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Forests
Forests are incredible. Just imagine the design brief for a tree - create something that makes oxygen, absorbs carbon, fixes nitrogen, distils water, stores solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates micro climates, changes colours with the season and self replicates. Brilliant - who could have designed that? Now let’s chop them down and turn them into dunny paper. Genius!
MYTH
This is the short list: 20 years after they've logged a forest, it's all back to normal again; forests cause bushfires; wood-chips are made from the waste on the forest floor that saw-millers can't use; forests are bad for global warming because they absorb the sun’s energy; if we stopped logging native forests there'd be terrible job losses; fast-growing young forests absorb more carbon and are better for the climate that slow-growing old forests; Australia's native forests are managed on a sustainable basis; governments care more about forests than money.
FACT
Trees are the lungs of the Earth. They absorb carbon dioxide (the stuff that we are producing in excess of what the planet can absorb) and produce oxygen (the good stuff that we need to breathe). Trees provide habitat, food and shelter for millions of species. They also prevent erosion and moderate ground temperatures.
The bad news for Victorians is that since European settlement we’ve been very busy clearing forests; in fact we’ve been the busiest state in Australia. During the settlement of Victoria it was law that all landowners clear their land or have it surrendered to the government. We now have less than 30% of our original bushland remaining on public land and less than 8% on private land.
When our old growth forests are logged they will take up to 1000 years to return to their original state. Hollows in gum trees take more than 100 years to form. These hollows provide nesting opportunities for native birds and mammals. The current practice of total removal of all trees in old growth forests simply moves more species closer to extinction.
Old growth forests also provide the most valuable carbon sinks in Victoria. They can store up to 640 tonnes of carbon for every acre. This is one of the highest rates in the world. The continued logging of our old-growth forests represents 20% of Victoria’s total pollution emissions.
Message to logging industry – rack off! Grow your own trees and stop being so lazy in taking short cuts by destroying our forests!
ARTICLES
Ecosystems Strain To Keep Pace With Climate Change
January 11th, 2010
From beetles to barnacles, pikas to pine warblers, many species are already on the move in response to shifting climate regimes. But how fast will they - and their habitats - have to move to keep pace with global climate change over the next century?
Buyers force Tasmanian woodchip mills to use only plantation timber
February 8th, 2010
WOODCHIP stockpiles are mounting unsold on Tasmanian wharves as Japanese paper-making customers increasingly resist chips from native forests.
Where do our native forests go?
January 19th, 2010
Australia's forest and wood products industries have an annual gross turnover of more than A$18 billion per year. That's rather a lot of money.
New Red Gum national parks
December 8th, 2009
The Victorian National Parks Association applauds the Brumby Government's announcement that it will create a chain of new River Red Gum national parks along the Murray, Goulburn and Ovens rivers in northern Victoria.
More about forests in Victoria
August 19th, 2009
In Victoria we have less than 30% of our original bushland remaining on public land; on private land we have less than 8% left.
Forests in Australia: then and now
July 28th, 2009
Australians have had a pretty good go at clearing our continent of forests. Have a look at this map to see just how much has been removed since the 1750's (start of white settlement).
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