I visited Rockhampton on Monday and later posted some photographs of the racing Fitzroy. Val Majkus asked for more. This afternoon I decided to try for some images of the river east of the city, as it heads towards the Coral Sea. From Emu Park I travelled to Nerimbera and down to the boat ramp.
[Read more…] about More Photographs of the Flooded Fitzroy for Val
THE managing director of Snowy Hydro, Terry Charlton, denies that Snowy Hydro contributed to the devastating flooding along the Murrumbidgee in early December in which homes were destroyed and wheat fields drown. He does, however, admit that until Wednesday, December 8, water was being released from Lake Eucumbene.
Lake Eucumbene has the capacity to store the equivalent of nine Sydney Harbours and was at only 25 percent capacity.
A chart, recently provided to me by a Snowy Hydro staff member, shows the extent to which lake levels were falling early December.
During just one 24 hour period, between 8th and 9th December, lakes levels fell six centimetres which is equivalent to 6,000 megalitres of water being released.
That is a lot of water; enough water to provide all of Melbourne’s water needs for one week, or grow 5,000 tonnes of rice.
And yet according to Mr Charlton no water was released from Lake Eucumbene during that 24 hour period.
In The Australian newspaper on December 15, journalists Samantha Maiden and Lauren Wilson reported that Federal Water Minister Tony Burke and a spokeswoman for the NSW Office of Water also denied any water was release by Snowy Hydro except from overflowing lower storages because of excessive rainfall and flooding.
The chart of lake levels and an operational plan for Snowy Hydro for December 9th, also provided to me by a staff member, however, indicate that very significant quantities of water were released from Lake Eucumbene.
The communities of the Riverina deserve to know the truth.
Snowy Hydro must make public all the documentation that they hold on all water releases, and also all inflows, for Lake Eucumbene for November and December 2010. Only then will we know the extent to which Snowy Hydro contributed to the flooding – or not.
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Previous posts on this issue can be found by scrolling down here: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/tag/snowy-hydro/
The comment thread on this blog post was closed at 12noon on January 05. There will be more posts on this issue providing opportunity for more comment.
Living just down the road from the main news item I thought I should visit Rockhampton. So I did this afternoon. I drove in from Yeppoon and it was not until I crossed the river to the south that I could see flooding and preparations in anticipation of more flooding.
Some people grow old, I would also like to grow wise.
GARY Johns, a former colleague and friend of many years, has just had a book published by Connor Court entitled ‘Aboriginal self-determination: The Whiteman’s dream’. I haven’t got my copy yet, so can’t provide a review, but no doubt it will be hard hitting. Gary believes in integration, not self determination, for Australia’s aborigines. According to Gary:
“Aboriginal self-determination is a white man’s dream. Those who continue to lobby for the grand experiment of aboriginal self-determination, long after its costs have been revealed, should say sorry to those the policy has harmed – every woman bashed, every man drunk out of his mind, every child molested, everyone without a job. Aborigines, especially those in remote Australia, need an exit strategy from the dream. The exit strategy outlined in this book destroys the rallying cry for culture. Instead, it shows that the way to self-determination is through individual dignity.”
Order your copy here:
http://www.connorcourt.com/catalog1/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=155
ONE of the best Christmas presents I received this year is a film by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan entitled ‘The National Parks: America’s Best Idea’ – as twelve episodes contained in a case of five DVDs.
So far I’ve watched episodes one to four which begin with John Muir’s campaign to protect Yosemite in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California from commercial development and ends with his failure to stop the flooding of Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley.
As the case cover explains: “Nearly a decade in the making, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea… is a breathtaking journey through the nation’s most spectacular landscapes and a celebration of the people – famous and unknown – who fought to save them for future generations to treasure.”
The first four episodes provide tremendous insight into not only the environmental campaigns lead by John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club, but also the important role of President Theodore Roosevelt in establishing and protecting national parks and also national monuments in the US.
The film is a reminder of how much was at risk before there was environmental legislation and protection. The story of the slaughter of bison in Yellowstone National Park to the verge of extinct is particularly harrowing.
John Muir would nowadays be called an environmentalist, or conservationists, but one hundred years ago he was recognized as a preservationist. In losing the fight to protect Hetch Hetchy Valley it may have appeared that the preservationists had lost to the conservationists.
In fact John Muir may have lost the battle, but won the war: Most of today’s environmental and conservation groups campaign for preservation, rather than conservation. And of course the management of national parks today in Australia, is mostly in accordance with the preservationist’s philosophy.
The film is narrated from the perspective of the preservationists with a deep respect for natural history and natural landscapes.
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Following is an explanation of the difference between preservation and conservation.
from Wikipedia…
“In July 1896, [John] Muir became associated with Gifford Pinchot, a national leader in the conservation movement. Pinchot was the first head of the United States Forest Service and a leading spokesman for the sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of the people. His views eventually clashed with Muir and highlighted two diverging views of the use of the country’s natural resources.
Pinchot saw conservation as a means of managing the nation’s natural resources for long-term sustainable commercial use. As a professional forester, his view was that “forestry is tree farming,” without destroying the long-term viability of the forests.
Muir valued nature for its spiritual and transcendental qualities. In one essay about the National Parks, he referred to them as “places for rest, inspiration, and prayers.” He often encouraged city dwellers to experience nature for its spiritual nourishment. Both men opposed reckless exploitation of natural resources, including clear-cutting of forests. Even Muir acknowledged the need for timber and the forests to provide it, but Pinchot’s view of wilderness management was far more utilitarian.
Their friendship ended late in the summer of 1897 when Pinchot released a statement to a Seattle newspaper supporting sheep grazing in forest reserves. Muir confronted Pinchot and demanded an explanation. When Pinchot reiterated his position, Muir told him: “I don’t want any thing more to do with you.” This philosophical divide soon expanded and split the conservation movement into two camps: the preservationists, led by Muir, and Pinchot’s camp, who co-opted the term “conservation.” The two men debated their positions in popular magazines, such as Outlook, Harper’s Weekly, Atlantic Monthly, World’s Work, and Century.
Their contrasting views were highlighted again when the United States was deciding whether to dam Hetch Hetchy Valley. Pinchot favored the damming of the valley as “the highest possible use which could be made of it.” In contrast, Muir proclaimed, “Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the hearts of man.”
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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