Logging College Creek
30 Mar 2009
This article was published in The Sunday Age on March 29.
ONE of Victoria's most prized but controversial cool temperate rainforest sites is being clear felled by loggers after the State Government reneged on a deal to protect it.Logging started in College Creek catchment in the Strzelecki Ranges six days after the Black Saturday fires devastated vast tracts on the hills that rise at the southern end of the Latrobe Valley.
College Creek was one of five environmentally significant core areas declared off limits to logging by then environment minister John Thwaites in 2006. It was to have been given to the people of Victoria. The core sites were to be linked by protected wildlife corridors joining the Strzeleckis' Tarra-Bulga National Park in the east to the Gunyah Gunyah Reserve, home of Australia's biggest tree by girth, at its western tip.
But last year Mr Thwaites' successor, Gavin Jennings, jettisoned the "cores and links" agreement and signed a new deal allowing Hancock Victorian Plantations to log College Creek and other areas that had been set aside.
Environmentalists have accused Mr Jennings of caving in to the logger, which has commercial contracts to supply timber to the Maryvale pulp and paper...
Tags:
gavin jennings, hancock victorian plantations, logging, strzeleckis
Posted at: 07:24 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Rally in the Strzeleckis - video on You Tube
6 Jul 2008
Rally told Minister 'caved in'
to logging company
video of the rally is on You Tube at http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ICycJXAS-J8
A community rally called to look at Strzelecki rainforest under threat from an agreement between the Victorian Government and Hancock Victorian Plantations was told on Sunday that Environment Minister Gavin Jennings had 'caved in' to company demands.
Ms Susie Zent, President of Friends of Gippsland Bush told almost 100 locals who had gathered to look at some of the forest which is now earmarked for woodchipping that “the Minister simply caved in rather than hold out for better deal.
A community forum will be held in Boolara Memorial Hall on Sunday July 27 to plan the next steps.The flier for this event can be downloaded at http://www.fourthcrossingwildlife.com/stomp.pdf
“We don't know what the Government is buying for the $5.5 million it is giving the company, because the community was excluded from the final negotiations.
“They haven't even shown us the maps which tends to indicate that they have something to hide,” Ms Zent said.
Friends of the Earth forest campaigner Anthony Amis said the deal had been given dubious credibility with the endorsement of The Wilderness Society and the Victorian...
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Tags:
gavin jennings, hancock victorian plantations, strzelecki rainforest
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Test for new minister
13 Sep 2007
Gavin Jennings, the new Minister for the Environment is facing a serious threat to the Government's authority from his own bureacrats in Gippsland. The Gippsland Manager for DS&E has apparently told his staff that he will 'not allow' Government policy to be implemented in relation to management of the 'Cores and Links' agreement in the Strzeleckis.
Many of his own staff were aghast at his outburst because they believed that the outcome negotiated between Hancock, the community, local Shire's and the Government, had huge benefits for biodiversity.
The Manager had a tantrum because the land will be managed by Trust for Nature and not his boys. Pity he didn't help with the negotiations. It has taken 10 years to reach this stage - recognising the real value of some of the most important native vegetation in the region - and some Traralgon DS&E staff (with the help of some blockers in Melbourne) have done everything they can to screw it up.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for a 'shake-out' at DS&E Traralgon!
Tags:
cores and links, gavin jennings, strzeleckis
Posted at: 01:22 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
John Thwaites' resignation a big blow
3 Aug 2007
The loss of John Thwaites as Minister for the Environment could be a big blow for the Stzreleckis. It gave Hancock's no comfort to have such a senior minister involved. We hope that the State Government maintains its committment to the $7 million deal to buy back the 'Core and Links' to be managed by the Trust for Nature.
There no doubt will be discussions over the next few weeks involving the new Minister, Gavin Jennings and it should soon become clear if the deal will go ahead or be called off.
Hancock Victorian Plantations FSC certification is under scrutiny at the moment because of its inappropriate forest practices and that is adding pressure on the company.
Tags:
gavin jennings, hancock victorian plantations, logging, old growth forest
Posted at: 07:40 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink