Victoria has banned native logging on Crown land from next year.
The Greens, environment groups, and sections of the federal Labor Party all want a nationwide end to native logging.
A motion to end logging across Australia was defeated at the Labor Party’s national conference in Brisbane this week, after strong lobbying from senior Labor figures.
“The decent thing here is that Tasmania should be following Victoria and Western Australia, and ending native logging and destruction and extinction of our species,” former Greens Senator Bob Brown recently told the ABC. Environment groups are thrilled about the impending end of Victoria’s native timber industry.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Gayle Tierney conceded the decision was hastened by costly legal action taken by environment groups that halted logging in the state’s Central Highlands and East Gippsland regions.
I think it needs to be balanced, Fuel management is very important and should be the number 1 concern, but our native bush is Pyrophytic with a cycle that lasts about 20 years.
Indigenously, A fire would come through and decimate sections of bush. It would burn down old, dying trees and cause Pyrophytic plants to begin they 5 year germination cycle. In the meantime Wattles and She-Oaks would replenish the nitrogen back into the soil. You can see how the bush recovers if your travel out to Croajingalong.
Eventually, the Pyrophytic plants like Eucalypt and Banksia start to take over the Wattle and She-Oaks, where the begin to dominate the bush again.
After about 10-15 years, the Eucalypts reach middle age and are at their peak; that is were the start to go downhill and do all the bad things that they are known for; not producing new shoots, dropping branches into cars, tents and buildings with no warning and generally being a menace to civilisation.
This is where we reach a crossroads; we can continue letting it become overgrown so it will catch fire naturally, we can actively burn it to the ground again, we can maliciously clearfell or we can responsibly harvest any salvageable material as building materials, while leaving unsalvageable material as habitat, and then do fuel control while monitoring the welfare of wildlife.
The last option is A) the most responsible for our civilised society B) the most labour intensive and expensive C) the most profitable for the economy.
Great comment. Thanks for the response.
No worries, I was hoping that someone would call me out because not all Australian Forest is Pyrophytic.
The Huon Valley and the Daintree are both examples of where logging and land clearing are not renewable.