The Age
Melissa Fyfe, Environment Reporter, May 10, 2004
The State Government has admitted that it lost control of five fires connected to logging operations, most of them in Melbourne's water catchments.
One fire incinerated several boxes that forest animal specialist David Lindenmayer had set up as experimental habitats for the endangered Leadbeater's possum. It is believed possums were not using them at the time.
Two post-logging fires escaped into national park in the O'Shannassy and Maroondah areas - "locked" parts of the city's water catchments. Two other fires in April, also lit to regenerate logged areas, burnt 280 hectares of the Thomson catchment, one of the city's major water sources.
Logging in water catchments is sensitive because it replaces old trees with young trees which, while growing, suck up water that would otherwise flow to dams. Melbourne Water research shows that water yield from logged areas drops 50 per cent by the time the trees are 20 to 30 years old. For this reason, the Department of Sustainability and Environment and Melbourne Water only allow 150 hectares to be logged each year in the Thomson catchment. A fire, which also encourages young trees to grow, also has a water-reducing effect.
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A department spokeswoman said the two fires that escaped into the Yarra Ranges National Park were minor. In the Maroondah catchment, a quarter of a hectare was burnt, and half a hectare in O'Shannassy, she said.
"These escapes occurred during the extreme weather conditions experienced post-Easter," she told The Age. Another controlled burn got away in a special forest experiment, also part of Professor Lindenmayer's work. In a logging area, an island of trees that was supposed to be left for future animal habitat was burnt. But the spokeswoman said: "At Toolangi the regeneration burn did get into the island, but the mountain ash will survive and provide animal habitat in the future."
Professor Lindenmayer is helping research ways that clearfell logging can be changed to leave clumps of forest that will grow old and provide hollows, key habitat for Leadbeater's possum.
"Essentially we have a big problem in the Central Highlands with clearfelling," Professor Lindenmayer said. "It eliminates the structural complexity of the forest ... There needs to be a mixture of old trees and young trees."
Professor Lindenmayer, from the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University, said he did not know how many possum boxes he had lost. The experiment - to see if they would live in boxes in the absence of suitable hollows - had not attracted possums so far.
The Wilderness Society and local conservationists believe that logging should be stopped in Melbourne's water catchments.
Sarah Rees, the Central Highlands Alliance president, said her group had stumbled on the "smouldering secret" in water catchment areas. "The (department) has displayed nothing but nonchalance and disregard for the sensitivity of these surrounding national parks," she said.
Original article
10 May, 2004
12 January, 2003
ARTICLE: Pier-to-pub goes swimmingly (except for the loggers)
The Age
January 12 2003
Dan Silkstone
The 23rd annual pier-to-pub swim went ahead with little disruption at Lorne yesterday, despite loggers clogging Geelong Road in a protest against the Bracks Government's decision to phase out logging in the Otways Ranges.
Organisers said they were delighted with a crowd estimated at more than 20,000, which saw a record 4000 competitors attempt the 1.2-kilometre swim.
"There was some disruption but it wasn't that bad," said event spokeswoman Samantha O'Brien. "People went by the back roads or left early. The day has been really successful and we're extremely pleased."
Three convoys of logging trucks left Geelong hourly starting at 8am, clogging lanes on the Geelong and Great Ocean Roads as they crawled toward Lorne at 40 kmh.
A police spokeswoman said last night that no arrests were made and the protest had been peaceful.
The loggers were protesting against the State Government's decision to halt logging in the Otways Ranges by 2008, a key part of the government's re-election strategy.
Organiser Peter Dynes said despite timing the action to coincide with the race it had never been the loggers' intention to stop the event or cause problems for the surf lifesaving club, which runs the race as a fund-raiser.
"I don't think we disrupted the event and we didn't want to do that," he said. "We just wanted to get some attention and tell the public about the situation we are in."
Mr Dynes accused Premier Steve Bracks of misleading loggers about the future of their jobs.
He said that forestry workers and their families were already suffering as logging scaled back before the scheduled finish date. About 150 loggers travelled through Lorne, stopping for a barbecue while the race went ahead. A second planned blockade in the afternoon was cancelled as the protesters took up a collection for the lifesaving club.
For the record, Nick Hinsley won the event in a time of 11.49, the third consecutive occasion he has led all comers in the race to the beach in front of the Lorne Hotel. Naantali Marshall was the first woman home for the fourth consecutive year in 12.16."
Original article
January 12 2003
Dan Silkstone
The 23rd annual pier-to-pub swim went ahead with little disruption at Lorne yesterday, despite loggers clogging Geelong Road in a protest against the Bracks Government's decision to phase out logging in the Otways Ranges.
Organisers said they were delighted with a crowd estimated at more than 20,000, which saw a record 4000 competitors attempt the 1.2-kilometre swim.
"There was some disruption but it wasn't that bad," said event spokeswoman Samantha O'Brien. "People went by the back roads or left early. The day has been really successful and we're extremely pleased."
Three convoys of logging trucks left Geelong hourly starting at 8am, clogging lanes on the Geelong and Great Ocean Roads as they crawled toward Lorne at 40 kmh.
A police spokeswoman said last night that no arrests were made and the protest had been peaceful.
The loggers were protesting against the State Government's decision to halt logging in the Otways Ranges by 2008, a key part of the government's re-election strategy.
Organiser Peter Dynes said despite timing the action to coincide with the race it had never been the loggers' intention to stop the event or cause problems for the surf lifesaving club, which runs the race as a fund-raiser.
"I don't think we disrupted the event and we didn't want to do that," he said. "We just wanted to get some attention and tell the public about the situation we are in."
Mr Dynes accused Premier Steve Bracks of misleading loggers about the future of their jobs.
He said that forestry workers and their families were already suffering as logging scaled back before the scheduled finish date. About 150 loggers travelled through Lorne, stopping for a barbecue while the race went ahead. A second planned blockade in the afternoon was cancelled as the protesters took up a collection for the lifesaving club.
For the record, Nick Hinsley won the event in a time of 11.49, the third consecutive occasion he has led all comers in the race to the beach in front of the Lorne Hotel. Naantali Marshall was the first woman home for the fourth consecutive year in 12.16."
Original article
04 November, 2002
LETTER: Getting it wrong on logging
Mark Poynter, forestry consultant, Alphington
The Age, 04/11/02
As logging is restricted to the less than 15 per cent of Victoria's native forests that are legally available and suitable for timber production, Brian Walters' statement that "our forests are being seriously overlogged" is fundamentally incorrect.
His call for more forests to be protected also demonstrates a lack of understanding of "overlogging", which is the harvesting of these available forests at a rate faster than the optimum required for sustainable production. Recognition that the available forests were being logged too quickly resulted from updated growth information - and was not caused by "an industry that demands more than our forests can provide".
As for Walters' economic arguments, these are flawed by understating the native forest woodchip price by a factor of almost 100, and overstating the "commercial" price for plantation woodchips by about 100 per cent.
Walters should consider the morality of pushing to stop timber production in a minor portion of our forests, while at the same time being part of a society that consumed 21 million cubic metres of log volume last year.
The Age, 04/11/02
As logging is restricted to the less than 15 per cent of Victoria's native forests that are legally available and suitable for timber production, Brian Walters' statement that "our forests are being seriously overlogged" is fundamentally incorrect.
His call for more forests to be protected also demonstrates a lack of understanding of "overlogging", which is the harvesting of these available forests at a rate faster than the optimum required for sustainable production. Recognition that the available forests were being logged too quickly resulted from updated growth information - and was not caused by "an industry that demands more than our forests can provide".
As for Walters' economic arguments, these are flawed by understating the native forest woodchip price by a factor of almost 100, and overstating the "commercial" price for plantation woodchips by about 100 per cent.
Walters should consider the morality of pushing to stop timber production in a minor portion of our forests, while at the same time being part of a society that consumed 21 million cubic metres of log volume last year.
LETTER: Green - or just greenish
Andrew Walker, Lawyers for Forests, Parkville
The Age, 04/11/02
Brian Walters (Opinion 1/11) has hit the nail on the head regarding Environment Minister Sherryl Garbutt's "moratorium" on logging the Goolengook Forest.
While the moratorium is a positive move, Garbutt has indicated the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council will be asked to advise whether other already protected forest can be swapped for Goolengook and logged, if Goolengook is saved. This perpetuates the myth that the government is bound to find replacement forest if forest previously identified as available for logging is subsequently protected under a Regional Forest Agreement - something that is simply not true.
If the Bracks Government is serious about saving Goolengook, and establishing its green credentials, it should examine whether logging of old-growth and high-conservation forest can be phased out. Otherwise it is difficult to see how minister Garbutt's announcement amounts to anything but greenwash.
The Age, 04/11/02
Brian Walters (Opinion 1/11) has hit the nail on the head regarding Environment Minister Sherryl Garbutt's "moratorium" on logging the Goolengook Forest.
While the moratorium is a positive move, Garbutt has indicated the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council will be asked to advise whether other already protected forest can be swapped for Goolengook and logged, if Goolengook is saved. This perpetuates the myth that the government is bound to find replacement forest if forest previously identified as available for logging is subsequently protected under a Regional Forest Agreement - something that is simply not true.
If the Bracks Government is serious about saving Goolengook, and establishing its green credentials, it should examine whether logging of old-growth and high-conservation forest can be phased out. Otherwise it is difficult to see how minister Garbutt's announcement amounts to anything but greenwash.
12 February, 2002
LETTER: Living with nature – not consuming it
Mick Fendley, director. Victorian National Parks Association
Letter, The Age, 12/1/2002
John Vidal, in an extraordinary piece of sophistry in The Age earlier this month (“Wild lies'', 3/1) set about attacking the establishment of national parks and wilderness areas. He did this behind a cleverly constructed screen of concern for social justice and indigenous rights.
After asserting that there was a ''push' to create ever-expanding wilderness areas (this is arrant nonsense: wild or natural areas all over the world are rare and in rapid retreat) and referring to a plot by the conservation "industry" against indigenous people (the fact that no such 'industry" exists didn't seem to bother the writer; nor did the fact that the vast majority of people working for the conservation of nature are highly respectful and supportive of indigenous cultures). Vidal then launched his main attack: that conservation is ''anti- people”. With foot-stamping petulance he demands to know: ''Who runs flits planet?''
There is a sad alienation in this cry an angry and small voice that feels keenly the expulsion from Eden and will lash out like a vandal at any natural beauty remaining.
Vidal seems to have made the fundamental and primitive error that the only needs of people are consumptive and the only values of the natural world ate the so-called 'use' values (hunting. firewood collection, timber cutting and so forth). He failed entirely to acknowledge that there are whole ranges of values we place on the natural world, many of which do not require direct consumption to give us what we need. Indirect values such as through visitation, vicarious values, bequest values for the next generation and intrinsic values of nature itself are placed on the environment and do not require its destructive consumption.
It is clear Vidal wants us to see nature as a lie, that all natural capital is in fact human capital and thus of ourselves and to be used and exploited as we see fit. This is a far-right-wing development agenda pursued using the clubs of the left.
In Australia, humans have shaped the land for millennia, but the imprint is softer and less obvious than in Europe, where Vidal's article was written. The pulse of wild nature still beats strongly here. Our parks in Victoria and around the world seek to protect and celebrate this, for people and nature. We wish to nurture, but not consume.
Letter, The Age, 12/1/2002
John Vidal, in an extraordinary piece of sophistry in The Age earlier this month (“Wild lies'', 3/1) set about attacking the establishment of national parks and wilderness areas. He did this behind a cleverly constructed screen of concern for social justice and indigenous rights.
After asserting that there was a ''push' to create ever-expanding wilderness areas (this is arrant nonsense: wild or natural areas all over the world are rare and in rapid retreat) and referring to a plot by the conservation "industry" against indigenous people (the fact that no such 'industry" exists didn't seem to bother the writer; nor did the fact that the vast majority of people working for the conservation of nature are highly respectful and supportive of indigenous cultures). Vidal then launched his main attack: that conservation is ''anti- people”. With foot-stamping petulance he demands to know: ''Who runs flits planet?''
There is a sad alienation in this cry an angry and small voice that feels keenly the expulsion from Eden and will lash out like a vandal at any natural beauty remaining.
Vidal seems to have made the fundamental and primitive error that the only needs of people are consumptive and the only values of the natural world ate the so-called 'use' values (hunting. firewood collection, timber cutting and so forth). He failed entirely to acknowledge that there are whole ranges of values we place on the natural world, many of which do not require direct consumption to give us what we need. Indirect values such as through visitation, vicarious values, bequest values for the next generation and intrinsic values of nature itself are placed on the environment and do not require its destructive consumption.
It is clear Vidal wants us to see nature as a lie, that all natural capital is in fact human capital and thus of ourselves and to be used and exploited as we see fit. This is a far-right-wing development agenda pursued using the clubs of the left.
In Australia, humans have shaped the land for millennia, but the imprint is softer and less obvious than in Europe, where Vidal's article was written. The pulse of wild nature still beats strongly here. Our parks in Victoria and around the world seek to protect and celebrate this, for people and nature. We wish to nurture, but not consume.
04 February, 2001
Water logged
Ralph H. Lewis, Canterbury
The Age (letter) 4/2/2001
It is most encouraging to read that the Environment and Conservation Minister has deferred logging at the headwaters and proximity of the beautiful Sabine Falls in the Otway Ranges pending the deliberations and recommendations of a committee of interested parties.
Let us hope that a conclusion is reached that will ensure the continuing quality and quantity of water from our valuable and over- stressed catchment areas. Without healthy forests it is impossible to conceive of sufficient healthy water supplies and, therefore, healthy people.
The Age (letter) 4/2/2001
It is most encouraging to read that the Environment and Conservation Minister has deferred logging at the headwaters and proximity of the beautiful Sabine Falls in the Otway Ranges pending the deliberations and recommendations of a committee of interested parties.
Let us hope that a conclusion is reached that will ensure the continuing quality and quantity of water from our valuable and over- stressed catchment areas. Without healthy forests it is impossible to conceive of sufficient healthy water supplies and, therefore, healthy people.
Owls of protest
Geraldine Ryan, Montmorency
The Age (letter), 4/2/2001
I was about to turn the page of The Sunday Age (21/1) when this line caught my attention: "If those owls are so powerful, how come they need protection?" In a few words, the answer is loss of living space.
The largest Australian owl, Ninox strenua, with the large, brilliant- yellow eyes and penetrating voice that reaches far through the forest, is now considered endangered.
At the heart of this situation is loss of its forest habitat. Victoria, for example, has lost 65 per cent of its forest cover and even more of its tall woodlands in a very short time. Most of these trees would have been old, hundreds ofyears old. Powerful owls, which mate for life, require old trees with large hollows in which to raise their young. For food, they can need more than 1000 hectares a pair.
The owls need protection from the immensely destructive clearfell logging method that destroys their hollow-tree homes and food sources. No matter how "powerful" a creature is in a balanced and intact ecosystem, it will have difficulty if the system on which it depends is destroyed.
The Age (letter), 4/2/2001
I was about to turn the page of The Sunday Age (21/1) when this line caught my attention: "If those owls are so powerful, how come they need protection?" In a few words, the answer is loss of living space.
The largest Australian owl, Ninox strenua, with the large, brilliant- yellow eyes and penetrating voice that reaches far through the forest, is now considered endangered.
At the heart of this situation is loss of its forest habitat. Victoria, for example, has lost 65 per cent of its forest cover and even more of its tall woodlands in a very short time. Most of these trees would have been old, hundreds ofyears old. Powerful owls, which mate for life, require old trees with large hollows in which to raise their young. For food, they can need more than 1000 hectares a pair.
The owls need protection from the immensely destructive clearfell logging method that destroys their hollow-tree homes and food sources. No matter how "powerful" a creature is in a balanced and intact ecosystem, it will have difficulty if the system on which it depends is destroyed.
03 February, 2001
Timber product exports fall far short of imports
Claire Konkes
The Weekend Australian (article), 3/2/2001
AUSTRALIA exported less than half of what it imported in forest products last financial year, according to government analysts. Imports of timber products were $3.797 billion and exports $1.576 billion, says a report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics. ABARE forestry economics manager Peter Grist said in volume terms Australia was importing as much as it was exporting, but in value terms was exporting low-value products such as woodchips and importing value-added products. The ABARE report shows exports of paper products, including packaging and stationery, totalled $490.63 million and imports $1.9977 billion.
Last financial year Australia produced 381 kilotonnes of newsprint. A further 293 kilotonnes were imported from New Zealand to meet domestic needs. According to the ABARE report, woodchip exports have doubled to 9395 kilotonnes since the mid-'80s, while consumption of roundwood - as yet unprocessed trees - has remained relatively stable at around 19,000 sq m a year in that time.
Mr Grist said the dramatic increase in structured timber products consumption in the 1999-2000 financial year was due mainly to the housing boom, particularly on the eastern seaboard.
Surplus requirements were met with imports from Canada and New Zealand. ABARE figures show the Australian market consumed $4.791 billion worth of sawnwood timber. Imports valued at $518.1 million mostly came from the Pacific region. Sawnlog exports were $51.23 million.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) forestry division secretary Craig Smith said Australia was reasonably self- sufficient in terms of timber for construction, but woodchips remained a major export earner. "You sell a tonne of woodchips for about $35 because it's very cheap --you just run it through a chipper - but you buy it back as a tonne of paper for several thousand dollars. So quite rightly we should be processing forest residue onshore," Mr Smith said. But, he added, "it's pretty damn hard to get Australian- made paper at a goodprice." Mr Smith said some timber I products were imported from: countries with lower production costs because of cheaper labour, lower environmental controls and easier government regulations.
He said the main concern of the CFMEU was the poor quality imports being into the country. "We have evidence that, particularly in regard to plywood and construction form ply, the quality does not meet: occupational health and safety standards here," he said. "In fact there have been formwork collapses as a result of poor quality imported form ply.
The Weekend Australian (article), 3/2/2001
AUSTRALIA exported less than half of what it imported in forest products last financial year, according to government analysts. Imports of timber products were $3.797 billion and exports $1.576 billion, says a report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics. ABARE forestry economics manager Peter Grist said in volume terms Australia was importing as much as it was exporting, but in value terms was exporting low-value products such as woodchips and importing value-added products. The ABARE report shows exports of paper products, including packaging and stationery, totalled $490.63 million and imports $1.9977 billion.
Last financial year Australia produced 381 kilotonnes of newsprint. A further 293 kilotonnes were imported from New Zealand to meet domestic needs. According to the ABARE report, woodchip exports have doubled to 9395 kilotonnes since the mid-'80s, while consumption of roundwood - as yet unprocessed trees - has remained relatively stable at around 19,000 sq m a year in that time.
Mr Grist said the dramatic increase in structured timber products consumption in the 1999-2000 financial year was due mainly to the housing boom, particularly on the eastern seaboard.
Surplus requirements were met with imports from Canada and New Zealand. ABARE figures show the Australian market consumed $4.791 billion worth of sawnwood timber. Imports valued at $518.1 million mostly came from the Pacific region. Sawnlog exports were $51.23 million.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) forestry division secretary Craig Smith said Australia was reasonably self- sufficient in terms of timber for construction, but woodchips remained a major export earner. "You sell a tonne of woodchips for about $35 because it's very cheap --you just run it through a chipper - but you buy it back as a tonne of paper for several thousand dollars. So quite rightly we should be processing forest residue onshore," Mr Smith said. But, he added, "it's pretty damn hard to get Australian- made paper at a goodprice." Mr Smith said some timber I products were imported from: countries with lower production costs because of cheaper labour, lower environmental controls and easier government regulations.
He said the main concern of the CFMEU was the poor quality imports being into the country. "We have evidence that, particularly in regard to plywood and construction form ply, the quality does not meet: occupational health and safety standards here," he said. "In fact there have been formwork collapses as a result of poor quality imported form ply.
29 January, 2001
Victorian woodchip exports down but far from out
Philip Hopkins,
The Age (article), 29/1/2001
Victorian woodchip exports dropped slightly in value to $133.46 million in 1999-2000, according to the latest figures.
Of this total, the state's softwood woodchip exports were valued at $86.72 million and the hardwood woodchip exports at $46.75 million, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics reported last week.
In the previous three financial years, Victoria's total woodchip exports had been respectively $135.57 million, $124.76 million and $90.77 million.
Victoria's softwood woodchip exports in 1999-2000 ($86.77 million) represented 60 per cent of the value of national softwood woodchip exports ($143.33 million). The 1999-00 national total was a 7.4 per cent drop on the previous year's figure of $94.08 million, despite a slight rise in volume, reflecting poorer prices.
The $46.77 million in Victorian hardwood chip exports was higher than the previous three years; in 1998-99 they were valued at $41.57million, up from $40.57 million in 1997-98 and $25.37 million in 1996-97.
The latest ABARE hardwood figure was an estimate, because statistics on the value and volume of hardwood woodchip exports from the states are no longer available on the ground of commercial confidence.
Figures on the country of destination of hardwood woodchip exports will also not be available. Only national hardwood woodchip export figures will be published.
All softwood woodchip export figures will continue to be available.
These changes are due to an agreement between the Australian Bureau of Statistics and commercial operators that are key exporters of hardwood woodchips. The ABS declined to say whether one or more companies was involved.
Companies maintain that publication of the state hardwood statistics makes them easily recognisable and undermines their commercial operations.
Nationally, ABARE estimated that the volume of Australian woodchip exports in 1999-2000 rose 20 per cent to more than 4.67 million tonnes.
This was the highest annual level recorded and consisted of 3.6 million tonnes of hardwood and 1.04 million softwood chips. More than half the latter (651,700 tonnes) came from Victoria.
ABARE said the largest rises were in hardwood woodchip exports to Japan and Indonesia, with softwood woodchip exports increasing only slightly.
A fall in the average unit price of woodchip exports to Japan and exports of lower-valued woodchips to other Asian countries partly offset the large rise in volume. Despite lower prices, the higher volumes pushed the value of national woodchip exports up 10 per cent to $647 million - $504 million for hardwood (up 16 per cent) and $143 million for softwood. ABARE said the rise in woodchip exports was due to a 3.6 per cent increase in Japanese domestic demand for paper in the first six months of 2000. Australia became the major supplier of both hardwood and softwood woodchips to Japan in 1999-2000, as woodchip imports from the United States fell.
Despite the increase in woodchip exports, Australia's trade deficit in forest products increased to $2.2 billion in 1999-2000 from $1.96 billion the previous financial year.
The value of forest products imports rose by 16 per cent to about $3.8 billion, while the value of exports rose by 22 per cent to $1.58 billion.
ABARE said imports were boosted by strong economic growth and the upturn in the housing industry. This was the third consecutive year of import growth.
The biggest contributor to imports was paper and paperboard, whose value rose by 14 per cent ($242 million) to almost $2 billion.
The total value of sawnwood imports rose by 32 per cent ($131 million) to $548 million due to the rise in housing construction. Victoria's share of the total was $146 million.
The value of imports of miscellaneous forest products, such as doors and mouldings, rose by 20 per cent to $476 million, of which Victoria's share was $84.5 million.
Victoria's other main forest products imports in 1999-2000 were veneers ($9.4 million), plywood ($32.4 million), particleboard ($2.19 million), medium-density fibreboard ($23.8 million) and softboard ($6.16 million).
ABARE said Victorian and Australian roundwood exports had more than doubled in recent years. In 1999-2000, Australian exports of roundwood were 1.2 million cubic metres, a record annual level, of which Victoria's share was nearly half - 535,000 cubic metres. In 1997-98, Victoria's roundwood exports were 193,980 cubic metres.
However, the average unit value of roundwood exports continued to decline, with falls of 11-15 per cent. Overall, the value of Australian roundwood exports rose by 43 per cent to about $70 million, of which Victoria's share was $26.3 million.
The Age (article), 29/1/2001
Victorian woodchip exports dropped slightly in value to $133.46 million in 1999-2000, according to the latest figures.
Of this total, the state's softwood woodchip exports were valued at $86.72 million and the hardwood woodchip exports at $46.75 million, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics reported last week.
In the previous three financial years, Victoria's total woodchip exports had been respectively $135.57 million, $124.76 million and $90.77 million.
Victoria's softwood woodchip exports in 1999-2000 ($86.77 million) represented 60 per cent of the value of national softwood woodchip exports ($143.33 million). The 1999-00 national total was a 7.4 per cent drop on the previous year's figure of $94.08 million, despite a slight rise in volume, reflecting poorer prices.
The $46.77 million in Victorian hardwood chip exports was higher than the previous three years; in 1998-99 they were valued at $41.57million, up from $40.57 million in 1997-98 and $25.37 million in 1996-97.
The latest ABARE hardwood figure was an estimate, because statistics on the value and volume of hardwood woodchip exports from the states are no longer available on the ground of commercial confidence.
Figures on the country of destination of hardwood woodchip exports will also not be available. Only national hardwood woodchip export figures will be published.
All softwood woodchip export figures will continue to be available.
These changes are due to an agreement between the Australian Bureau of Statistics and commercial operators that are key exporters of hardwood woodchips. The ABS declined to say whether one or more companies was involved.
Companies maintain that publication of the state hardwood statistics makes them easily recognisable and undermines their commercial operations.
Nationally, ABARE estimated that the volume of Australian woodchip exports in 1999-2000 rose 20 per cent to more than 4.67 million tonnes.
This was the highest annual level recorded and consisted of 3.6 million tonnes of hardwood and 1.04 million softwood chips. More than half the latter (651,700 tonnes) came from Victoria.
ABARE said the largest rises were in hardwood woodchip exports to Japan and Indonesia, with softwood woodchip exports increasing only slightly.
A fall in the average unit price of woodchip exports to Japan and exports of lower-valued woodchips to other Asian countries partly offset the large rise in volume. Despite lower prices, the higher volumes pushed the value of national woodchip exports up 10 per cent to $647 million - $504 million for hardwood (up 16 per cent) and $143 million for softwood. ABARE said the rise in woodchip exports was due to a 3.6 per cent increase in Japanese domestic demand for paper in the first six months of 2000. Australia became the major supplier of both hardwood and softwood woodchips to Japan in 1999-2000, as woodchip imports from the United States fell.
Despite the increase in woodchip exports, Australia's trade deficit in forest products increased to $2.2 billion in 1999-2000 from $1.96 billion the previous financial year.
The value of forest products imports rose by 16 per cent to about $3.8 billion, while the value of exports rose by 22 per cent to $1.58 billion.
ABARE said imports were boosted by strong economic growth and the upturn in the housing industry. This was the third consecutive year of import growth.
The biggest contributor to imports was paper and paperboard, whose value rose by 14 per cent ($242 million) to almost $2 billion.
The total value of sawnwood imports rose by 32 per cent ($131 million) to $548 million due to the rise in housing construction. Victoria's share of the total was $146 million.
The value of imports of miscellaneous forest products, such as doors and mouldings, rose by 20 per cent to $476 million, of which Victoria's share was $84.5 million.
Victoria's other main forest products imports in 1999-2000 were veneers ($9.4 million), plywood ($32.4 million), particleboard ($2.19 million), medium-density fibreboard ($23.8 million) and softboard ($6.16 million).
ABARE said Victorian and Australian roundwood exports had more than doubled in recent years. In 1999-2000, Australian exports of roundwood were 1.2 million cubic metres, a record annual level, of which Victoria's share was nearly half - 535,000 cubic metres. In 1997-98, Victoria's roundwood exports were 193,980 cubic metres.
However, the average unit value of roundwood exports continued to decline, with falls of 11-15 per cent. Overall, the value of Australian roundwood exports rose by 43 per cent to about $70 million, of which Victoria's share was $26.3 million.
Sabine Falls win a reprieve
Claire Miller, Environment Reporter
The Age (article), 29/1/2001
The Victorian Government has put on hold controversial plans to clearfell the forest surrounding the Sabine Falls in the Otway Ranges this summer.
Logging has been deferred pending a review by the community-based Regional Forest Reference Group for the Otways. The group, convened by the government in the face of mounting opposition to logging in the Otways, consists of 16 representatives from conservation groups, universities, local government, tourism bodies, water authorities and the timber industry.
Environment and Conservation Minister Sherryl Garbutt said in a statement that immediate plans to log the area around the falls were on hold while the group considered the issue of clearfelling and the development of the area for tourism and walking tracks.
The 130-metre Sabine Falls - the highest in the Otways - have become a rallying cause for a broad coalition of conservationists, bushwalkers, doctors, councillors and local business people alarmed at the impact of clearfelling on water catchments, tourism and wildlife.
The government's handling of forest issues is also causing increasing disquiet in ALP ranks, with about 100 people yesterday attending a meeting of the ALP Otways Ranges Interest Group in Airey's Inlet.
This group, formed last year as a non-factional network, seeks an end to clearfelling in the Otways, implementation of ALP eco-tourism policies and monitoring of future native forest industry developments in the region.
Yesterday's meeting at Airey's Inlet attracted representatives from country and Melbourne branches, including marginal regions such as Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat. Speakers included Geoff Kennedy, president of the Otways Ranges Walking Track Association, and Peter Loney, ALP member for Geelong North. It was followed by a picnic at Sabine Falls.
The group's representatives declined to comment yesterday, but Mr Kennedy said the network was a positive move on behalf of the ALP grassroots. "From our point of view, it can only help our cause," he said. "It has been a battle for us and other groups to be heard by the minister, and this group is hoping to influence her."
The Otways Ranges Walking Track Association wants a 70-kilometre Trans Otway Walk. It would link the Surf Coast Walk, ending at Lorne, and the Great Ocean Walk starting at Apollo Bay. The government supports such flagship walks to promote nature-based tourism along the Great Ocean Road.
But clearfelling 77 hectares across the Sabine Falls' headwaters and down a ridge to its west would cut a swath through the only possible route for the Trans-Otway Walk in that section. It would also destroy the view for proposed short walks through the Sabine area's gorges.
The Age (article), 29/1/2001
The Victorian Government has put on hold controversial plans to clearfell the forest surrounding the Sabine Falls in the Otway Ranges this summer.
Logging has been deferred pending a review by the community-based Regional Forest Reference Group for the Otways. The group, convened by the government in the face of mounting opposition to logging in the Otways, consists of 16 representatives from conservation groups, universities, local government, tourism bodies, water authorities and the timber industry.
Environment and Conservation Minister Sherryl Garbutt said in a statement that immediate plans to log the area around the falls were on hold while the group considered the issue of clearfelling and the development of the area for tourism and walking tracks.
The 130-metre Sabine Falls - the highest in the Otways - have become a rallying cause for a broad coalition of conservationists, bushwalkers, doctors, councillors and local business people alarmed at the impact of clearfelling on water catchments, tourism and wildlife.
The government's handling of forest issues is also causing increasing disquiet in ALP ranks, with about 100 people yesterday attending a meeting of the ALP Otways Ranges Interest Group in Airey's Inlet.
This group, formed last year as a non-factional network, seeks an end to clearfelling in the Otways, implementation of ALP eco-tourism policies and monitoring of future native forest industry developments in the region.
Yesterday's meeting at Airey's Inlet attracted representatives from country and Melbourne branches, including marginal regions such as Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat. Speakers included Geoff Kennedy, president of the Otways Ranges Walking Track Association, and Peter Loney, ALP member for Geelong North. It was followed by a picnic at Sabine Falls.
The group's representatives declined to comment yesterday, but Mr Kennedy said the network was a positive move on behalf of the ALP grassroots. "From our point of view, it can only help our cause," he said. "It has been a battle for us and other groups to be heard by the minister, and this group is hoping to influence her."
The Otways Ranges Walking Track Association wants a 70-kilometre Trans Otway Walk. It would link the Surf Coast Walk, ending at Lorne, and the Great Ocean Walk starting at Apollo Bay. The government supports such flagship walks to promote nature-based tourism along the Great Ocean Road.
But clearfelling 77 hectares across the Sabine Falls' headwaters and down a ridge to its west would cut a swath through the only possible route for the Trans-Otway Walk in that section. It would also destroy the view for proposed short walks through the Sabine area's gorges.
18 January, 2001
Powerful owl spurs protesters to forceful campaign
Dorothy Cook
The Age (article), 18/1/01
Two grandmothers chained themselves to a door during a protest yesterday against logging in the Wombat State Forest near Trentham, which threatens to destroy the habitat of a pair of rare owls. About 40 environmentalists picketed outside the Daylesford office of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
The department this week approved the immediate logging of 76 hectares of mainly old-growth eucalypt forest in the habitat of the powerful owl, an endangered species under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. As part of the protest, Trentham grandmothers Margaret Thorpe, 58 and Lori Victorsen, 62 chained themselves to the doors of the department's office in Daylesford.
"We've written nice letters and nothing's happened so we have decided we wanted to do this. We are quite willing to be arrested because it's so important to us," Mrs Victorsen said. The Actively Conserving Trentham conservation group, which took part in the protest, said about 500 pairs of powerful owls were left in Victoria. Group spokesman Mark Cowie said by allowing logging to destroy the powerful owl's habitat, the government was breaching its own wildlife regulations.
These regulations said that a minimum of 25 pairs of powerful owls must be protected in the Midlands region, which includes Trentham. Mr Cowie said only 16 pairs of owls were protected in the Midlands.
It was highly likely the Trentham breeding pair - which last year had two chicks in a tree hollow 1000metres from the block ap- proved for logging - would flee or die if the logging went ahead, Mr Cowie said.
A spokesman for Environment Minister Sherryl Garbutt said scientific advice from powerful-owl experts was that a 500-hectare special protection zone in place for the owls was adequate. "(The logging) doesn't appear to be a threat to the owls," the spokesman said. "If it turns out to be a threat then we have advice from experts that the mater will be reviewed then."
The Age (article), 18/1/01
Two grandmothers chained themselves to a door during a protest yesterday against logging in the Wombat State Forest near Trentham, which threatens to destroy the habitat of a pair of rare owls. About 40 environmentalists picketed outside the Daylesford office of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
The department this week approved the immediate logging of 76 hectares of mainly old-growth eucalypt forest in the habitat of the powerful owl, an endangered species under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. As part of the protest, Trentham grandmothers Margaret Thorpe, 58 and Lori Victorsen, 62 chained themselves to the doors of the department's office in Daylesford.
"We've written nice letters and nothing's happened so we have decided we wanted to do this. We are quite willing to be arrested because it's so important to us," Mrs Victorsen said. The Actively Conserving Trentham conservation group, which took part in the protest, said about 500 pairs of powerful owls were left in Victoria. Group spokesman Mark Cowie said by allowing logging to destroy the powerful owl's habitat, the government was breaching its own wildlife regulations.
These regulations said that a minimum of 25 pairs of powerful owls must be protected in the Midlands region, which includes Trentham. Mr Cowie said only 16 pairs of owls were protected in the Midlands.
It was highly likely the Trentham breeding pair - which last year had two chicks in a tree hollow 1000metres from the block ap- proved for logging - would flee or die if the logging went ahead, Mr Cowie said.
A spokesman for Environment Minister Sherryl Garbutt said scientific advice from powerful-owl experts was that a 500-hectare special protection zone in place for the owls was adequate. "(The logging) doesn't appear to be a threat to the owls," the spokesman said. "If it turns out to be a threat then we have advice from experts that the mater will be reviewed then."
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