is Green cronyism and triumphalism at its ugliest.''
Mr Marr declined to comment, but Mr Wood said Mr Marr's personal views of the timber industry would not matter. ''His job is to implement the Forest Statement of Principles, and to work with all industry players to reopen the mill,'' Mr Wood told The Saturday Age.
Green and industry groups have been in talks for more than a year in an effort to end 25 years of conflict.
In their latest deal they agreed to protect up to 430,000 hectares of Tasmania's public native forest, but still operate some sawlog and veneer mills.
Woodchips are claimed to be crucial secondary income for the surviving timber operations, and the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania wants Triabunna to keep chipping until at least 2027. The association's chief executive, Terry Edwards, warned that if the mill was not kept open, the industry would not be able to back the deal.
But with Japanese export markets increasingly rejecting native forest chips, Triabunna, on the state's east coast, was shut by Gunns and its last 120,000 tonnes sold to China at a discount.
When it reopens under new ownership, contentious timber is unlikely to enter its gates.
Mr Wood said his original view was that the chip mill should operate for three to five years before the site was turned into a tourist development.
''Having spoken to government people, that may have to go out,'' he said. ''But there is no way of knowing that until we have detailed discussions.''
Now Mr Marr, a blunt and at times abrasive negotiator deeply experienced in dealing with government and industry, will be leading those talks.
Mr Wood tried to reassure local people that the new owners of the mill wanted to build a strong future beyond the woodchipping of native forests. ''There are not any simple problems in the world,'' he said. ''They are all complex, and they can all be resolved.
''Our longer-term goal is to look at regional development and fit in with that. We believe Triabunna will be good for tourism and wine, and it's an early starter with the [national broadband network] NBN. Plus it's a lovely part of the world.''
The Age, July 16, 2011
A CONTROVERSIAL former head of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society has been hired to run a strategic woodchip mill bought by two wealthy environmentalists.
Wotif founder Graeme Wood and Kathmandu creator Jan Cameron have hired green hard man Alec Marr to manage the Triabunna mill, which chipped millions of old growth trees he had tried to save.
As general manager, Mr Marr will negotiate on behalf of the pair, who with their surprise $10 million purchase have dealt themselves in on historic peace talks on native forest logging.
Once the chief defendant in a civil prosecution launched by Triabunna's seller, Gunns, and forced out of the Wilderness Society last September in a power struggle, Mr Marr's choice amazed industry observers.
''Alec Marr is going to be a woodchipper?'' said Timber Communities Australia state manager, Barry Chipman. ''It is probably a fitting way to end a bizarre week.''
Senior Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said: ''This is Green cronyism and triumphalism at its ugliest.''
Mr Marr declined to comment, but Mr Wood said Mr Marr's personal views of the timber industry would not matter. ''His job is to implement the Forest Statement of Principles, and to work with all industry players to reopen the mill,'' Mr Wood told The Saturday Age.
Green and industry groups have been in talks for more than a year in an effort to end 25 years of conflict.
In their latest deal they agreed to protect up to 430,000 hectares of Tasmania's public native forest, but still operate some sawlog and veneer mills.
Woodchips are claimed to be crucial secondary income for the surviving timber operations, and the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania wants Triabunna to keep chipping until at least 2027. The association's chief executive, Terry Edwards, warned that if the mill was not kept open, the industry would not be able to back the deal.
But with Japanese export markets increasingly rejecting native forest chips, Triabunna, on the state's east coast, was shut by Gunns and its last 120,000 tonnes sold to China at a discount.
When it reopens under new ownership, contentious timber is unlikely to enter its gates.
Mr Wood said his original view was that the chip mill should operate for three to five years before the site was turned into a tourist development.
''Having spoken to government people, that may have to go out,'' he said. ''But there is no way of knowing that until we have detailed discussions.''
Now Mr Marr, a blunt and at times abrasive negotiator deeply experienced in dealing with government and industry, will be leading those talks.
Mr Wood tried to reassure local people that the new owners of the mill wanted to build a strong future beyond the woodchipping of native forests. ''There are not any simple problems in the world,'' he said. ''They are all complex, and they can all be resolved.
''Our longer-term goal is to look at regional development and fit in with that. We believe Triabunna will be good for tourism and wine, and it's an early starter with the [national broadband network] NBN. Plus it's a lovely part of the world.''
Tree saviour named as Tasmanian mill boss
Andrew Darby, Hobart
The Age, 16 July 2011
About turn … Alec Marr will run Triabunna woodchip mill. Photo: Jason South
TASMANIA'S forest industry, still reeling from the sale of a strategic woodchip mill to two environmentalists, has been shocked to learn who will run it - the green hard man Alec Marr.
The Wotif founder, Graeme Wood, and the Kathmandu creator, Jan Cameron, have hired Mr Marr, a former Wilderness Society boss, to manage the Triabunna mill that chipped millions of old-growth trees he tried to save.
As their general manager, Mr Marr will negotiate on behalf of the pair who, with their surprise $10 million buy, dealt themselves into historic peace talks on native forest logging.
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Once chief defendant in a civil prosecution launched by the seller of Triabunna, Gunns, and forced out of the Wilderness Society, Mr Marr's selection amazed industry observers.
''Alec Marr is going to be a woodchipper?'' the Timber Communities Australia state manager, Barry Chipman, said. ''It is probably a fitting way to end a bizarre week.''
The Liberal senator Eric Abetz said it was ''Green cronyism and triumphalism at its ugliest''.
Mr Marr declined to comment but Mr Wood said Mr Marr's personal views of the timber industry would not matter.
''His job is to implement the forest statement of principles and to work with all industry players to re-open the mill.''
Green and industry groups have been in talks for more than a year to craft the statement of principles and end 25 years of conflict. Their latest deal agreed to protect up to 430,000 hectares of Tasmania's public native forest but still operate some sawlog and veneer mills.
Woodchips are claimed as crucial secondary income for the surviving timber operations, and the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania wants Triabunna to keep chipping until at least 2027.
The association's chief executive, Terry Edwards, warned that if the mill was not kept open, the industry would not be able to back the deal.
With Japanese export markets increasingly rejecting native forest chips, Gunns shut Triabunna in April. When it re-opens under new ownership, contentious timber is increasingly unlikely to enter its gates.
Mr Wood said his original view was that the chip mill should operate for three to five years before the site was turned into a tourist development.
''Having spoken to government people, that may have to go out,'' he said.
Now Mr Marr, a blunt and at times abrasive negotiator, will be leading further talks.
Mr Wood tried to reassure residents about a future beyond woodchipping. ''We believe Triabunna will be good for tourism and wine,'' he said.
The Age, 16 July 2011
About turn … Alec Marr will run Triabunna woodchip mill. Photo: Jason South
TASMANIA'S forest industry, still reeling from the sale of a strategic woodchip mill to two environmentalists, has been shocked to learn who will run it - the green hard man Alec Marr.
The Wotif founder, Graeme Wood, and the Kathmandu creator, Jan Cameron, have hired Mr Marr, a former Wilderness Society boss, to manage the Triabunna mill that chipped millions of old-growth trees he tried to save.
As their general manager, Mr Marr will negotiate on behalf of the pair who, with their surprise $10 million buy, dealt themselves into historic peace talks on native forest logging.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Once chief defendant in a civil prosecution launched by the seller of Triabunna, Gunns, and forced out of the Wilderness Society, Mr Marr's selection amazed industry observers.
''Alec Marr is going to be a woodchipper?'' the Timber Communities Australia state manager, Barry Chipman, said. ''It is probably a fitting way to end a bizarre week.''
The Liberal senator Eric Abetz said it was ''Green cronyism and triumphalism at its ugliest''.
Mr Marr declined to comment but Mr Wood said Mr Marr's personal views of the timber industry would not matter.
''His job is to implement the forest statement of principles and to work with all industry players to re-open the mill.''
Green and industry groups have been in talks for more than a year to craft the statement of principles and end 25 years of conflict. Their latest deal agreed to protect up to 430,000 hectares of Tasmania's public native forest but still operate some sawlog and veneer mills.
Woodchips are claimed as crucial secondary income for the surviving timber operations, and the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania wants Triabunna to keep chipping until at least 2027.
The association's chief executive, Terry Edwards, warned that if the mill was not kept open, the industry would not be able to back the deal.
With Japanese export markets increasingly rejecting native forest chips, Gunns shut Triabunna in April. When it re-opens under new ownership, contentious timber is increasingly unlikely to enter its gates.
Mr Wood said his original view was that the chip mill should operate for three to five years before the site was turned into a tourist development.
''Having spoken to government people, that may have to go out,'' he said.
Now Mr Marr, a blunt and at times abrasive negotiator, will be leading further talks.
Mr Wood tried to reassure residents about a future beyond woodchipping. ''We believe Triabunna will be good for tourism and wine,'' he said.
Forests reality swayed Gunns
Greg L'Estrange, Gunns Ltd
THE MERCURY, 16 July 2011
THERE is little point in the Tasmanian native forest industry crying that the sky will fall in because of Gunns' decision to sell the Triabunna sawmill to a non-industry investor.
The sky fell in probably two years ago. This is just the latest bit of debris to fall.
It shows that it is high time Tasmania came to grips with what Gunns has been saying for the past 18 months - that the industry in Tasmania needs significant structural change if there is to be a long-term future in native forestry.
It was a very difficult decision made by Gunns to sell an asset historically pivotal to southern Tasmania's native forest sector, and what has been the economic hub of the Triabunna community.
We gave Aprin time beyond the deadline, and worked hard with them to make it happen.
My first obligation is to Gunns' shareholders, and for reasons fair or foul Aprin could not get their finance in order in time. Aprin now knows what Gunns has known for some time.
Financial backers won't risk the pressure inflicted on them by interest groups, and why should they run that risk for an investment in a declining industry?
Whether we like it or not, native forestry in Tasmania is in serious trouble, and the negotiations over the forest principles are possibly the only way to soften the impact of that fallout.
It was on this basis that Gunns made a condition of sale to Triabunna Investments that the mill continue to operate as required for the Forest Principles Agreement to work. We insisted on this and it was accepted.
This was no sell-out of the industry.
We could have done that 12 months ago if we wished but we have worked tirelessly and consistently to try to achieve a successful outcome for the industry, consistent with the forest principles.
We marketed the sale of Triabunna to numerous customers and industry peers. There was no interest.
This was no backflip by Gunns. We have consistently stated that we are exiting from native forests and that we were working to achieve an orderly exit from our facilities in line with the forest principles.
And now, even in the absence of an industry operator to purchase Triabunna, we have still ensured an outcome consistent with those principles.
Industry signatories to the principles were consulted in relation to our decision to sell Triabunna to Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood. There was no resistance provided the facility had the opportunity to operate consistent with the principles.
That is what has been achieved.
We would hope that a successful implementation of the principles leads to a sustainable future for the Triabunna mill.
The success or failure of that now lies with the signatories of the principles and governments to implement.
It is difficult for all Tasmanians to see the harsh realities of a once proud industry on its last legs.
It is a reality that Gunns has had to face and which it has tried to soften in its actions to accelerate out of a fading industry and carve out a new future in plantation pulp production.
The linkage with the tactics of the environment groups also can't be ignored. They have influenced our customers and our funders.
There's no point crying foul. Gunns has just done what we have to do to get the business back on to a stable footing. That means a commitment to get out of native forestry.
We have honoured that commitment but worked to try to ensure an ongoing industry outcome for those that wish to continue in the native-based industries. And we will continue to do that.
Tasmania needs to imagine a future with not just a pulp mill, not just a national park and winery tourist industry, not just a world-class art gallery. It needs to work hard to broaden its economy and make it truly sustainable for years to come.
So I say to the industry, start some joint problem-solving.
Do this for the sake of the communities struggling to come to terms with unforgiving change.
They need your leadership now more than ever.
THE MERCURY, 16 July 2011
THERE is little point in the Tasmanian native forest industry crying that the sky will fall in because of Gunns' decision to sell the Triabunna sawmill to a non-industry investor.
The sky fell in probably two years ago. This is just the latest bit of debris to fall.
It shows that it is high time Tasmania came to grips with what Gunns has been saying for the past 18 months - that the industry in Tasmania needs significant structural change if there is to be a long-term future in native forestry.
It was a very difficult decision made by Gunns to sell an asset historically pivotal to southern Tasmania's native forest sector, and what has been the economic hub of the Triabunna community.
We gave Aprin time beyond the deadline, and worked hard with them to make it happen.
My first obligation is to Gunns' shareholders, and for reasons fair or foul Aprin could not get their finance in order in time. Aprin now knows what Gunns has known for some time.
Financial backers won't risk the pressure inflicted on them by interest groups, and why should they run that risk for an investment in a declining industry?
Whether we like it or not, native forestry in Tasmania is in serious trouble, and the negotiations over the forest principles are possibly the only way to soften the impact of that fallout.
It was on this basis that Gunns made a condition of sale to Triabunna Investments that the mill continue to operate as required for the Forest Principles Agreement to work. We insisted on this and it was accepted.
This was no sell-out of the industry.
We could have done that 12 months ago if we wished but we have worked tirelessly and consistently to try to achieve a successful outcome for the industry, consistent with the forest principles.
We marketed the sale of Triabunna to numerous customers and industry peers. There was no interest.
This was no backflip by Gunns. We have consistently stated that we are exiting from native forests and that we were working to achieve an orderly exit from our facilities in line with the forest principles.
And now, even in the absence of an industry operator to purchase Triabunna, we have still ensured an outcome consistent with those principles.
Industry signatories to the principles were consulted in relation to our decision to sell Triabunna to Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood. There was no resistance provided the facility had the opportunity to operate consistent with the principles.
That is what has been achieved.
We would hope that a successful implementation of the principles leads to a sustainable future for the Triabunna mill.
The success or failure of that now lies with the signatories of the principles and governments to implement.
It is difficult for all Tasmanians to see the harsh realities of a once proud industry on its last legs.
It is a reality that Gunns has had to face and which it has tried to soften in its actions to accelerate out of a fading industry and carve out a new future in plantation pulp production.
The linkage with the tactics of the environment groups also can't be ignored. They have influenced our customers and our funders.
There's no point crying foul. Gunns has just done what we have to do to get the business back on to a stable footing. That means a commitment to get out of native forestry.
We have honoured that commitment but worked to try to ensure an ongoing industry outcome for those that wish to continue in the native-based industries. And we will continue to do that.
Tasmania needs to imagine a future with not just a pulp mill, not just a national park and winery tourist industry, not just a world-class art gallery. It needs to work hard to broaden its economy and make it truly sustainable for years to come.
So I say to the industry, start some joint problem-solving.
Do this for the sake of the communities struggling to come to terms with unforgiving change.
They need your leadership now more than ever.
Marr to manage chip mill
NICK CLARK
The Mercury, 16 July 2011
THE new owners of the Triabunna woodchip mill have appointed controversial former Wilderness Society executive director Alec Marr general manager of the venture.
Mr Marr has been prominent in the native forestry debate and recently fell out with the Wilderness Society after an annual meeting upset an opposing faction.
He was a member of the Wilderness Society for 30 years and set a tree-sitting record at Farmhouse Creek in 1986 before taking part in numerous protest campaigns.
Triabunna Investments director Graeme Wood said Mr Marr was chosen because of his intimate understanding and knowledge of Tasmania. "I think Alec has probably matured or changed his attitude since the implosion of the Wilderness Society," Mr Wood said.
"I think he probably sees the world slightly differently now.
"Here's his great opportunity to prove that this is the case.
"He understands and knows all of the people in the various groups.
"We would be hard pressed to come up with anyone else who had such an understanding of the issues."
Mr Wood said it was Mr Marr's responsibility to look at the investment from a non-partisan point of view.
"If he doesn't do that then he will lose his job," he said. "We needed somebody with their feet under the table now and we needed to keep the momentum going on this."
The Mercury, 16 July 2011
THE new owners of the Triabunna woodchip mill have appointed controversial former Wilderness Society executive director Alec Marr general manager of the venture.
Mr Marr has been prominent in the native forestry debate and recently fell out with the Wilderness Society after an annual meeting upset an opposing faction.
He was a member of the Wilderness Society for 30 years and set a tree-sitting record at Farmhouse Creek in 1986 before taking part in numerous protest campaigns.
Triabunna Investments director Graeme Wood said Mr Marr was chosen because of his intimate understanding and knowledge of Tasmania. "I think Alec has probably matured or changed his attitude since the implosion of the Wilderness Society," Mr Wood said.
"I think he probably sees the world slightly differently now.
"Here's his great opportunity to prove that this is the case.
"He understands and knows all of the people in the various groups.
"We would be hard pressed to come up with anyone else who had such an understanding of the issues."
Mr Wood said it was Mr Marr's responsibility to look at the investment from a non-partisan point of view.
"If he doesn't do that then he will lose his job," he said. "We needed somebody with their feet under the table now and we needed to keep the momentum going on this."
15 July, 2011
Logger blames Gunns for pain
DANIELLE McKAY,
The Mercury, 15 July 2011
PROUD forestry operator Michael Woods is from a generation that does not ask for help.
Men like him just roll up their sleeves and get on with the job.
But having to sack his two sons from his log-harvesting business Eastern Tiers this year as the company that he built over two decades collapsed around him left the 52-year-old in a position he never thought possible.
"I'm seeing a psychologist to help me through it," he said.
"I'm a baby-boomer -- the generation raised on having a cup of concrete and hardening up if you're having a problem.
"But this, this is something different altogether. This is bloody hard."
Mr Woods's sons were forced to leave their Triabunna home, heading to the North-West where they found work.
Leaving the East Coast town is something Mr Woods said he is also forced to consider after Gunns announced it had sold its Triabunna woodchip mill to buyers with plans to transform it into a tourism hub.
Mr Woods said that after closing down his business he remained about $800,000 in debt, despite receiving an $815,000 exit package from the Federal Government to quit the haulage and harvesting sector and selling about $6 million worth of machinery.
"The future here is uncertain, working in Western Australia, in mining, is probably one of only a few options right now," he said.
"I'm selling scraps of firewood just to put bread and butter on the table, because the industry's been destroyed and with this sale of the mill the future's just too uncertain."
To say Mr Woods feels hatred for Gunns is an understatement.
With his teeth clenched he yesterday said he held them responsible for the collapse of his business, through painfully low payments and a sudden exit from native forests.
He also held them responsible for his family's pain with the uncertainty created through the sale of the Triabunna mill.
"What they've done, they've ruined me," he said.
"I'm 52, I've absolutely worked my butt off and created a business that's successful.
"We had a succession plan in place but one company, just one company, has ruined my life and my family's -- I'm not the only contractor who feels this way."
Mr Woods said financial worries and the town's uncertainty were affecting his daughter Hannah, 11.
"From a family's perspective it's terrible," he said. "My youngest, Hannah, was sitting on the jetty the other night writing a list of ideas of how to help Mummy and Daddy get money."
Mr Woods's wife, Glamorgan Spring Bay councillor Jenny Woods, said Hannah suggested she become a contestant on the TV game show Deal or No Deal.
"We have children who are suffering because of this deal," she said.
The Mercury, 15 July 2011
PROUD forestry operator Michael Woods is from a generation that does not ask for help.
Men like him just roll up their sleeves and get on with the job.
But having to sack his two sons from his log-harvesting business Eastern Tiers this year as the company that he built over two decades collapsed around him left the 52-year-old in a position he never thought possible.
"I'm seeing a psychologist to help me through it," he said.
"I'm a baby-boomer -- the generation raised on having a cup of concrete and hardening up if you're having a problem.
"But this, this is something different altogether. This is bloody hard."
Mr Woods's sons were forced to leave their Triabunna home, heading to the North-West where they found work.
Leaving the East Coast town is something Mr Woods said he is also forced to consider after Gunns announced it had sold its Triabunna woodchip mill to buyers with plans to transform it into a tourism hub.
Mr Woods said that after closing down his business he remained about $800,000 in debt, despite receiving an $815,000 exit package from the Federal Government to quit the haulage and harvesting sector and selling about $6 million worth of machinery.
"The future here is uncertain, working in Western Australia, in mining, is probably one of only a few options right now," he said.
"I'm selling scraps of firewood just to put bread and butter on the table, because the industry's been destroyed and with this sale of the mill the future's just too uncertain."
To say Mr Woods feels hatred for Gunns is an understatement.
With his teeth clenched he yesterday said he held them responsible for the collapse of his business, through painfully low payments and a sudden exit from native forests.
He also held them responsible for his family's pain with the uncertainty created through the sale of the Triabunna mill.
"What they've done, they've ruined me," he said.
"I'm 52, I've absolutely worked my butt off and created a business that's successful.
"We had a succession plan in place but one company, just one company, has ruined my life and my family's -- I'm not the only contractor who feels this way."
Mr Woods said financial worries and the town's uncertainty were affecting his daughter Hannah, 11.
"From a family's perspective it's terrible," he said. "My youngest, Hannah, was sitting on the jetty the other night writing a list of ideas of how to help Mummy and Daddy get money."
Mr Woods's wife, Glamorgan Spring Bay councillor Jenny Woods, said Hannah suggested she become a contestant on the TV game show Deal or No Deal.
"We have children who are suffering because of this deal," she said.
14 July, 2011
Greenies buy woodchip mill
Andrew Darby, Hobart
The Age, July 14, 2011
The Triabunna mill near Hobart, which has been bought by Jan Cameron and fellow green entrepreneur Graeme Wood.
Jan Cameron, founder of outdoor wear group Kathmandu, and online travel entrepreneur Graeme Wood paid $10 million for Gunns' Triabunna mill, on the coast east of Hobart.
The wealthy pair outmanoeuvred a local logging company to clinch the deal. The rival bidder cried foul, saying its offer was worth an extra $6 million.
The purchase could bring a game-changing shift in the native forest logging debate, putting the pro-environment pair in a powerful position.
Ms Cameron and Mr Wood are closely allied to green groups and strongly opposed to native forest logging in Tasmania.
Under a proposed peace deal between the federal and state governments, up to 430,000 hectares of forest would be protected in exchange for some continued logging.
Gunns said yesterday the mill sale agreement provided for it to be leased to an industry operator as a woodchip export business - satisfying a condition of the interim peace deal that says the mill stays in the industry.
Premier Lara Giddings said woodchips sent to Triabunna provide vital secondary income to sawmillers and veneer producers in southern Tasmania.
But while Ms Cameron confirmed the mill would continue operating for an unspecified period during the transition out of native forest logging, she and Mr Wood have indicated that its long-term future will be as a tourism destination. "It's a very unexpected development for both of us I think," said Ms Cameron. "We don't have any certainty about what's going to happen."
She said the writing was on the wall for the native forest logging industry, which has lost key Japanese buyers because the wood is not sustainable under international certification.
News of the purchase was broken on ABC radio to the amazement of the rival bidder, the O'Connor family's Fibre Plus. "To give the woodchip mill to two of Australia's richest people … for a $6 million discount compared to what they were asking from us is gut wrenching," Ron O'Connor said.
"Our industry is dead and finished without the mill."
Fibre Plus was two weeks over a deadline to complete the purchase from Gunns, despite obtaining approval for a controversial state government loan.
Analyst Robert Eastment, of IndustryEdge, said it appeared Gunns, which is on a debt reduction drive, opted for the certainty of Mr Wood and Ms Cameron's offer.
Mr Wood has been under media scrutiny after he gave $1.6 million to the Greens in the last election campaign.
Mr O'Connor said opposition to his family's bid by the Greens and independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie had made raising finance difficult. "The four major banks are very scared of their image," he said.
Environment Tasmania said it believed Triabunna could be part of a lasting forest agreement. "We continue to be committed to working constructively with unions, timber contractors and the timber industry to deliver that," said director Phill Pullinger.
The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania said the purchase had created confusion, and that without Triabunna's continuation, the peace deal would have no standing.
Ms Cameron is one of Australia's wealthiest women, with a fortune estimated at more than $300 million after she sold out of Kathmandu in 2006. Mr Wood's fortune, made from the travel reservation site Wotif.com, has been estimated at more than $370 million.
The Age, July 14, 2011
The Triabunna mill near Hobart, which has been bought by Jan Cameron and fellow green entrepreneur Graeme Wood.
 |
| Photo: Steven Siewert |
TASMANIA'S timber industry is in shock after two wealthy environmentalists bought a woodchip mill, giving them a strategic grasp of the controversial native forest logging industry.
Jan Cameron, founder of outdoor wear group Kathmandu, and online travel entrepreneur Graeme Wood paid $10 million for Gunns' Triabunna mill, on the coast east of Hobart.
The wealthy pair outmanoeuvred a local logging company to clinch the deal. The rival bidder cried foul, saying its offer was worth an extra $6 million.
 |
| Jan Cameron. Photo: Nic Walker |
Ms Cameron and Mr Wood are closely allied to green groups and strongly opposed to native forest logging in Tasmania.
Under a proposed peace deal between the federal and state governments, up to 430,000 hectares of forest would be protected in exchange for some continued logging.
Gunns said yesterday the mill sale agreement provided for it to be leased to an industry operator as a woodchip export business - satisfying a condition of the interim peace deal that says the mill stays in the industry.
Premier Lara Giddings said woodchips sent to Triabunna provide vital secondary income to sawmillers and veneer producers in southern Tasmania.
But while Ms Cameron confirmed the mill would continue operating for an unspecified period during the transition out of native forest logging, she and Mr Wood have indicated that its long-term future will be as a tourism destination. "It's a very unexpected development for both of us I think," said Ms Cameron. "We don't have any certainty about what's going to happen."
She said the writing was on the wall for the native forest logging industry, which has lost key Japanese buyers because the wood is not sustainable under international certification.
News of the purchase was broken on ABC radio to the amazement of the rival bidder, the O'Connor family's Fibre Plus. "To give the woodchip mill to two of Australia's richest people … for a $6 million discount compared to what they were asking from us is gut wrenching," Ron O'Connor said.
"Our industry is dead and finished without the mill."
Fibre Plus was two weeks over a deadline to complete the purchase from Gunns, despite obtaining approval for a controversial state government loan.
Analyst Robert Eastment, of IndustryEdge, said it appeared Gunns, which is on a debt reduction drive, opted for the certainty of Mr Wood and Ms Cameron's offer.
Mr Wood has been under media scrutiny after he gave $1.6 million to the Greens in the last election campaign.
Mr O'Connor said opposition to his family's bid by the Greens and independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie had made raising finance difficult. "The four major banks are very scared of their image," he said.
Environment Tasmania said it believed Triabunna could be part of a lasting forest agreement. "We continue to be committed to working constructively with unions, timber contractors and the timber industry to deliver that," said director Phill Pullinger.
The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania said the purchase had created confusion, and that without Triabunna's continuation, the peace deal would have no standing.
Ms Cameron is one of Australia's wealthiest women, with a fortune estimated at more than $300 million after she sold out of Kathmandu in 2006. Mr Wood's fortune, made from the travel reservation site Wotif.com, has been estimated at more than $370 million.
12 July, 2011
Forestry industry surprised by changes
Ben Cubby
Sydney Morning Herald, July 12, 2011
BURNING native timber will no longer be counted as a form of renewable energy under the federal government's carbon price plan, leaving sections of the forestry industry in limbo.
The future of a proposed biomass power plant generating renewable energy certificates from burning woodchips at Eden, on the NSW south coast, is now uncertain.
The plant's operator, South-East Forest Exports, said it had received no hint of the decision before the plan was made public on Sunday.
The company had already lodged an environmental impact assessment for building the plant next to its woodchip mill, but now is unsure if it can recoup its costs.
''There's never been any discussion with the government; it came as a surprise to us,'' said a company spokesman, Vince Phillips. ''Mike Kelly is the local member and he has said he is right behind the industry. We believed him.''
The plant, to be built on Jews Head at Twofold Bay near Eden, was to have burned up to 51,000 tonnes of wood per year.
Green groups have long opposed the classification of timber as a source of renewable power, arguing that trees left growing in the ground are more effective carbon sinks than trees cut down and burned to create electricity.
The company was arguing, with the support of the state's forestry industry, that the wood offcuts not suitable for export could be used on the site to generate power, making use of material that would otherwise have decomposed, releasing carbon dioxide emissions for no financial gain.
Renewable energy certificates would be generated in the process, and these could then be sold on to energy suppliers.
But that has now been ruled out by an amendment to the renewable energy target regulations in the government's new carbon legislation.
''In some cases the wood will still get burned for energy, in other cases it will decompose, or we would sell it for landscaping,'' Mr Phillips said. ''We could go ahead with the plant anyway and not generate [renewable energy certificates], we could run it off plantation timber - those are the options.''
The Australian Forest Products Association said many commercial forestry operations were unfairly excluded from the new carbon plan and the government's Carbon Farming Initiative. There should be recognition of the carbon stored in products made from timber, the association said.
The Wilderness Society said the amendment of the renewable energy target was a recognition that logging should not be justified as a source of fuel for power stations.
''For us, this is an anomaly that has been sitting in the system now for about eight years,'' the society's national campaign director, Lyndon Schneiders, said.
''These biomass plants are really a last-ditch attempt by the native forest logging industry to hold themselves up, because their ability to export woodchips is drying up.''
Anti-woodchipping group ChipBusters said it was a setback for the industry, but was dismayed there was not more recognition of the carbon sequestration potential of forests.
"Why tax other big carbon polluters but not the woodchip industry, an industry that is subsidised to destroy our enormous carbon stores, our forests," a spokesman, Noel Plumb, said.
"The Gillard government will not even cut the fuel subsidy for logging trucks that take the old growth forests from distant wilderness areas to the chipmill."
Sydney Morning Herald, July 12, 2011
BURNING native timber will no longer be counted as a form of renewable energy under the federal government's carbon price plan, leaving sections of the forestry industry in limbo.
The future of a proposed biomass power plant generating renewable energy certificates from burning woodchips at Eden, on the NSW south coast, is now uncertain.
The plant's operator, South-East Forest Exports, said it had received no hint of the decision before the plan was made public on Sunday.
The company had already lodged an environmental impact assessment for building the plant next to its woodchip mill, but now is unsure if it can recoup its costs.
''There's never been any discussion with the government; it came as a surprise to us,'' said a company spokesman, Vince Phillips. ''Mike Kelly is the local member and he has said he is right behind the industry. We believed him.''
The plant, to be built on Jews Head at Twofold Bay near Eden, was to have burned up to 51,000 tonnes of wood per year.
Green groups have long opposed the classification of timber as a source of renewable power, arguing that trees left growing in the ground are more effective carbon sinks than trees cut down and burned to create electricity.
The company was arguing, with the support of the state's forestry industry, that the wood offcuts not suitable for export could be used on the site to generate power, making use of material that would otherwise have decomposed, releasing carbon dioxide emissions for no financial gain.
Renewable energy certificates would be generated in the process, and these could then be sold on to energy suppliers.
But that has now been ruled out by an amendment to the renewable energy target regulations in the government's new carbon legislation.
''In some cases the wood will still get burned for energy, in other cases it will decompose, or we would sell it for landscaping,'' Mr Phillips said. ''We could go ahead with the plant anyway and not generate [renewable energy certificates], we could run it off plantation timber - those are the options.''
The Australian Forest Products Association said many commercial forestry operations were unfairly excluded from the new carbon plan and the government's Carbon Farming Initiative. There should be recognition of the carbon stored in products made from timber, the association said.
The Wilderness Society said the amendment of the renewable energy target was a recognition that logging should not be justified as a source of fuel for power stations.
''For us, this is an anomaly that has been sitting in the system now for about eight years,'' the society's national campaign director, Lyndon Schneiders, said.
''These biomass plants are really a last-ditch attempt by the native forest logging industry to hold themselves up, because their ability to export woodchips is drying up.''
Anti-woodchipping group ChipBusters said it was a setback for the industry, but was dismayed there was not more recognition of the carbon sequestration potential of forests.
"Why tax other big carbon polluters but not the woodchip industry, an industry that is subsidised to destroy our enormous carbon stores, our forests," a spokesman, Noel Plumb, said.
"The Gillard government will not even cut the fuel subsidy for logging trucks that take the old growth forests from distant wilderness areas to the chipmill."
11 July, 2011
Carbon tax set to put value on Tasmanian forests
Felicity Ogilvie
PM, abc.net.au, Monday, July 11, 2011 18:18:00
STEPHEN LONG: In Tasmania there's hope the carbon tax will finally put a price on the value of carbon stored in native forests.
A forestry peace deal between environmental groups and the forestry industry has recommended the creation of new reserves in Tasmania.
Under the carbon tax the trees in those reserves could attract carbon credits.
Felicity Ogilvie.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Environmentalists have spent years arguing that Tasmania's native forests shouldn't be logged.
PHIL PULLINGER: The forests in Tasmania are some of the most carbon dense forests on the face of the planet. They contain up to and over 1000 tonnes per hectare, 1500 tonnes per hectare of carbon.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Now Phil Pullinger from Environment Tasmania is hoping to take advantage of the carbon tax.
PHIL PULLINGER: The carbon tax is generating revenue from some of Australia's biggest polluters and one of the streams that they've allocated that revenue is a biodiversity fund for projects that are aimed at protecting and restoring native forests.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Mr Pullinger has spent more than a year brokering a peace deal with members of the forest industry and unions.
They've decided that large scale native forest logging in Tasmania will end and that 430,000 hectares of new reserves should be created.
They've handed the peace plan to the state and federal governments who are yet to work out how to implement the deal.
One of the key issues is compensation for the loggers, and Terry Edwards from the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania is confident the carbon tax will provide some of the money.
TERRY EDWARDS: Tasmania will after the, even before the current forest peace deal is concluded have the highest reservation of forest in any state of Australia.
And that ought to be recognised by the Federal Government through the biodiversity fund to recognise the carbon that accumulates in those trees which is removed for very long-term storage through carbon sequestration.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Lawyer and carbon trading expert Martijn Wilder explains how he thinks the peace plan can tap into the carbon tax.
MARTIJN WILDER: The scheme will cover projects to protect native forests from clearing or clearfelling. So if under the peace deal it can be shown that the clear intention here is to stop the logging of our forests in order to protect the native forest, then there will be carbon available for that.
There is a slight timing issue. If - you cannot go and find an existing native forest, say look that forest has a lot of carbon in it and we can therefore sell that carbon because that's already in place. That's not an additional activity.
But certainly where you are protecting native forests from clearing or clearfelling you'll be able to get credit for that.
FELICITY OGILVIE: But a spokesman from the Climate Change Minister's office says the Federal Government doesn't envisage the biodiversity fund in the carbon tax being used as part of the Tasmanian forestry peace deal.
The Tasmanian Greens Senator Christine Milne says that doesn't mean that the state can't make money from the new reserves.
CHRISTINE MILNE: There is a real possibility that Tasmania can have it both ways.
Tasmania can benefit immediately from protecting high conservation value forests and having the Commonwealth buy out the contracts and retire those contracts and then work in the future towards putting forward carbon farming projects for avoided degradation in remaining forests as can private land holders.
FELICITY OGILVIE: But the carbon in Tasmania's forests isn't recognised under the Kyoto Protocol. So as Martijn Wilder explains the carbon credits won't be worth as much as they could be.
MARTIJN WILDER: Those credits with the most value will be the Kyoto consistent credits and those will be eligible for the large polluters to buy to help offset their emissions.
Whereas the non-Kyoto credits will be something that's counted more towards people's voluntary obligations so if for example you took a flight on Qantas and you wanted to offset your emissions.
FELICITY OGILVIE: They may not be worth as much as they could be but scientists say the forests are mitigating climate change.
Pep Canadell is a CSIRO scientist who's the executive director of the Global Climate Project.
PEP CANADELL: New data is showing that forests around the world and that includes forests as vigorous as the ones in Tasmania are removing a third of the total fossil fuel emissions that are emitted every year.
So that with forests and the conservation of forests are at the forefront of climate change mitigation.
FELICITY OGILVIE: The State and Federal Governments are still considering how many new forest reserves should be created as part of the Tasmanian peace deal.
STEPHEN LONG: Felicity Ogilvie reporting from Hobart.
PM, abc.net.au, Monday, July 11, 2011 18:18:00
STEPHEN LONG: In Tasmania there's hope the carbon tax will finally put a price on the value of carbon stored in native forests.
A forestry peace deal between environmental groups and the forestry industry has recommended the creation of new reserves in Tasmania.
Under the carbon tax the trees in those reserves could attract carbon credits.
Felicity Ogilvie.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Environmentalists have spent years arguing that Tasmania's native forests shouldn't be logged.
PHIL PULLINGER: The forests in Tasmania are some of the most carbon dense forests on the face of the planet. They contain up to and over 1000 tonnes per hectare, 1500 tonnes per hectare of carbon.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Now Phil Pullinger from Environment Tasmania is hoping to take advantage of the carbon tax.
PHIL PULLINGER: The carbon tax is generating revenue from some of Australia's biggest polluters and one of the streams that they've allocated that revenue is a biodiversity fund for projects that are aimed at protecting and restoring native forests.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Mr Pullinger has spent more than a year brokering a peace deal with members of the forest industry and unions.
They've decided that large scale native forest logging in Tasmania will end and that 430,000 hectares of new reserves should be created.
They've handed the peace plan to the state and federal governments who are yet to work out how to implement the deal.
One of the key issues is compensation for the loggers, and Terry Edwards from the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania is confident the carbon tax will provide some of the money.
TERRY EDWARDS: Tasmania will after the, even before the current forest peace deal is concluded have the highest reservation of forest in any state of Australia.
And that ought to be recognised by the Federal Government through the biodiversity fund to recognise the carbon that accumulates in those trees which is removed for very long-term storage through carbon sequestration.
FELICITY OGILVIE: Lawyer and carbon trading expert Martijn Wilder explains how he thinks the peace plan can tap into the carbon tax.
MARTIJN WILDER: The scheme will cover projects to protect native forests from clearing or clearfelling. So if under the peace deal it can be shown that the clear intention here is to stop the logging of our forests in order to protect the native forest, then there will be carbon available for that.
There is a slight timing issue. If - you cannot go and find an existing native forest, say look that forest has a lot of carbon in it and we can therefore sell that carbon because that's already in place. That's not an additional activity.
But certainly where you are protecting native forests from clearing or clearfelling you'll be able to get credit for that.
FELICITY OGILVIE: But a spokesman from the Climate Change Minister's office says the Federal Government doesn't envisage the biodiversity fund in the carbon tax being used as part of the Tasmanian forestry peace deal.
The Tasmanian Greens Senator Christine Milne says that doesn't mean that the state can't make money from the new reserves.
CHRISTINE MILNE: There is a real possibility that Tasmania can have it both ways.
Tasmania can benefit immediately from protecting high conservation value forests and having the Commonwealth buy out the contracts and retire those contracts and then work in the future towards putting forward carbon farming projects for avoided degradation in remaining forests as can private land holders.
FELICITY OGILVIE: But the carbon in Tasmania's forests isn't recognised under the Kyoto Protocol. So as Martijn Wilder explains the carbon credits won't be worth as much as they could be.
MARTIJN WILDER: Those credits with the most value will be the Kyoto consistent credits and those will be eligible for the large polluters to buy to help offset their emissions.
Whereas the non-Kyoto credits will be something that's counted more towards people's voluntary obligations so if for example you took a flight on Qantas and you wanted to offset your emissions.
FELICITY OGILVIE: They may not be worth as much as they could be but scientists say the forests are mitigating climate change.
Pep Canadell is a CSIRO scientist who's the executive director of the Global Climate Project.
PEP CANADELL: New data is showing that forests around the world and that includes forests as vigorous as the ones in Tasmania are removing a third of the total fossil fuel emissions that are emitted every year.
So that with forests and the conservation of forests are at the forefront of climate change mitigation.
FELICITY OGILVIE: The State and Federal Governments are still considering how many new forest reserves should be created as part of the Tasmanian peace deal.
STEPHEN LONG: Felicity Ogilvie reporting from Hobart.
22 June, 2011
Plea for native forest jobs
Elizabeth Lord, journalism student at RMIT University in Melbourne
The Mercury, 22 June 2011
FORESTRY workers from across the state gathered outside Parliament yesterday with the message to keep native forests open.
Community leaders highlighted the social, economic and environmental benefits of the state's native forest industry to the 300-strong crowd.
The industry is reeling from the exit of struggling forest contractors, closure or impending closure of woodchip and sawmills, and the impacts of the global financial crisis and the Japanese earthquake.
Forestry workers called on politicians not to lock up the rest of Tasmania's native forests without an independent assessment that included community consultation.
Third-generation sawmiller Brett Mackay said the forestry industry was a major contributor to the state's economy with 15,000 people employed either directly or indirectly in the industry, most within the native forest sector.
"We love our work and we want to stay in the native forestry industry. It needs to be fully supported so that employment is maintained," Mr Mackay said.
He presented Premier Lara Giddings with a 15-point message that outlined the benefits of keeping the remainder of Tasmania's native forests open, including long-term sustainable jobs, community vitality and opportunities in bio-energy production and non-wood based industries.
Ms Giddings acknowledged that it was a difficult time for forest workers but told the crowd that the Labor Government would not back away from the industry.
"We are committed to a native forest and plantation forest industry in this state," Ms Giddings said.
"You can be assured we want to have a long-term industry in this state."
Opposition Leader Will Hodgman also pledged his support and said the Liberal Party would oppose any moves in Parliament to shut the forestry industry down.
"We believe in a strong, sustainable, viable forestry industry that will continue in this state forever," he said.
Greens forestry spokesman Kim Booth called on Ms Giddings to support the forestry contractors and their families and provide financial assistance to allow them to exit the industry.
The Mercury, 22 June 2011
FORESTRY workers from across the state gathered outside Parliament yesterday with the message to keep native forests open.
Community leaders highlighted the social, economic and environmental benefits of the state's native forest industry to the 300-strong crowd.
The industry is reeling from the exit of struggling forest contractors, closure or impending closure of woodchip and sawmills, and the impacts of the global financial crisis and the Japanese earthquake.
Forestry workers called on politicians not to lock up the rest of Tasmania's native forests without an independent assessment that included community consultation.
Third-generation sawmiller Brett Mackay said the forestry industry was a major contributor to the state's economy with 15,000 people employed either directly or indirectly in the industry, most within the native forest sector.
"We love our work and we want to stay in the native forestry industry. It needs to be fully supported so that employment is maintained," Mr Mackay said.
He presented Premier Lara Giddings with a 15-point message that outlined the benefits of keeping the remainder of Tasmania's native forests open, including long-term sustainable jobs, community vitality and opportunities in bio-energy production and non-wood based industries.
Ms Giddings acknowledged that it was a difficult time for forest workers but told the crowd that the Labor Government would not back away from the industry.
"We are committed to a native forest and plantation forest industry in this state," Ms Giddings said.
"You can be assured we want to have a long-term industry in this state."
Opposition Leader Will Hodgman also pledged his support and said the Liberal Party would oppose any moves in Parliament to shut the forestry industry down.
"We believe in a strong, sustainable, viable forestry industry that will continue in this state forever," he said.
Greens forestry spokesman Kim Booth called on Ms Giddings to support the forestry contractors and their families and provide financial assistance to allow them to exit the industry.
20 June, 2011
Gains hard to price
Jeff Dickinson, Tecoma
Letter, The Age, 21 June 2011
VICFORESTS' David Walsh says that wood would have gone to waste had the trees killed or severely damaged in the 2009 bushfires not been harvested (''Call for inquiry as salvaged wood exported'', The Age, 20/6). What a profit-at-all-cost mentality.
Leaving fire-killed or damaged trees standing is not a waste. They create structure in the regenerating forest, sheltering new growth and providing homes to badly affected wildlife.
Leadbeater's possum, for example, will rely on the protection provided by the hollows created in these trees to recover their populations over the ensuing years. And these trees will continue to store the carbon they have absorbed from the atmosphere for years to come.
We all enjoy the benefits of a healthy natural environment, even though it is not always recognised by some as an economic benefit.
Letter, The Age, 21 June 2011
VICFORESTS' David Walsh says that wood would have gone to waste had the trees killed or severely damaged in the 2009 bushfires not been harvested (''Call for inquiry as salvaged wood exported'', The Age, 20/6). What a profit-at-all-cost mentality.
Leaving fire-killed or damaged trees standing is not a waste. They create structure in the regenerating forest, sheltering new growth and providing homes to badly affected wildlife.
Leadbeater's possum, for example, will rely on the protection provided by the hollows created in these trees to recover their populations over the ensuing years. And these trees will continue to store the carbon they have absorbed from the atmosphere for years to come.
We all enjoy the benefits of a healthy natural environment, even though it is not always recognised by some as an economic benefit.
Ombudsman asked to investigate log exports
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 20 June 2011
VicForests is accused of assisting the export of thousands of tonnes of hardwood logs to China.
Victoria bans the export of whole logs as a way of protecting the local industry.
The Wilderness Society's Richard Hughes says an independent investigation is needed.
"We've complained to the ombudsman and what we've asked them to investigate and to ensure occurs is that there's immediate stop to the sale of whole log exports," he said.
"If it's occurred in this one situation, it may be open to occurring elsewhere and it's an issue that needs to be immediately investigated and dealt with.
VicForests is accused of assisting the export of thousands of tonnes of hardwood logs to China.
Victoria bans the export of whole logs as a way of protecting the local industry.
The Wilderness Society's Richard Hughes says an independent investigation is needed.
"We've complained to the ombudsman and what we've asked them to investigate and to ensure occurs is that there's immediate stop to the sale of whole log exports," he said.
"If it's occurred in this one situation, it may be open to occurring elsewhere and it's an issue that needs to be immediately investigated and dealt with.
Call for inquiry as salvaged wood exported
Josh Gordon
The Age, June 20, 2011
THE Ombudsman has been asked to investigate VicForests for allowing thousands of tonnes of wood salvaged from the Black Saturday bushfires to be exported to China in breach of a government contract.
The Wilderness Society has lodged a complaint with Ombudsman George Brouwer after VicForests confirmed a private company, Pinex Logging, had breached a contract to process the logs locally to protect jobs in the Victorian timber industry.
VicForests initially agreed to supply the company with 145,000 tonnes of logs to process in Victoria, an amount that was later cut to 50,000 tonnes.
A VicForests statement provided to The Age reveals VicForests has now suspended supplying logs to the company while it investigates how the breach occurred. The statement said the company was initially meeting contractual requirements for local processing.
''VicForests is clarifying the circumstances which led to the export of some logs before processing,'' the statement says. ''The customer [Pinex Logging] has indicated the increased value of the Australian dollar has put pressure on their operations in recent times.''
The Wilderness Society revealed tens of thousands of tonnes of hardwood logs were being loaded into shipping containers at a log yard in Melbourne's west and sent to China.
Wilderness Society campaigns manager Richard Hughes said an independent investigation was needed as ''VicForests has a serious conflict of interest in this matter''.
''VicForests sold the logs to the exporter for at least $3.5 million so they have profited from this venture and if it is stopped they will miss out on future timber royalties, adding to their current major financial problems,'' Mr Hughes said.
Mr Hughes said he found it difficult to believe VicForests was unaware the company was breaching the contract because it pays and directs the trucking contractors who have been delivering the timber to the export yard, where there are no timber processing facilities.
''It's not appropriate to have VicForests leading this investigation - they are are not an independent regulator, and there are grounds to suspect they have either been complicit in the export operation or negligent in not stopping it earlier,'' Mr Hughes said.
A spokeswoman for the Ombudsman would not comment on whether the issue would be the subject of an investigation. VicForests spokesman David Walsh said the wood would have gone to waste had the trees killed or severely damaged in the 2009 bushfires not been harvested.
The Age, June 20, 2011
THE Ombudsman has been asked to investigate VicForests for allowing thousands of tonnes of wood salvaged from the Black Saturday bushfires to be exported to China in breach of a government contract.
The Wilderness Society has lodged a complaint with Ombudsman George Brouwer after VicForests confirmed a private company, Pinex Logging, had breached a contract to process the logs locally to protect jobs in the Victorian timber industry.
VicForests initially agreed to supply the company with 145,000 tonnes of logs to process in Victoria, an amount that was later cut to 50,000 tonnes.
A VicForests statement provided to The Age reveals VicForests has now suspended supplying logs to the company while it investigates how the breach occurred. The statement said the company was initially meeting contractual requirements for local processing.
''VicForests is clarifying the circumstances which led to the export of some logs before processing,'' the statement says. ''The customer [Pinex Logging] has indicated the increased value of the Australian dollar has put pressure on their operations in recent times.''
The Wilderness Society revealed tens of thousands of tonnes of hardwood logs were being loaded into shipping containers at a log yard in Melbourne's west and sent to China.
Wilderness Society campaigns manager Richard Hughes said an independent investigation was needed as ''VicForests has a serious conflict of interest in this matter''.
''VicForests sold the logs to the exporter for at least $3.5 million so they have profited from this venture and if it is stopped they will miss out on future timber royalties, adding to their current major financial problems,'' Mr Hughes said.
Mr Hughes said he found it difficult to believe VicForests was unaware the company was breaching the contract because it pays and directs the trucking contractors who have been delivering the timber to the export yard, where there are no timber processing facilities.
''It's not appropriate to have VicForests leading this investigation - they are are not an independent regulator, and there are grounds to suspect they have either been complicit in the export operation or negligent in not stopping it earlier,'' Mr Hughes said.
A spokeswoman for the Ombudsman would not comment on whether the issue would be the subject of an investigation. VicForests spokesman David Walsh said the wood would have gone to waste had the trees killed or severely damaged in the 2009 bushfires not been harvested.
15 June, 2011
Carbon credit pitch sunk
DANIELLE McKAY,
The Mercury, 15 June 2011
A PROPOSAL to keep Tasmania's native forests standing in exchange for billions in carbon credits has been rejected by the State Government, Liberal Opposition and Forestry Tasmania.
Redd Forests Pty Ltd has written to Forestry Tasmania suggesting it adopt the "commercially proven" model.
The company's Tasmanian-based project manager, Jarrah Vercoe, said Redd Forests had made $450,000 by selling just under 30,000ha of privately owned native forest to international carbon buyers.
Mr Vercoe said, unlike native forest woodchips, there was a growing demand for carbon credits.
"Based on the value of recent carbon credit sales and conservative figures on timber volumes, our proposition is that Tasmania can generate in excess of $50 million per annum from these avoided emissions," he said.
"This works, it is proven. We could do this tomorrow."
Redd Forests was incorporated in NSW in 2008 and has Chickenfeed owner Jan Cameron as a non-executive director.
Forestry Tasmania spokesman Ken Jeffreys said FT believed the carbon offset plan would deliver less money and employ fewer people than the existing timber industry.
"Last year alone, the final value of products produced from these forests was $563 million and kept about 3400 people employed," Mr Jeffreys said.
Premier Lara Giddings said getting benefits from carbon was a key part of the forestry peace talks' Statement of Principles and the Government would consider creating new reserves for this purpose.
But the Premier said she did not believe Redd Forests' proposal was in the best interests of the state because it failed to acknowledge the thousands currently employed in the Tasmanian forestry industry.
mckaydm@news.net.au
The Mercury, 15 June 2011
A PROPOSAL to keep Tasmania's native forests standing in exchange for billions in carbon credits has been rejected by the State Government, Liberal Opposition and Forestry Tasmania.
Redd Forests Pty Ltd has written to Forestry Tasmania suggesting it adopt the "commercially proven" model.
The company's Tasmanian-based project manager, Jarrah Vercoe, said Redd Forests had made $450,000 by selling just under 30,000ha of privately owned native forest to international carbon buyers.
Mr Vercoe said, unlike native forest woodchips, there was a growing demand for carbon credits.
"Based on the value of recent carbon credit sales and conservative figures on timber volumes, our proposition is that Tasmania can generate in excess of $50 million per annum from these avoided emissions," he said.
"This works, it is proven. We could do this tomorrow."
Redd Forests was incorporated in NSW in 2008 and has Chickenfeed owner Jan Cameron as a non-executive director.
Forestry Tasmania spokesman Ken Jeffreys said FT believed the carbon offset plan would deliver less money and employ fewer people than the existing timber industry.
"Last year alone, the final value of products produced from these forests was $563 million and kept about 3400 people employed," Mr Jeffreys said.
Premier Lara Giddings said getting benefits from carbon was a key part of the forestry peace talks' Statement of Principles and the Government would consider creating new reserves for this purpose.
But the Premier said she did not believe Redd Forests' proposal was in the best interests of the state because it failed to acknowledge the thousands currently employed in the Tasmanian forestry industry.
mckaydm@news.net.au
11 June, 2011
VicForests investigates timber claim
Jared Lynch and Ben Butler
The Age, June 11, 2011
A TIMBER merchant has been accused of putting Victorian jobs at risk by sending thousands of tonnes of wood salvaged after the deadly Black Saturday fires overseas for processing.
The state government's commercial forestry arm, VicForests, confirmed yesterday it was investigating Robert Brudenell, of Pinex Logging, over a suspected breach of contract.
VicForests initially agreed to supply Mr Brudenell 145,000 tonnes of bushfire-affected timber on its standard contract condition that the logs be processed in Victoria to protect the state's timber industry, which is battling softening demand from manufacturing and construction, and the high Australian dollar.
VicForests spokesman David Walsh said yesterday Mr Brudenell's contract had been slashed to fewer than 50,000 tonnes by ''mutual agreement''.
''The implication potentially is that we've caught this guy out doing the wrong thing and we have stopped supplying him the volume of timber that we said we'd do in the first place,'' Mr Walsh said. ''But I can assure you that this was not the case.''
Mr Walsh declined to reveal the exact reason why the contract was reduced, citing confidentiality.
Mr Brudenell could not be reached for comment.
He will be asked to prove that he is processing the logs in Victoria when he faces representatives from VicForests on Tuesday.
Mr Walsh said VicForests received evidence of a potential contract breach on Thursday after having earlier visited Mr Brudenell's operations.
The logs have been sawed to length in a timber yard behind a woolshed in Brooklyn before being loaded into shipping containers.
Wilderness Society spokesman Richard Hughes claimed Mr Brudenell was shipping the logs overseas, probably to China.
''To have thousands of tonnes of logs out of native forests being exported is a disaster for the environment, it's a disaster for the timber industry and jobs, and it's a disaster for the local communities,'' he said.
''All it's doing is creating a quick buck for a few people trading in logging. There is no value-adding; there is no real Australian employment being created.''
Under VicForests' contract rules, timber harvested from native forests must be processed in Victoria by being peeled, sliced, chipped or sawed on four sides.
The timber supplied to Mr Brudenell is for high-end use, such as quality laminate timber for furniture or flooring, which attracts a high price.
If he is found to have breached his contract, VicForests will cease supply to Mr Brudenell.
Mr Walsh said the 50,000 tonnes supplied represents 2 per cent of VicForests' annual production.
He said the wood would have otherwise been left to rot, from trees that were killed or severely damaged by the 2009 fires.
''These operations have taken place in approximately 3000 hectares of the 400,000 hectares burnt by the fires,'' he said.
The Age, June 11, 2011
 |
| Harvested from Victoria's bushfire-damaged native forests, these valuable logs have been stored in a Brooklyn timber yard. |
A TIMBER merchant has been accused of putting Victorian jobs at risk by sending thousands of tonnes of wood salvaged after the deadly Black Saturday fires overseas for processing.
The state government's commercial forestry arm, VicForests, confirmed yesterday it was investigating Robert Brudenell, of Pinex Logging, over a suspected breach of contract.
VicForests initially agreed to supply Mr Brudenell 145,000 tonnes of bushfire-affected timber on its standard contract condition that the logs be processed in Victoria to protect the state's timber industry, which is battling softening demand from manufacturing and construction, and the high Australian dollar.
VicForests spokesman David Walsh said yesterday Mr Brudenell's contract had been slashed to fewer than 50,000 tonnes by ''mutual agreement''.
''The implication potentially is that we've caught this guy out doing the wrong thing and we have stopped supplying him the volume of timber that we said we'd do in the first place,'' Mr Walsh said. ''But I can assure you that this was not the case.''
Mr Walsh declined to reveal the exact reason why the contract was reduced, citing confidentiality.
Mr Brudenell could not be reached for comment.
He will be asked to prove that he is processing the logs in Victoria when he faces representatives from VicForests on Tuesday.
Mr Walsh said VicForests received evidence of a potential contract breach on Thursday after having earlier visited Mr Brudenell's operations.
The logs have been sawed to length in a timber yard behind a woolshed in Brooklyn before being loaded into shipping containers.
Wilderness Society spokesman Richard Hughes claimed Mr Brudenell was shipping the logs overseas, probably to China.
''To have thousands of tonnes of logs out of native forests being exported is a disaster for the environment, it's a disaster for the timber industry and jobs, and it's a disaster for the local communities,'' he said.
''All it's doing is creating a quick buck for a few people trading in logging. There is no value-adding; there is no real Australian employment being created.''
Under VicForests' contract rules, timber harvested from native forests must be processed in Victoria by being peeled, sliced, chipped or sawed on four sides.
The timber supplied to Mr Brudenell is for high-end use, such as quality laminate timber for furniture or flooring, which attracts a high price.
If he is found to have breached his contract, VicForests will cease supply to Mr Brudenell.
Mr Walsh said the 50,000 tonnes supplied represents 2 per cent of VicForests' annual production.
He said the wood would have otherwise been left to rot, from trees that were killed or severely damaged by the 2009 fires.
''These operations have taken place in approximately 3000 hectares of the 400,000 hectares burnt by the fires,'' he said.
Victoria accused of secretly exporting timber
Australian Broadcasting Commission, 11 June 2011
The Wilderness Society says whole Victorian sawlogs are being secretly exported to China in breach of State Government policy.
The society claims timber is being taken from bushfire-affected areas around Healesville, loaded into shipping containers at Tottenham in Melbourne's west, and then shipped overseas.
Campaign manager Richard Hughes says the Victorian Timber Industry Strategy requires sawlogs to be processed locally.
"For years, governments of all stripes have been saying that these forests needed to be logged for sawn timber and for the jobs that they provided," he said.
"And now we're seeing whole saw logs being exported overseas without any processing in Australia, so there is no value to the Australian timber industry."
Mr Hughes says thousands of tonnes of sawlogs have been shipped to China in recent months.
"This is the first time we're seeing whole logs being exported out of Victoria," he said.
"The agency that was responsible for overseeing that ban on log exports, VicForests, has utterly failed in that duty."
VicForests spokesman David Walsh says it has one contract that allows unprocessed logs to be exported and the practice has economic benefits.
"There are a number of jobs which are associated with the production of this timber, from harvesting jobs, haulage jobs, processing jobs and exporting jobs," he said.
Mr Walsh says nothing secretive is going on but it is being investigated.
"This is basically the only customer VicForests has that is undertaking this kind of operation at the moment," he said.
"This contract is winding down at this stage of the game and there are no other contracts with other customers along these lines."
See also
Controversial exports of Victorian timber (link to video)
The Wilderness Society says whole Victorian sawlogs are being secretly exported to China in breach of State Government policy.
The society claims timber is being taken from bushfire-affected areas around Healesville, loaded into shipping containers at Tottenham in Melbourne's west, and then shipped overseas.
Campaign manager Richard Hughes says the Victorian Timber Industry Strategy requires sawlogs to be processed locally.
"For years, governments of all stripes have been saying that these forests needed to be logged for sawn timber and for the jobs that they provided," he said.
"And now we're seeing whole saw logs being exported overseas without any processing in Australia, so there is no value to the Australian timber industry."
Mr Hughes says thousands of tonnes of sawlogs have been shipped to China in recent months.
"This is the first time we're seeing whole logs being exported out of Victoria," he said.
"The agency that was responsible for overseeing that ban on log exports, VicForests, has utterly failed in that duty."
VicForests spokesman David Walsh says it has one contract that allows unprocessed logs to be exported and the practice has economic benefits.
"There are a number of jobs which are associated with the production of this timber, from harvesting jobs, haulage jobs, processing jobs and exporting jobs," he said.
Mr Walsh says nothing secretive is going on but it is being investigated.
"This is basically the only customer VicForests has that is undertaking this kind of operation at the moment," he said.
"This contract is winding down at this stage of the game and there are no other contracts with other customers along these lines."
See also
Controversial exports of Victorian timber (link to video)
30 May, 2011
Green paper needs Reflex action
Ben Butler
The Age, May 30, 2011
Wilderness Society protesters dressed in ‘Victoria’s Secret’ lingerie earlier this month to expose Victoria’s 'dirty little secret' – woodchipping native forests to make Reflex Paper that is sold in Officeworks. Photo: Edwina Pickles
REFLEX, Australia's best-known brand of paper, is set to lose its international green accreditation within the next two months unless its manufacturer can strike an unlikely deal with some of its fiercest enemies.
The loss of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification would force Australian Paper, which makes Reflex, to either abandon its public commitment to the FSC process or shift its sourcing from native forests to more expensive plantation timber.
News that Australian Paper's international certification is at risk will come as an embarrassment to Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh, who recently threatened to take forestry jobs away from the Yarra Ranges Council unless it ends a boycott of Reflex paper.
It also threatens Victoria's state-owned logger VicForests, a key supplier of native forest woodchips to Australian Paper.
Australian Paper's problem arises because FSC rules have been tightened since its certificate was issued five years ago. Under the new rules, the company must consult with stakeholders over logging in ''high conservation value'' areas.
Australian Paper's certificate expires on July 26, leaving it little time to reach consensus with environment groups, many of whom oppose logging in forests containing endangered species.
Complicating the process, one of the groups, Central Highlands-based MyEnvironment, has lodged a complaint about Australian Paper's auditor, Smartwood, with the FSC head office in Germany.
The complaint has sparked an international review of Smartwood, a division of environmental standards body Rainforest Alliance, that could lead to its authority to audit wood supply being revoked.
''My understanding is that we could, in theory, be suspended, but we're a long way from that,'' said Smartwood spokeswoman Anita Neville.
''If they find flaws in the system, corrective action is required.''
She said that under the ''annex 3'' system, which governs consultations over high conservation areas, ''100 per cent agreement'' between Australian Paper and environment groups was not required.
''You have to eliminate the worst cases of disagreement, and that's not always easy,'' she said.
FSC Australia chief executive Michael Spencer said that under the organisation's rules, Australian Paper needed to consult with all stakeholders with an interest in the forest, including environmental groups.
Asked what would happen if no deal had been struck by July 27, he said: ''My understanding would be, and I haven't dealt with this in the past, their certificate would lapse if it hasn't been renewed.''
MyEnvironment director Sarah Rees said Australian Paper had made contact with her on Thursday. ''We're really receptive to helping the company move its wood supply from native forest to the burgeoning plantation sector,'' she said.
In any case, she said, the Black Saturday bushfires had slashed the amount of wood left in native forests to about two years worth of supply.
''The real opportunity for the company is to get the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society and local environment groups standing by them saying, 'Job well done'.''
Australian Paper spokesman John Rider did not return calls.
Last year, chief executive Jim Henneberry publicly committed the company to FSC principles, including not obtaining wood from high conservation areas.
In a statement, VicForests spokesman David Walsh said the logging company ''supports Australian Paper's work to achieve certification to a range of industry standards - including its efforts to maintain FSC certification''.
The Age, May 30, 2011
Wilderness Society protesters dressed in ‘Victoria’s Secret’ lingerie earlier this month to expose Victoria’s 'dirty little secret' – woodchipping native forests to make Reflex Paper that is sold in Officeworks. Photo: Edwina Pickles
REFLEX, Australia's best-known brand of paper, is set to lose its international green accreditation within the next two months unless its manufacturer can strike an unlikely deal with some of its fiercest enemies.
The loss of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification would force Australian Paper, which makes Reflex, to either abandon its public commitment to the FSC process or shift its sourcing from native forests to more expensive plantation timber.
News that Australian Paper's international certification is at risk will come as an embarrassment to Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh, who recently threatened to take forestry jobs away from the Yarra Ranges Council unless it ends a boycott of Reflex paper.
It also threatens Victoria's state-owned logger VicForests, a key supplier of native forest woodchips to Australian Paper.
Australian Paper's problem arises because FSC rules have been tightened since its certificate was issued five years ago. Under the new rules, the company must consult with stakeholders over logging in ''high conservation value'' areas.
Australian Paper's certificate expires on July 26, leaving it little time to reach consensus with environment groups, many of whom oppose logging in forests containing endangered species.
Complicating the process, one of the groups, Central Highlands-based MyEnvironment, has lodged a complaint about Australian Paper's auditor, Smartwood, with the FSC head office in Germany.
The complaint has sparked an international review of Smartwood, a division of environmental standards body Rainforest Alliance, that could lead to its authority to audit wood supply being revoked.
''My understanding is that we could, in theory, be suspended, but we're a long way from that,'' said Smartwood spokeswoman Anita Neville.
''If they find flaws in the system, corrective action is required.''
She said that under the ''annex 3'' system, which governs consultations over high conservation areas, ''100 per cent agreement'' between Australian Paper and environment groups was not required.
''You have to eliminate the worst cases of disagreement, and that's not always easy,'' she said.
FSC Australia chief executive Michael Spencer said that under the organisation's rules, Australian Paper needed to consult with all stakeholders with an interest in the forest, including environmental groups.
Asked what would happen if no deal had been struck by July 27, he said: ''My understanding would be, and I haven't dealt with this in the past, their certificate would lapse if it hasn't been renewed.''
MyEnvironment director Sarah Rees said Australian Paper had made contact with her on Thursday. ''We're really receptive to helping the company move its wood supply from native forest to the burgeoning plantation sector,'' she said.
In any case, she said, the Black Saturday bushfires had slashed the amount of wood left in native forests to about two years worth of supply.
''The real opportunity for the company is to get the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Society and local environment groups standing by them saying, 'Job well done'.''
Australian Paper spokesman John Rider did not return calls.
Last year, chief executive Jim Henneberry publicly committed the company to FSC principles, including not obtaining wood from high conservation areas.
In a statement, VicForests spokesman David Walsh said the logging company ''supports Australian Paper's work to achieve certification to a range of industry standards - including its efforts to maintain FSC certification''.
29 May, 2011
Spring Street continued to bully uni over grazing
Melissa Fyfe
The Age, May 29, 2011
THE Baillieu government continued to bully Melbourne University over the controversial alpine grazing trial even after The Sunday Age exposed its threatening behaviour.
Emails tabled in Parliament show that weeks after it was revealed the Department of Sustainability and Environment had threatened the university's funding, senior government official Peter Appleford demanded action on a letter from two university academics to Environment Minister Ryan Smith.
The emails also reveal the university hit back, saying the academics were ''within their rights of academic freedom''.
The letter, signed by 110 scientists, was written by School of Botany scientists Libby Rumpff and Georgia Garrard using their university email addresses. It raised concerns about the trial's independence and methodology.
At the time the emails were written, the university was finalising a funding contract with the department for the now-stalled trial and was negotiating an extension of a long-term research agreement. The trial overturned Labor's ban on cattle in the Alpine National Park and was designed to explore how grazing may reduce fires.
In an email to Rick Roush, dean of the school of land and environment, Mr Appleford, an executive director of the department, said he was considering bringing the letter to the attention of Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis. The letter, Mr Appleford wrote, was ''inaccurate, insulting, accusing and closed minded''.
He wrote: ''Clearly the Department cannot let this go unchallenged. I am interested in your views about how I should proceed.'' In another email, department colleague Lee Miezis forwarded the academics' letter to Mr Appleford with the note: ''Perhaps Melb Uni needs to manage this person.''
Professor Roush replied to Mr Appleford the next day, March 18, saying the ''unanimous consensus'' of four senior members of the university's executive was the university could do nothing.
Professor Roush wrote: ''The signatories are legally entitled to affix their employment status on a letter about their area of expertise, and there is no claim about a university position. They are all within their rights of academic freedom.''
The emails, tabled in the upper house recently, were requested by Greens member Sue Pennicuik. The request followed The Sunday Age reporting that Mr Appleford had tried to blackmail the university. Mr Appleford urged the university to reconsider its concerns over the trial in light of a government contract ''worth millions of dollars annually''.
The government denied it had threatened the university and issued a statement saying The Sunday Age had ''misrepresented and taken out of context comments by a departmental officer''.
Ms Pennicuik told Parliament last week that, after reading the tabled documents, she believed The Sunday Age had reported the emails accurately. She said she was concerned about the continuation of threats.
The documents also show a flurry of emails the night The Sunday Age was writing the story. In several emails, Mr Appleford asks the university to deny any threats were made. In one email that he ''hopes stays between us'', he tells Professor Roush and Associate Professor Gerd Bossinger that ''depending on what type of article appears and what quotes are provided from university staff, if any, the department may be requiring an explanation''.
The state government has not indicated when the trial will resume. Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke ordered the cattle out of the park in April.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/spring-street-continued-to-bully-uni-over-grazing-20110528-1f9s7.html#ixzz1NjWTJlFe
The Age, May 29, 2011
THE Baillieu government continued to bully Melbourne University over the controversial alpine grazing trial even after The Sunday Age exposed its threatening behaviour.
Emails tabled in Parliament show that weeks after it was revealed the Department of Sustainability and Environment had threatened the university's funding, senior government official Peter Appleford demanded action on a letter from two university academics to Environment Minister Ryan Smith.
The emails also reveal the university hit back, saying the academics were ''within their rights of academic freedom''.
The letter, signed by 110 scientists, was written by School of Botany scientists Libby Rumpff and Georgia Garrard using their university email addresses. It raised concerns about the trial's independence and methodology.
At the time the emails were written, the university was finalising a funding contract with the department for the now-stalled trial and was negotiating an extension of a long-term research agreement. The trial overturned Labor's ban on cattle in the Alpine National Park and was designed to explore how grazing may reduce fires.
In an email to Rick Roush, dean of the school of land and environment, Mr Appleford, an executive director of the department, said he was considering bringing the letter to the attention of Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis. The letter, Mr Appleford wrote, was ''inaccurate, insulting, accusing and closed minded''.
He wrote: ''Clearly the Department cannot let this go unchallenged. I am interested in your views about how I should proceed.'' In another email, department colleague Lee Miezis forwarded the academics' letter to Mr Appleford with the note: ''Perhaps Melb Uni needs to manage this person.''
Professor Roush replied to Mr Appleford the next day, March 18, saying the ''unanimous consensus'' of four senior members of the university's executive was the university could do nothing.
Professor Roush wrote: ''The signatories are legally entitled to affix their employment status on a letter about their area of expertise, and there is no claim about a university position. They are all within their rights of academic freedom.''
The emails, tabled in the upper house recently, were requested by Greens member Sue Pennicuik. The request followed The Sunday Age reporting that Mr Appleford had tried to blackmail the university. Mr Appleford urged the university to reconsider its concerns over the trial in light of a government contract ''worth millions of dollars annually''.
The government denied it had threatened the university and issued a statement saying The Sunday Age had ''misrepresented and taken out of context comments by a departmental officer''.
Ms Pennicuik told Parliament last week that, after reading the tabled documents, she believed The Sunday Age had reported the emails accurately. She said she was concerned about the continuation of threats.
The documents also show a flurry of emails the night The Sunday Age was writing the story. In several emails, Mr Appleford asks the university to deny any threats were made. In one email that he ''hopes stays between us'', he tells Professor Roush and Associate Professor Gerd Bossinger that ''depending on what type of article appears and what quotes are provided from university staff, if any, the department may be requiring an explanation''.
The state government has not indicated when the trial will resume. Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke ordered the cattle out of the park in April.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/spring-street-continued-to-bully-uni-over-grazing-20110528-1f9s7.html#ixzz1NjWTJlFe
24 May, 2011
Lingerie-clad protesters strip down for a cause
Nathan Mawby
Cheeky wilderness warriors showed plenty of skin as they hit the streets of Melbourne in a chilly protest this morning.
Wearing nothing but lingerie, the group from the Wilderness Society braved temperatures of just 14.2C to spruik their cause at 9.30am today.
The protesters were voicing their opposition to the wood-chipping of Victorian native forests to make Reflex paper.
Spokesman Sean Vagg said the stunt was a chilly way to get the point across, but a lot of fun.
"It was very chilly, there was a lot of dancing to stay warm," he said.
Mr Vagg said many had asked if the group hired models.
"People had thought we hired professional models, but it was just us," he said.
Herald Sun , May 24, 2011
Cheeky wilderness warriors showed plenty of skin as they hit the streets of Melbourne in a chilly protest this morning.
Wearing nothing but lingerie, the group from the Wilderness Society braved temperatures of just 14.2C to spruik their cause at 9.30am today.
 |
| Protesters clad in Victoria's Secret lingerie outside Officeworks in Elizabeth Street. Picture: Bruce Magilton, Herald Sun |
Spokesman Sean Vagg said the stunt was a chilly way to get the point across, but a lot of fun.
"It was very chilly, there was a lot of dancing to stay warm," he said.
Mr Vagg said many had asked if the group hired models.
"People had thought we hired professional models, but it was just us," he said.
Forest logging a big carbon culprit
Ben Cubby
The Age, May 24, 2011
STOPPING logging in old-growth forests, particularly in southern Australia, is one of the best ways of making timely cuts to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Climate Commission's first report.
Established forests store much more carbon dioxide than plantations, so cutting them down releases more heat-trapping gases, it concluded.
''In general, forests with high carbon storage capacities are those in relatively cool, moist climates that have fast growth coupled with low decomposition rates, and older, complex, multi-aged and layered forests with minimal human disturbance,'' the report said.
''This framework underscores the importance of eliminating harvesting of old-growth forests as perhaps the most important policy measure that can be taken to reduce emissions from land ecosystems.''
If Australia is to stabilise and reduce its emissions in time to make a contribution to global efforts to slow climate change, storing more carbon in the landscape is classified as a useful interim measure while the nation weans itself off fossil fuel-based electricity production. Ending logging ''yields some quick gains while the slower process of transforming energy and transport systems unfolds''.
Over the past century, between 15 and 20 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions were released by chopping down forests and clearing scrub, the report notes, citing the CSIRO and international research.
In Australia, recent estimates show that eucalyptus forests in cooler regions such as southern NSW, Victoria and Tasmania have a carbon-carrying capacity of about 640 tonnes a hectare. In their natural condition, about 33 billion tonnes of CO2 can be stored in these forests, but about 56 er cent of them have been logged.
If the logged areas were allowed to grow undisturbed again, about 7.5 billion tonnes of additional carbon dioxide could be stored in them again.
The Age, May 24, 2011
STOPPING logging in old-growth forests, particularly in southern Australia, is one of the best ways of making timely cuts to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Climate Commission's first report.
Established forests store much more carbon dioxide than plantations, so cutting them down releases more heat-trapping gases, it concluded.
''In general, forests with high carbon storage capacities are those in relatively cool, moist climates that have fast growth coupled with low decomposition rates, and older, complex, multi-aged and layered forests with minimal human disturbance,'' the report said.
''This framework underscores the importance of eliminating harvesting of old-growth forests as perhaps the most important policy measure that can be taken to reduce emissions from land ecosystems.''
If Australia is to stabilise and reduce its emissions in time to make a contribution to global efforts to slow climate change, storing more carbon in the landscape is classified as a useful interim measure while the nation weans itself off fossil fuel-based electricity production. Ending logging ''yields some quick gains while the slower process of transforming energy and transport systems unfolds''.
Over the past century, between 15 and 20 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions were released by chopping down forests and clearing scrub, the report notes, citing the CSIRO and international research.
In Australia, recent estimates show that eucalyptus forests in cooler regions such as southern NSW, Victoria and Tasmania have a carbon-carrying capacity of about 640 tonnes a hectare. In their natural condition, about 33 billion tonnes of CO2 can be stored in these forests, but about 56 er cent of them have been logged.
If the logged areas were allowed to grow undisturbed again, about 7.5 billion tonnes of additional carbon dioxide could be stored in them again.
23 May, 2011
WHAT DO YOU THINK: Yarra Valley loses potential 80 jobs after Reflex boycott
Alex Munro
Leader Newspapers, 23 May 2011
WHAT DO YOU THINK: Yarra Valley loses potential 80 jobs after Reflex boycott - Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader - News - Leader News : http://leader-news.whereilive.com.au/news/story/paper-stand-fallout/
THE state’s peak timber industry body has pulled out of plans to move their head office and 80 potential jobs to the Yarra Valley because of council’s decision to boycott Reflex paper.
The revelation came as Cr Chris Templer broke ranks to attack Yarra Ranges Council’s April 27 decision to sign the Wilderness Society’s ethical paper pledge, calling it a mistake based on an ideological opinion.
Agriculture and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh confirmed last week that an offer to move VicForests’ main office to either Yarra Glen or Healesville had been withdrawn because of council’s support of the pledge.
“The proposal was under active consideration, however in light of the council’s recent decision to take the so-called ethical paper pledge I have since written advising them that the relocation is off the table,” Mr Walsh said.
“The council has been hypocritical in seeking to attract VicForests while actively campaigning against a product that forms part of its core business.”
It is believed councillors discussed the pledge again at a meeting last week and re-affirmed their support for it.
Mayor Terry Avery said relocating VicForests to the valley would have demonstrated commitment to expanding employment and stimulating economies directly affected by Black Saturday. “We are disappointed that Minister Walsh has chosen to establish a direct link between the two unrelated issues,” Cr Avery said.
Yarra Glen Chamber of Commerce and Tourism president Bob Curtis furiously condemned signing the pledge, saying the town would welcome VicForests with open arms.
“The council needs to revoke this decision immediately, and then beg the government and VicForests to bring the office out here,” Mr Curtis said.
“Their green protest has just cost 80 potential jobs for towns that are in absolute need of them.”
MyEnvironment director Sarah Rees said it was deplorable for the State Government to blackmail the council over its decision to represent the rights of its constituents.
Has the council made a mistake? Tell us what you think at the end of this page.
Leader Newspapers, 23 May 2011
WHAT DO YOU THINK: Yarra Valley loses potential 80 jobs after Reflex boycott - Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader - News - Leader News : http://leader-news.whereilive.com.au/news/story/paper-stand-fallout/
THE state’s peak timber industry body has pulled out of plans to move their head office and 80 potential jobs to the Yarra Valley because of council’s decision to boycott Reflex paper.
The revelation came as Cr Chris Templer broke ranks to attack Yarra Ranges Council’s April 27 decision to sign the Wilderness Society’s ethical paper pledge, calling it a mistake based on an ideological opinion.
Agriculture and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh confirmed last week that an offer to move VicForests’ main office to either Yarra Glen or Healesville had been withdrawn because of council’s support of the pledge.
“The proposal was under active consideration, however in light of the council’s recent decision to take the so-called ethical paper pledge I have since written advising them that the relocation is off the table,” Mr Walsh said.
“The council has been hypocritical in seeking to attract VicForests while actively campaigning against a product that forms part of its core business.”
It is believed councillors discussed the pledge again at a meeting last week and re-affirmed their support for it.
Mayor Terry Avery said relocating VicForests to the valley would have demonstrated commitment to expanding employment and stimulating economies directly affected by Black Saturday. “We are disappointed that Minister Walsh has chosen to establish a direct link between the two unrelated issues,” Cr Avery said.
Yarra Glen Chamber of Commerce and Tourism president Bob Curtis furiously condemned signing the pledge, saying the town would welcome VicForests with open arms.
“The council needs to revoke this decision immediately, and then beg the government and VicForests to bring the office out here,” Mr Curtis said.
“Their green protest has just cost 80 potential jobs for towns that are in absolute need of them.”
MyEnvironment director Sarah Rees said it was deplorable for the State Government to blackmail the council over its decision to represent the rights of its constituents.
Has the council made a mistake? Tell us what you think at the end of this page.
21 May, 2011
Council gags on Reflex vow
Anne Wright
Herald Sun, May 21, 2011
A COUNCIL has been warned to lift its ban on a brand of paper or risk losing 45 new jobs.
The State Government said a proposal to move the VicForests corporate offices into the Yarra Range Council's area would be "off the table", unless it started using Reflex paper.
A letter from Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh to Yarra Ranges Council chief executive Glenn Patterson, seen by the Herald Sun, commended the proposal for the VicForests corporate office to move, which would create 45 jobs.
Mr Walsh then says the proposal will be "off the table" unless the council stopped its Reflex boycott.
The threat originated from the council's signing an environmental pledge to stop using the brand because it is made from native forest, which is against the council's policy.
But Mr Walsh said Reflex was a product of Australian Paper, an "important client" of VicForests, and any council signing the "so-called ethical paper pledge" from the Wilderness Society would miss out on the move of the VicForest jobs.
"In my view, council has been hypocritical in seeking to attract VicForests while actively campaigning against a product that forms part of its core business," he said.
But Yarra Ranges mayor Terry Avery said the council joined the Wilderness Society's pledge to not use Reflex paper, and opted for an Australian product line also manufactured by the Australian Paper.
"We feel strongly that the pledge is an accurate reflection of our commitment to sustainability, protection of the environment, corporate social responsibility and local community needs," Cr Avery said.
He said the council would not back down.
"We are disappointed that Minister Walsh has chosen to establish a direct link between the two unrelated issues," he said.
Opposition resources spokesman John Lenders said the Government was threatening jobs in the local community.
wrighta@heraldsun.com.au
Herald Sun, May 21, 2011
A COUNCIL has been warned to lift its ban on a brand of paper or risk losing 45 new jobs.
The State Government said a proposal to move the VicForests corporate offices into the Yarra Range Council's area would be "off the table", unless it started using Reflex paper.
A letter from Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh to Yarra Ranges Council chief executive Glenn Patterson, seen by the Herald Sun, commended the proposal for the VicForests corporate office to move, which would create 45 jobs.
Mr Walsh then says the proposal will be "off the table" unless the council stopped its Reflex boycott.
The threat originated from the council's signing an environmental pledge to stop using the brand because it is made from native forest, which is against the council's policy.
But Mr Walsh said Reflex was a product of Australian Paper, an "important client" of VicForests, and any council signing the "so-called ethical paper pledge" from the Wilderness Society would miss out on the move of the VicForest jobs.
"In my view, council has been hypocritical in seeking to attract VicForests while actively campaigning against a product that forms part of its core business," he said.
But Yarra Ranges mayor Terry Avery said the council joined the Wilderness Society's pledge to not use Reflex paper, and opted for an Australian product line also manufactured by the Australian Paper.
"We feel strongly that the pledge is an accurate reflection of our commitment to sustainability, protection of the environment, corporate social responsibility and local community needs," Cr Avery said.
He said the council would not back down.
"We are disappointed that Minister Walsh has chosen to establish a direct link between the two unrelated issues," he said.
Opposition resources spokesman John Lenders said the Government was threatening jobs in the local community.
wrighta@heraldsun.com.au
18 May, 2011
Forest peace deal shaky
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 18 May 2011
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has rejected suggestions the Federal Government has not done enough to further Tasmania's forest peace talks.
There is concern the fragile talks to ban almost all native forest logging in Tasmania are on the brink of collapse.
The Wilderness Society has temporarily walked away from the negotiations.
It is demanding clear funding commitments from both the Federal and State Governments to aid the process, saying they have been lax for not already doing so.
But Julia Gillard disagrees.
"I certainly believe the federal government has done enough," she said.
The State Opposition's Peter Gutwein claims government commitment to the process has been a farce.
The single litmus test for money from the Federal Government was brought down last week.
Only $300,000 was earmarked in the federal budget to keep negotiations running.
Meanwhile the Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim has admitted he shares the frustrations of the Wilderness Society.
He says the Greens still support the negotiations but aren't happy with the level of progress.
"From the Greens point of view the frustrations, and we share the frustrations, are in part from the Wilderness Society relate to the fact that the moratorium that was proposed in the original statement of principles is yet to be fully implemented and I think that's a frustration of many people," he said.
And Environment Tasmania says it also blames government inaction for the Wilderness Society's decision to walk away from the forest peace talks.
Phil Pullinger, from Environment Tasmania, says he is not surprised by the move.
"We share the frustrations of the Wilderness Society and some of the other organisations that are involved in this process at the lack of government action to date, we do think its now time for government action and strong government action to turn this set of principles and this opportunity that exists into reality."
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has rejected suggestions the Federal Government has not done enough to further Tasmania's forest peace talks.
There is concern the fragile talks to ban almost all native forest logging in Tasmania are on the brink of collapse.
The Wilderness Society has temporarily walked away from the negotiations.
It is demanding clear funding commitments from both the Federal and State Governments to aid the process, saying they have been lax for not already doing so.
But Julia Gillard disagrees.
"I certainly believe the federal government has done enough," she said.
The State Opposition's Peter Gutwein claims government commitment to the process has been a farce.
The single litmus test for money from the Federal Government was brought down last week.
Only $300,000 was earmarked in the federal budget to keep negotiations running.
Meanwhile the Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim has admitted he shares the frustrations of the Wilderness Society.
He says the Greens still support the negotiations but aren't happy with the level of progress.
"From the Greens point of view the frustrations, and we share the frustrations, are in part from the Wilderness Society relate to the fact that the moratorium that was proposed in the original statement of principles is yet to be fully implemented and I think that's a frustration of many people," he said.
And Environment Tasmania says it also blames government inaction for the Wilderness Society's decision to walk away from the forest peace talks.
Phil Pullinger, from Environment Tasmania, says he is not surprised by the move.
"We share the frustrations of the Wilderness Society and some of the other organisations that are involved in this process at the lack of government action to date, we do think its now time for government action and strong government action to turn this set of principles and this opportunity that exists into reality."
Forest Peace Undermined
Reporter: Martin Cuddihy
ABC 7:30 Report Transcript, Broadcast: 18/05/2011
The historic peace deal between Tasmanian loggers and conservationists appears to be on the brink of possible collapse.
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The historic peace deal between Tasmanian loggers and conservationists appears to be on the brink of possible collapse. One of the key players, the Wilderness Society, has suspended its involvement in the negotiations meant to end the decades-old conflict. The green groups' blaming both the state and federal governments for its withdrawal, as Martin Cuddihy reports from Tasmania.
TERRY EDWARDS, FOREST INDUSTRIES ASSOC (to Vica Bayley): You bloody caused all the trouble, you mongrel.
MARTIN CUDDIHY, REPORTER: There's no love lost between the timber industry and green groups. Today was no different. The latest confrontation stems from a decision by the Wilderness Society to suspend its involvement in peace talks.
VICA BAYLEY, WILDERNESS SOCIETY: We are expressing our frustration by stepping back from the process, by suspending our involvement in these talks.
TERRY EDWARDS: The whole thing may blow up in everyone's faces and we may end up without a forest peace process at all.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Forestry is more than a polarising industry. It's a decades-old dispute, one that has seen mass protests and rallies, arrests and even violence.
Last year's peace deal was hailed as a breakthrough. It was meant to ban all work in high conservation value forests and phase out logging in native forests.
The agreement was brokered by Our Common Ground, a new player that helped bring together loggers and greenies. In truth, it was more like a cease-fire than a peace treaty. But at the time there was a mood of optimism.
DAVID BARTLETT, TASMANIAN PREMIER (Oct. 2010): They have persisted and have made this once-in-a-generation opportunity come to fruition.
PHILL PULLINGER, ENVIRONMENT TASMANIA (Oct. 2010): We do believe that we've now got a unique opportunity to move beyond the decades of conflict over our native forests.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: But despite the opportunity, the Wilderness Society pulled out late yesterday. It believes federal and state governments are dragging the chain.
VICA BAYLEY: What we need to see is a clear commitment from government that they are on board, that they will back this agreement, that they make serious commitments about protecting our forests and restructuring an ailing industry.
TERRY EDWARDS: There's no doubt the Wilderness Society position makes the reaching of an agreement that much more difficult than it was before their withdrawal.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Other signatories, particularly the Forest Industries Association, are fuming at the decision to suspend involvement.
TERRY EDWARDS: This seems to be much more about the Wilderness Society wanting to pursue their agenda outside of the negotiations process.
LARA GIDDINGS, TASMANIAN PREMIER: What it shows is when the going gets tough, the Wilderness Society walk out.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: It's not the first time the Wilderness Society has pulled out of a forestry peace deal. Twice in the 1980s and '90s, with the Salamanca agreement and the regional forests agreement, both similar sorts of peace deals, the organisation withdrew when negotiations weren't progressing favourably.
With respect, you didn't actually address the question there. I said you have pulled out of two of these agreements previously. Is this just simply a stunt?
VICA BAYLEY: We make our decisions based on what we believe are going to deliver real outcomes.
NICK MCKIM, TASMANIA GREENS LEADER: I think the Wilderness Society's genuinely frustrated about the lack of progress and I understand that frustration, but the Greens still do support this process.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: Six weeks ago, the facilitator of the talks Bill Keelty handed down an interim report, but as yet there's been no response from either government. In a fortnight, some of the peace delegates are scheduled to meet with the Government in Canberra. The Prime Minister insists she's upheld her end of the bargain.
JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER: Well, I certainly believe the Federal Government has done enough. What I would say to the people in Tasmania, the representatives who have been sitting around a table, is: now is not the right time to walk away from that table.
PHILL PULLINGER: Despite today's setback, remaining players are vowing to continue the peace process. This agreement is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Tasmania to both protect our native forests and to get a strong future for the timber industry.
TERRY EDWARDS: We remain committed to trying to produce an outcome from that process and we will continue to participate positively in that process with a view to trying to achieve an outcome.
MARTIN CUDDIHY: And there remains the looming threat that the whole peace deal could fall over, meaning a return to the days of conflict in Tasmania's forests.
LARA GIDDINGS: If there's any danger of it falling apart, it's because parties at the table walk away, just like the Wilderness Society have now.
TERRY EDWARDS: It's very tempting for the other signatories to now decide to walk in and out of the process whenever we feel like it. If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.
Tasmanian logging pact hits hurdle
Andrew Darby
The Age, May 18, 2011
Tasmania's once-in-a-generation forest peace talks have been rocked by the decision of a key green group, The Wilderness Society, to suspend its involvement citing a lack of action.
Talks eight months ago reached agreement on a historic blueprint to end conflict over the island's contentious wild forests, but a logging moratorium is yet to be fully implemented, months after it was due.
It is the first loss of a central participant from the year-old talks between industry, unions and green groups.
Environment Minister Tony Burke warned last night that now was not the time to be leaving the table, and federal government help would only be possible if the groups kept working together.
''The only reason that we have an opportunity for an outcome that works for jobs and conservation is because of the goodwill that's been shown in the community-led agreement,'' Mr Burke said.
The peace talks have identified 570,000 hectares of high conservation value forests in Tasmania up for protection as the biggest timber company, Gunns Limited, ends native forest logging.
Premier Lara Giddings said the state government had protected 98 per cent of contentious high conservation value forests, with just 2 per cent remaining to fill legally binding contracts and to keep forest workers employed.
But The Wilderness Society's Tasmanian campaigns manager, Vica Bayley, yesterday showed reporters a logging access road into public old growth forests of the Esperance Valley in the island's south-east.
Mr Bayley said the road was built this year, while the moratorium was supposed to be in place.
''This is a classic case of what we've been seeing across the high conservation value reserve proposals in Tasmania,'' he said of the road, which pushed through tall eucalypt dominated wet forest, ending about 100 metres from the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
''A moratorium is always about the 2 per cent that was going to be logged, not the 98 per cent that wasn't being logged,'' he said.
''Despite aspirations for a moratorium, we still have roading operations, we still have logging operations, and of course we've still got resultant conflict in the forests.''
Mr Bayley said the government's proposed carbon tax could be used to ensure protection of these forests, which were some of the country's largest carbon stores.
Small Tasmanian green groups have made increasingly strident protests against continued logging, including disrupting the loading of ships, and shutting down the state's timber agency, Forestry Tasmania.
The suspension of involvement by The Wilderness Society comes only six weeks before independent facilitator Bill Kelty is due to deliver a final report from the peace talks to the Gillard government, which will attempt to balance the protection of wild forests with timber business sustainability.
Mr Kelty could not be reached for comment.
The Age, May 18, 2011
Tasmania's once-in-a-generation forest peace talks have been rocked by the decision of a key green group, The Wilderness Society, to suspend its involvement citing a lack of action.
Talks eight months ago reached agreement on a historic blueprint to end conflict over the island's contentious wild forests, but a logging moratorium is yet to be fully implemented, months after it was due.
It is the first loss of a central participant from the year-old talks between industry, unions and green groups.
Environment Minister Tony Burke warned last night that now was not the time to be leaving the table, and federal government help would only be possible if the groups kept working together.
''The only reason that we have an opportunity for an outcome that works for jobs and conservation is because of the goodwill that's been shown in the community-led agreement,'' Mr Burke said.
The peace talks have identified 570,000 hectares of high conservation value forests in Tasmania up for protection as the biggest timber company, Gunns Limited, ends native forest logging.
Premier Lara Giddings said the state government had protected 98 per cent of contentious high conservation value forests, with just 2 per cent remaining to fill legally binding contracts and to keep forest workers employed.
But The Wilderness Society's Tasmanian campaigns manager, Vica Bayley, yesterday showed reporters a logging access road into public old growth forests of the Esperance Valley in the island's south-east.
Mr Bayley said the road was built this year, while the moratorium was supposed to be in place.
''This is a classic case of what we've been seeing across the high conservation value reserve proposals in Tasmania,'' he said of the road, which pushed through tall eucalypt dominated wet forest, ending about 100 metres from the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
''A moratorium is always about the 2 per cent that was going to be logged, not the 98 per cent that wasn't being logged,'' he said.
''Despite aspirations for a moratorium, we still have roading operations, we still have logging operations, and of course we've still got resultant conflict in the forests.''
Mr Bayley said the government's proposed carbon tax could be used to ensure protection of these forests, which were some of the country's largest carbon stores.
Small Tasmanian green groups have made increasingly strident protests against continued logging, including disrupting the loading of ships, and shutting down the state's timber agency, Forestry Tasmania.
The suspension of involvement by The Wilderness Society comes only six weeks before independent facilitator Bill Kelty is due to deliver a final report from the peace talks to the Gillard government, which will attempt to balance the protection of wild forests with timber business sustainability.
Mr Kelty could not be reached for comment.
03 May, 2011
Fears for possum's fate
CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
Maroondah Weekly, 03 May, 2011
AN ecology expert has warned that Victoria's fauna emblem, the Leadbeater's possum, is under threat from proposed logging in some Yarra Ranges forests.
Australian National University ecology professor, David Lindenmayer, said he "can't believe" that areas across central Victoria with significant numbers of the threatened possum were being targeted for logging.
He backed Yarra Ranges Council's opposition to VicForests' plans to log 20coupes near conservation reserves that protected threatened species.
The plan outlines 144 logging coupes including Toolangi, Powelltown, Noojee and Marysville in the east of Yarra Ranges Shire.
"Surprisingly there is some small patches of old forest important to the animal being targeted by VicForests for harvesting - a couple of areas have significant numbers of Leadbeater's possum," Professor Lindenmayer said.
He is part of an ANU team monitoring the possums in the region. He estimates about 1000 Leadbeater's possums remain in Victoria - the possum's only known address in the world.
Small numbers lived in Toolangi, despite the area being "belted" by bushfires and logging in the past 100 years, he said.
The species faced a high probability of extinction within 30-50 years unless logging stopped in its ever-shrinking habitat.
The council last week also voted to sign The Wilderness Society's ethical paper pledge not to use native-forest sourced paper.
The society's ethical paper campaign allows groups to pledge not to support Australian Paper and its Reflex product until the company stops using native-forest timber pulp.
Cr Samantha Dunn, who moved the motion, said the pledge wouldn't cost the council, which already uses paper from recycled and plantation timber sources.
VicForests spokesman David Walsh said about a third of timber from Victoria's forests was sold for furniture and flooring, but not parts of a tree that could be used for high-value products.
"Much of the wood that does not meet the high standards required for sawlog is utilised to produce quality writing and office paper."
Maroondah Weekly, 03 May, 2011
AN ecology expert has warned that Victoria's fauna emblem, the Leadbeater's possum, is under threat from proposed logging in some Yarra Ranges forests.
Australian National University ecology professor, David Lindenmayer, said he "can't believe" that areas across central Victoria with significant numbers of the threatened possum were being targeted for logging.
He backed Yarra Ranges Council's opposition to VicForests' plans to log 20coupes near conservation reserves that protected threatened species.
The plan outlines 144 logging coupes including Toolangi, Powelltown, Noojee and Marysville in the east of Yarra Ranges Shire.
"Surprisingly there is some small patches of old forest important to the animal being targeted by VicForests for harvesting - a couple of areas have significant numbers of Leadbeater's possum," Professor Lindenmayer said.
He is part of an ANU team monitoring the possums in the region. He estimates about 1000 Leadbeater's possums remain in Victoria - the possum's only known address in the world.
Small numbers lived in Toolangi, despite the area being "belted" by bushfires and logging in the past 100 years, he said.
The species faced a high probability of extinction within 30-50 years unless logging stopped in its ever-shrinking habitat.
The council last week also voted to sign The Wilderness Society's ethical paper pledge not to use native-forest sourced paper.
The society's ethical paper campaign allows groups to pledge not to support Australian Paper and its Reflex product until the company stops using native-forest timber pulp.
Cr Samantha Dunn, who moved the motion, said the pledge wouldn't cost the council, which already uses paper from recycled and plantation timber sources.
VicForests spokesman David Walsh said about a third of timber from Victoria's forests was sold for furniture and flooring, but not parts of a tree that could be used for high-value products.
"Much of the wood that does not meet the high standards required for sawlog is utilised to produce quality writing and office paper."
02 May, 2011
Do you agree with Yarra Ranges Council ban of Reflex paper?
Kimberley Seedy
Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader, 2 May 2011
YARRA Ranges Council is encouraging consumers and other councils to follow their lead in boycotting Reflex paper.
Councillors agreed last week to sign the Ethical Paper Pledge to encourage consumers of paper not to buy Reflex until its makers stop using native forest timber pulp in their products.
At last week’s meeting, Cr Samantha Dunn proposed the council support the ban.
The campaign against Reflex, started by the Wilderness Society in February, encourages organisations to sign a pledge “to protect Melbourne’s water supply, prevent the extinction of iconic species, and halt the daily release of large amounts of carbon dioxide in Victoria’s forests”.
Cr Dunn said the decision would have no financial impact on the council because it did not use Reflex.
But Cr Chris Templer said it wasn’t appropriate to target a specific company.
Cr Len Cox backed the campaign, saying: “The fact that old growth forests are being logged at all is a disgrace.”
Australian Paper, manufacturer of Reflex, has started a website defending its practices.
It states more than half of total fibre needs are met from plantation wood, recycled pulp and wastepaper from kerbside collections, and the rest is sourced through VicForests, a State Government enterprise responsible for the sustainable harvest and commercial sale of wood from state forests.
Do you agree with Yarra Ranges decision to ban Reflex paper?
Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader, 2 May 2011
YARRA Ranges Council is encouraging consumers and other councils to follow their lead in boycotting Reflex paper.
Councillors agreed last week to sign the Ethical Paper Pledge to encourage consumers of paper not to buy Reflex until its makers stop using native forest timber pulp in their products.
At last week’s meeting, Cr Samantha Dunn proposed the council support the ban.
The campaign against Reflex, started by the Wilderness Society in February, encourages organisations to sign a pledge “to protect Melbourne’s water supply, prevent the extinction of iconic species, and halt the daily release of large amounts of carbon dioxide in Victoria’s forests”.
Cr Dunn said the decision would have no financial impact on the council because it did not use Reflex.
But Cr Chris Templer said it wasn’t appropriate to target a specific company.
Cr Len Cox backed the campaign, saying: “The fact that old growth forests are being logged at all is a disgrace.”
Australian Paper, manufacturer of Reflex, has started a website defending its practices.
It states more than half of total fibre needs are met from plantation wood, recycled pulp and wastepaper from kerbside collections, and the rest is sourced through VicForests, a State Government enterprise responsible for the sustainable harvest and commercial sale of wood from state forests.
Do you agree with Yarra Ranges decision to ban Reflex paper?
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