Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for December 1, 2006

Pilliga Forest Burns

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Large areas of Pilliga scrub are burning right now in central western NSW with large koala populations threatened.

The forests were declared national park less than 18 months ago, with many timber workers losing their jobs*. At the time the timber workers warned that unless National Parks and Wildlife officers maintained fire breaks and control burnt the entire forest could convert back to grassland.

Today a new group, the NSW Private Native Forestry Group put out a media release about forests and fires with particular reference to the fires now burning in the Pilliga:

“With predictions that this summer will see the worst bushfires in the state’s recorded history, farmers and foresters are warning that further government restrictions on the management of forests on private land will dramatically increase the threat and severity of bushfires.

“It’s time the NSW Government knew what farmers and foresters have known for decades: sustainable management of forests reduces the risk of catastrophic bushfires,” said Andrew Hurford, forester and spokesperson of the NSW Private Native Forests Group.

“Farmers and foresters help to reduce the frequency and intensity of bushfires by managing dangerous fuel loads that accumulate on the forest floor before they become a problem. We also play a crucial role in maintaining fire trails so that firefighters can access remote areas quickly.

“Farmers and foresters are the best ‘frontline of defence’ against bushfires: we are the ‘eyes and ears’ of the forest, helping to put out fires as soon as they occur. It’s in our best interests to protect these forests from catastrophic wild fires,” said Mr Hurford.

Mr Hurford said that radical green groups would have politicians believe that the policy of ‘Fence and Forget’ is the best way to conserve native forests on private land: a theory that totally ignores the fact that Aboriginals actively managed Australia’s bushland for thousands of years.

“Just look at how this policy has been an absolute disaster for fire management in our National Parks. For example, in the last forty-eight hours, 100,000 hectares of the Pilliga Forest near Coonabarabran in Central West NSW has been incinerated,” said Mr Hurford.

“Today, over 8.5 million hectares of private land in NSW (an area larger than Tasmania) are able to be looked after and sustainably managed for timber production by farmers and foresters.

“Millions of hectares of native bushland and millions of dollars worth of rural infrastructure, such as fences and sheds, will be incinerated if radical green groups get their way on locking-up private forests,” Mr Hurford said.

In August this year, the NSW Government was forced by angry farmers, timber mill owners and workers to shelve its plan to introduce a ‘Code’ that would have seen 60 per cent of forests on private land ‘locked-up’ into de facto National Parks.

“Without private landholders, who will be left to safeguard bushland from fires?” said Mr Hurford.

The 2003 ‘State of the Environment Report’ for the Australian Capital Territory lists that nearly 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted into the atmosphere during the January 2003 Canberra wildfires: equivalent to 1.6 million new cars on the road for a year.

“The radical green policy of ‘Fence and Forget’ will lead to more catastrophic bushfires and more greenhouse gas emissions – the very thing governments are trying to prevent!” said Mr Hurford.

The NSW Private Native Forests Group is made up of timber mill owners, forest workers and farmers who harvest timber from private land. The Group is supported by the NSW Forest Products Association, Timber Communities Australia and Australian Forest Grower’s. Private native forestry is the long term and sustainable management of native forests on privately-owned land. The industry employs approximately 3,000 people and generates over $300 million for the NSW regional economy. Around a third of all native forests in NSW (or 8.5 million hectares) are on private land.

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* At the time I wrote several blog posts on the issue including:

Timber Communities and National Parks (Part 1), 21st April 2005
https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000563.html

Pilliga-Goono Lockup Announced, 5th May 2005:
https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/000590.html

And I wrote about enviromentalism and the forests for On Line Opinion in June 2005:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3535

How To Solve Perth’s Water Woes: A Note from Warwick Hughes

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Dear Jennifer,

I have enjoyed reading Mark’s articles at On Line Opinion entitled ‘Fired-Up Forests Have More Impact than Loggers’ and agree with much of what he says. But he must check his facts regarding thinning in Perth water supply catchments.

The Wungong catchment is only 3.8% of the area of Perth catchments. So it is incorrect to say, “Western Australia has been quick to take advantage… ”

This thinning is only a tiny trial, just a PR effort so the West Austraslian government water organisations can trumpet that they are doing something and most of what they say has to have spin “fine tooth combed” out before truth emerges.

The reality of what is happening in Perth water supply catchments can be seen in my graphic at http://au.geocities.com/perth_water/ scroll down to, “Graphic of Catchment Efficiency 1980-2005 showing disastrous falloff 1996-2005 after ceasing catchment management.” Click on thumbnail for a larger graphic.

It is perfectly clear from my graphic that the West Australian government is de facto decommissioning Perth catchments. If catchments had been managed post 1996 as they were before that date so as to keep yields steady, Perth would have enjoyed about 90 GL extra water per year on average. Equal to production from two Kwinana sized seawater desalination plants, which require an investment of about $500 million each now. That puts on scale the cost of catchment neglect.

This colossal bungling extends into other areas of water resources.

North of Perth a pine plantation at Gnangara suppresses the potential of the groundwater there by about 100 GL per year. With incremental water valued by investment required in seawater desalination, Govt claims that the pines are needed to support a proposed plywood industry is simply ludicrous. Timber can easily be sourced on the open market if anyone is of a mind to make plywood and the pines must have a negative net present value now in view of their manifest billion dollar damage to groundwater potential.

The Avon, Murray and Collie Rivers pass about twice Perth’s total water consumption each year but in a weakly saline state. Surely desalination of a small part of these flows would be cheaper and lower impact than seawater desalination and could take place away from the fragile and crowded coast. In fact a private company, Agritech has been valiantly trying to interest the government in a proposal to desalinate water currently wasted to sea each year from the Wellington dam near Collie. This proposal would be at no capital cost to government and would produce water at half government desalination costs and would I am told use gravity in the process thus cutting back greatly on electricity.

Perth is not running out of water, the water is running out of Perth.

The Ancient Romans were vastly better water managers than the West Australian government.

Regards, Warwick Hughes