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...
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gavin jennings, hancock victorian plantations, logging, strzeleckis
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Mike Gooey Memorial Reserve
4 Oct 2008
Have a look at the latest photos on the Hancock Watch website at http://www.hancock.forests.org.au/docs/08oct.htm
Among the photographs are shots of the 'reserve' areas which are part of the 'deal' in the Strzeleckis. It seems that the arrangement which hands over more than $5 million of taxpayers money to the company will protect a few remnants of vegetation along creek lines and gullies as well as weed infested areas which the company had no intention of harvesting anyway. Great deal Minister Jennings!
The caption on one of the photographs reads:October 2008: Morwell River East Catchment. New reserve surrounded by Shining Gum. This part of the Reserve dedicated to Mike Gooey, CEO of Trust for Nature who was never enthusiatic about being gifted the cores and links rainforest reserve from the State Government.
Tags:
hancock, logging, trust for nature
Posted at: 12:35 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Strzelecki background info
19 Aug 2008
There is still very little detail available about the secret 'deal' between the State Government and Hancocks but this background may help to set the scene for anyone who hasn't been involved in the process.
The Strzeleckis are unique forests which are a mosaic of old growth including rainforest, reforestation/plantings, plantations and regenerating forests. The public forests of the Strzeleckis have been excluded from public land planning processes which set aside comprehensive and adequate reserves. The Strzeleckis have the least amount of land set aside in any forested region of Victoria. The minimum for public land is 15% of the original vegetation while the Strzeleckis has only 2% protected in Parks and Reserves. The Strzeleckis have most recently been identified as one of the most important regions for the sequestration of carbon, which occurs at much higher rates than previously considered, creating an even more pressing reason to secure their preservation.
The starting point for the issue was that there should be no harvest of timber in the Cores and Links. The Cores and Links are key sites linking Gunyah Gunyah Reserve in the West to Tarra Bulga National Park in the East. There are 5 core areas, Gunyah, College Creek, Jack...
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hancock victorian plantations, logging, rainforest, strzeleckis
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Minister Jennings signs bodgy deal with HVP
15 Aug 2008
The Victorian Government has signed an agreement with Hancock Victorian Plantations, which ensures the destruction of native forest in Gippsland’s Strzelecki Ranges.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings and HVP’s CEO Linda Sewell claimed that under the agreement, native forests across HVP’s entire estate in Gippsland’s Strzelecki Ranges would be protected.
But no mapping has been provided to back up their claims. Both finalised the legal agreement, after reaching a secret in-principle agreement in May.
The agreement ignores the Government's 2006 election commitment to protect the 8000 hectare Cores and Links’ area and create a reserve to be managed by the Trust for Nature.
Mr Jennings tried to put a positive spin on the deal saying “It will result in the immediate protection of the native forest in the Cores and Links and the eventual protection of all areas of the Cores and Links.
“1500 hectares of plantation areas within the Cores and Links will be subject to a one-off harvest, with those areas progressively regenerated and placed into public reserves and protection over the next 20 years.”
Unfortunatelty the deal means that native forest in areas such as College Creek will be trashed and turned into wood chips...
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Tags:
hancock, logging, rainforest, strzelecki
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The $5.5 million Strzelecki deal
6 Jun 2008
Victoria's Environment Minister Gavin Jennings has responded to concerns that the recent Strzelecki Ranges 'cores and links' deal will lead to the fragmentation and destruction of sensitive rainforest.
The Government's announcement was not in line with the original Heads of Agreement signed between the State Government, Hancock Victorian Plantations, Australian Paper, Trust for Nature and community representatives in October 2006.
Friends of the Gippsland Bush spokesperson, Susie Zent said the new agreement did not honour the original point of the cores and links project, to connect the Gunyah Gunyah rainforest with the Tarra Bulga National Park.
The State Government will pay $5.5 million plus 'in-kind' support to HVP and it says that an extra 15,000 hectares of bushland will be protected, with 1500 hectares subject to a one-off harvest by HVP. At this stage no detail has been provided to show which areas will be logged and as local groups were excluded from the final negotiations, there are major concerns that even the most sensitive areas are at risk.
Minister Jennings said it was clear two months ago that an agreement between the government, HVP and the environmental groups could not be reached.
'The difficulty was that negotiations had...
Tags:
cores and links, hancock victorian plantations, logging, rainforest, strzeleckis
Posted at: 07:31 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Strzelecki 'deal' seen as a rip-off
1 Jun 2008
The $5.5 million Strzelecki buy-back has not been universally accepted as a good outcome.
Friends of the Earth believe that the 'deal' is a blatant ripoff. Forest campaigner Anthony Amis has put a few figures together. The 1500ha to be logged in the Cores & Links represents 7.5% of Hancock's hardwood and 22% of their ash. The 1500ha means 2.2 years worth of pulp to the AP mill at Maryvale.
The tragedy is that the supposed shortfall Hancock was banging on about could be a myth and there is no real need for any logging in the Cores & Links.
As of 2006 Hancock had 6772ha of mt ash. This was supposed to supply the mill until 2013 when the bluegum kicks in.
Logging at a rate of 600ha (with a volume of 500m3/ha) a year, to meet AP contracts from 2006 to 2013 means 4800ha of ash would have be logged. that leaves almost 2000ha not going into AP mill for pulp - maybe going to sawmills? That represents 1,000,000m3 of pulplogs (just over 3 years supply to the mill which could easily accomodate the hoa proposal)
As of 2006 hancock had 9442ha of bluegum. this was supposed to...
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Tags:
hancock, logging, strzelecki rainforest
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Deadline on Strzelecki deal still rubbery
3 May 2008
The deadline of May 2 imposed by Hancocks to finalise the deal for the Victorian State Government to buy-back the Cores & Links in the Strzeleckis has passed - but apparently the Government and the company are still talking.
It's hard to get any information out of them as the community has been excluded from the continuing negotiations. All we know from Minister Jennings' staff is that they "are in discussions to meet the Government's election commitments."
The deal won't be acceptable unless it broadly accords with the Heads of Agreement which was signed by all parties prior to the lengthy negotiations which led to the arrangement approved by the previous Environment Minister, John Thwaites, to hand over $7 million to the company to protect the key areas. The plan was announced as Government policy to establish a reserve which would be managed by Trust for Nature. That is still a non-negotiable position.
Persistent rumours from DS&E have been floating around for months that the Minister is preparing to hand the Cores and Links area over to Vic Forest (after it has been logged by Hancocks to meet the shortfall it claims it has in its contractual obligations to the Maryvale Pulp Mill). The 'shortfall' is one of those...
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hancocks, logging, strzeleckis
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Time running out on Strzelecki deal
29 Apr 2008
Friends of the Earth and Friends of Gippsland Bush have announced concerns that the Cores and Links Deal to save Strzelecki Rainforest is no closer to resolution 18 months after a Heads of Agreement to protect the area was signed. Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP) and the State Government have until May 2 to sort out the deal before a recently extended deadline collapses.
FoE spokesman Anthony Amis said; "We're still in the dark. I mentioned to Minister Jennings' advisors three weeks ago that a round table meeting with all parties present would be the best way to go. I thought it a good idea to talk our way through this, but apparently this idea has fallen on deaf ears. We fear that a deal without community support will severely undermine the ecological integrity of the region."
"FoE has already expressed concern that HVP and DSE had cooked up a deal between themselves prior to the community even being involved in the process. This has been confirmed by a recent Freedom of Information (FoI) Request which explicity shows that DSE and HVP had agreed on 3 options several days before the community was first invited in to negotiations in May 2006."
"The...
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Tags:
hancocks, logging, rainforest, strzeleckis
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Revelations soon on the Strzeleckis
13 Mar 2008
It will soon become clear who has done what to whom on the Strzelecki's fiasco!
Requests for details of actions, under Freedom of Information were lodged by Friends of the Earth, and copies of letters and emails should be available in the next day or so.
It's hard to wait, because much of the duplicity is already known. Government employees have actively worked against the implementation of Government policy - but the details need to be made public before demands are made for the right heads to roll.
Roll on!
Tags:
hancocks, logging, strzeleckis, trust for nature
Posted at: 06:58 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Groups Angry over Delays in Finalising Strzelecki Reserve
4 Mar 2008
Community groups, Friends of Gippsland Bush and Friends of the Earth today expressed concern that negotiations over the buy-back of key rainforest and wet forests of the Strzelecki Ranges continue to stall. The Reserve was announced by Environment Minister John Thwaites in October 2006 (the new Environment Minister is Gavin Jennings) and is still official Labor Party Policy.
Groups are upset that Hancock Victorian Plantations continue to log contentious rainforest areas in the cores and links, without community input, which is in breach of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in October 2006. The groups have documented many breaches to the HoA committed by Hancock over the past 17 months.
"The way the community has been treated by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and Hancock has been absolutely disgraceful" said Friends of the Earth spokesman Anthony Amis. "Almost every effort to negotiate an outstanding win for the biodiversity of the region, has been thwarted and undermined by the DSE who are opposing any moves that Trust for Nature manage the area as Reserve. DSE want to take control in order to log the reserve themselves" Mr Amis said. "We've had to put up with 17 months of...
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hancocks, logging, rainforest, wood chips
Posted at: 04:15 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Time for heads to roll over Strzelecki scandal
11 Feb 2008
The pussy-footing around has to stop. The State Government made a decision well over a year ago to buy-back the Cores and Links from Hancocks for $7 million and the deal still hasn't been finalised because some of the staff in DS&E didn't like the Government policy.
What does it have to do with them? Isn't their role to carry out Government policy? If the Minister (Gavin Jennings) has dumped the policy, why won't he announce the change? If he hasn't, he needs to chop some of the deadwood in his Department who have been actively working against him.
Although it wasn't perfect, the community, including local Shires accepted the deal, the company approved it and Trust for Nature had worked to ensure it was successful.
Get on with it Minister!
Tags:
hancocks, logging, strzeleckis
Posted at: 07:31 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Strzelecki rainforest shambles
20 Nov 2007
Victoria's Environment Minister Gavin Jennings still appears to be sidelined by his own bureaucrats over the deal which will see the Government hand over $7 million to the US Hancock group to protect rainforest from logging in the Strzeleckis.
His own head of Department, Peter Harris has apparently said that he will make the decision (not the Minister) even though the agreement has been Government policy since before the last election. There is no 'decision' left to be made - the community is waiting for the decision to be implemented. The deal which involved management of areas known as the 'Cores and Links' was announced as part of the Government's election plaform, but apparently Peter Harris doesn't care.
Neither does the Gippsland Regional Manager of the Departnment of Sustainability and Environment who has openly said that he will not allow the policy to be implemented.
You'd wonder how these guys keep their jobs - unless of course Government policy has changed and the Minister can't be bothered to tell anyone!
Tags:
hancock, logging, rainforest, strzeleckis
Posted at: 07:57 AM | 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
Help save the Strzeleckis
14 Jun 2007
Those who want to help save the Strzeleckis and establish the sensitive areas known as the 'Cores and Links' as a reserve managed by Trust for Nature, take a look at http://my.ecoearth.info/Campaign.aspx?id=51 and sign the petition at http://my.ecoearth.info/petition.aspx?id=30
The petition is to SmartWood and the Rainforest Alliance who are the certifying body for the Forest Stewardship Council. Given Hancock's track record, it won't do the credibility of FSC any good if Hancock is able to retain its accreditation while it trashes native forest which is subject to the Heads of Agreement it signed with the Community and the Government.
The 'Cores and Links' - important areas of forest identified by Biosis Research - form a pratical basis for the most vital project aimed at biodiversity conservation in South Gippsland.
Tags:
hancock, logging, strzelecki rain forest
Posted at: 01:31 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Logging in the Strzeleckis
7 Jun 2007
The Gippsland Community and Friends of the Earth are alarmed that Hancock Victorian Plantations, owned by the US John Hancock group has begun logging in a rainforest reserve in Victoria's Strzelecki Ranges. The reserve was announced by the State Government last year and involves a $7 million forest buyback currently under negotiation.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding associated with the reserve, logging was allowed in certain parts of the reserve, on the proviso that sensitive rainforest areas would be protected. Two of the most sensitive areas were nominated with buffer widths of 100m and 60m.
Now the company is currently logging a coupe within 10-20 metres of cool temperate rainforest. According to Friends of the Earth researcher Anthony Amis “The Heads of Agreement clearly states that none of this coupe should have been logged at all. This is the second breach of the Heads of the Agreement that we have witnessed within 8 months of Hancock signing the agreement.”
It's hard to imagine that the company is so dumb that senior managers thought they could get away with this, unless of course they have been working behind the Minister's back with key Department officers to stop the creation of a reserve clearly endorsed by...
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Tags:
hancock, logging, native forest, strzelecki ranges
Posted at: 07:22 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink