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Environment East Gippsland EEG

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25.01.2022 Many have been saying this for years - but has received nothing but lip service. Early detection and response is the obvious area to invest in, not pre-burning and sterilising natural habitats over hundreds of thousands of hectares each year. "The researchers found that under a high climate change scenario and if all fires were responded to within 30 minutes the economy would save $8.2 billion in 2019 terms."

25.01.2022 "In the Sherbrooke Forest,... researchers found an individual lyrebird could move up to 11 standard dump trucks worth of litter and soil a year.... As they search for insects on the forest floor the lyrebirds change litter decomposition and "fluff up", or aerate, the structure of soil on the forest floor, making it easier for seeds to germinate.... about 40 per cent of the superb lyrebirds habitat was destroyed in the 2019-20 megafires, throwing the conservation status of the species into question.... In the face of climate change, and the growing risk of severe bushfires, understanding the role that lyrebirds play in ecosystems is more important than ever, ... "Conservation of this species should be a key priority in the management of wet forests in south-eastern Australia."

25.01.2022 Along with the Fed Court ruling in favor of threatened possums today, this case against Tasmanias logging mafia should have the industry in turmoil. "The foundation says if the case were successful it would consider similar action against federal-state forest agreements in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. It said the current rules essentially allows the state government to make up the rules as it suits, and gives no guaranteed protection for our wildlife and environment. The industry is based on a monumental lie and this challenge puts that lie to the test.

24.01.2022 Thanks Cathy Wilcox ~

24.01.2022 The bushfires in East Gippsland last February saw 85% of the state forests burnt. Some lucky areas escaped the intensity while others where vapourised to ash. Now VicForests plans to continue logging the green areas as well as salvage log the burnt forests, with Dan Andrews blessing. This is against all scientific evidence that shows the extreme damage caused by a second round of severe disturbance ontop of a struggling ecosystem just beginning to recover.

24.01.2022 The globally endangered butterfly now flies in greater number in Britain than anywhere else in the world, four decades after it became extinct in the country. About 750 butterflies emerged on to Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire this summer after 1,100 larvae were released last autumn following five years of innovative grassland management to create optimum habitat. It CAN be done.

23.01.2022 Protect the trees to protect the koala to protect the koala mite. https://www.facebook.com/1758827947747642/posts/2423377431292687/?d=n

23.01.2022 Gladys Berejiklian today called the National Partys bluff over Koala protection (which wasnt even going to impact on farmers rights to farm). The Nats were simply trying to out-redneck the Shooters and Fishers. It backfired. In fact Gladys needs to strengthen the laws far more including stopping all logging around koala habitat. Koalas could become extinct by 2050, or sooner if climate-induced bushfires continue.

22.01.2022 The Federal Env Dept told government bureaucrats to begin drafting changes to enviro laws on 19 June, 11 days before it received the interim report of the review of Australias EPBC Act. Graeme Samuel delivered his interim report on 30 June. It was a once-in-a-decade review of the effectiveness of environmental legislation. It found Australian governments had failed to protect Australias unique wildlife and habitats and recommended an overhaul of the laws to make the countr...ys systems of environmental protection more effective. His recs were mostly ignored and instead Sussan Ley (minister) rushed weaker bill through the lower house and gagged debate. This would OK mining and development approvals etc with almost no scrutiny. It still has to go through the Upper House and several cross-benchers could be the key to whether it becomes law or it fails.

21.01.2022 Malicious ecocide promoted by govt in NSW. The sums would have to be similar, or worse, here as well.

21.01.2022 The legal team who represented the possums have more details here: "The Federal Court just delivered final orders for our historic win in the Possums Case for Friends of Leadbeaters Possum Inc. (FLbP) that protects the forests subject to the case from logging! Although the court reached its conclusion in this case in May, until today it had not yet decided how the judgement would apply practically. Justice Mortimers orders today grant final injunctions to protect the 66 ...areas of forest home to the threatened Greater Glider and critically endangered Leadbeaters Possum subject to the case. The Judge also made formal declarations of unlawful logging by VicForests in those 66 areas and ordered VicForests pay FLbPs costs of running the case. This is huge and sets a national precedent! This case will have national implications for species threatened by logging under Regional Forest Agreements across the country which will now face much greater scrutiny. Just yesterday, the Bob Brown Foundation launched a similar Federal Court case, challenging logging under Regional Forest Agreements in Tasmanias forests. We echo the sentiments of our client, Friends of Leadbeaters Possum below: We are immensely grateful to the public for the donations that have enabled us to pay the costs of mounting a case on this scale and to all those who have worked on the case and supported us in so many ways on this long and challenging journey. And to the surveying team from WOTCH and the expert witnesses who provided an unassailable body of detailed evidence. This is the first time the Federal Court has granted a final injunction to prevent logging of threatened wildlife habitat and the first time Victorias logging industry the largest in Australia has been held to account under federal environment law for its devastating impacts on endangered wildlife. This was a complex case and a real test of our environment laws. The outcome of this case demonstrates that properly enforcing our environment laws is critical to stem the loss of wildlife in this country. We are so thrilled that the Greater Glider and Leadbeaters Possum in those areas of forest can rest easy for now protecting these areas of habitat could save them from extinction. We hope this sends a strong message to industry and government across the country that if they flout the law at the expense of our threatened wildlife, the community will hold them to account in court. See more

20.01.2022 Amidst the decline of so many wildlife species, heres a glimmer of hope - a mouse-sized elephant shrew that had been lost to science for 50 years has been discovered alive and well in the Horn of Africa. The Somali sengi mates for life, can race around at 30km/h and sucks up ants with its trunk-like nose.

19.01.2022 Heres a potted a history of the rise and rise of the industry of cutting down and clearing forests in SE Australia. Its a 30 min Rear Vision podcast from the ABC and features David Lindenmayer setting the record straight. https://abcmedia.akamaized.net//p/2020/09/rvn_20200913.mp3

19.01.2022 Hoorah! Teenagers to sue the Fed Env Minister. "Saying the environment minister owes the young plaintiffs a duty of care is a novel approach. In their view, signing off on a new coal project will breach that duty. Such an approach to a climate change case has not been tested before in Australia, and would chart new territory if successful."

18.01.2022 Small areas of unburnt old growth forests in East Gippsland are being scheduled for clearfelling by Dan Andrews and his hooligan band of VicForesters. These are absolutely, unquestionably critical refuges for the surviving wildlife, and endangered species. Please tell the Ministers - NO. See below.

17.01.2022 The same is happening in East Gippsland right now! "This research clearly demonstrated that logging fire-affected forests can significantly impair the recovery and rehabilitation of plants and animals, reduce the amount of biodiversity and adversely alter the composition and nutrient levels of soils. There are more dangerous risks, too. Logging changes the composition of forests, Lindenmayer says, making them hotter and drier over time. It also leaves behind a large amount of debris known as slash which increases the fuel load on the ground."

16.01.2022 Free viewing at 8pm tonight. Resgister at the link.

16.01.2022 VicForests and loggers have gone into this critically important stand of unburnt glider refuge this morning! Who can get up there to help out? We are also trying to get things happening here!

14.01.2022 As the Vic state-owned clearfelling monopoly appeals the 3 year long Federal Court case ruling - it is getting the full backing of the federal government. Senator Duniam said "The forestry industry is being attacked in the coupes and now the courtrooms, and it is critical that they are defended in these places too.... We stand with the forestry industry and we stand by our Regional Forest Agreements, which provide a high level framework for delivering environmental, ... ben...efits from our native forests." Well, clearly their RFAs are not working and logging was deemed illegal and a threat to endangered wildlife. But he went on, "the (logging) industry deserves certainty, and the federal government remains committed to ensuring it, "we stand with the Victorian (logging) industry ... We will take any necessary actions that may be appropriate to provide long term certainty into the future." Which includes killing off the federal environment laws! VicForests has to pretend to be hard-done by and try to keep its customers like Bunnings and Nippon paper. It tried every argument in the book during the court case and none worked. Are they just trying a re-run of all their excuses in this costly appeal? (no doubt Vic tax-payers are paying for it, not them!) VicForests also tried to blame covid and FSC governance for failing - is it - its 4th or 5th environmental audit. See more

14.01.2022 Hoorah - something precious WASN'T destroyed! WELL DONE! Now for FORESTS and WILDLIFE.

13.01.2022 "The water in your body flowed down the Nile, fell as monsoon rain onto India, and swirled around the Pacific. The carbon in the molecules of your cells was mined from the atmosphere by the plants we eat. The salt in your sweat and tears, the calcium of your bones, and the iron in your blood all eroded out of the rocks of Earths crust; and the sulphur of the protein in your hair and muscles was spewed out by volcanoes." -Lewis Dartnell, astrobiologist

13.01.2022 There must be no moral conscience displayed by party MPs - especially when it comes to the environment or developers !

11.01.2022 This is GOLD!!! Dargo Man! These hazardous trees cant out-hazard an over-confident he-man. https://www.facebook.com/MadeMan.com/videos/1134916773514539/

11.01.2022 Mendie is another great candidate standing for the EG shire council. There are now a decent number of progressives who have put their hat in the ring. Just imagine the changes for the better if they were all elected!

10.01.2022 We have Commonwealth laws that say no company here should accept illegally logged timber - the law implies itd only refer to illegally logged timber coming from overseas. After the Federal Court recently found that VicForests had unlawfully logged areas of rare possum habitat, it is clearly in breach of this federal law. Other breaches by VicForests were also recorded by the Vic Auditor-General in a December 2019 report. The Wilderness Society lodged a complaint with the ...Commonwealth Department Agriculture (oversees logging) in March about Australian Paper woodchip and paper mill (Nippon-owned) sourcing logs from VicForests. The Minister ignored this likely breach of its own laws and never responded. Now the Federal Ombudsman will check whether the department ensured Australian Paper was complying with the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act. That law states that timber buyers have to be able to prove their supply isnt illegally logged. Will this shine a light on the whole show or will the Ombudsman be another in the line of arse-covering entities? See more

10.01.2022 Is this the beginning of the end? Vic and Tas govts logging businesses have both admitted that their logging of forests is failing the pub test. Both logging monoplies failed Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, considered the international gold standard for forest logging. The landmark federal court judgment and the ruling last week found VicForests had been, and probably would continue to illegally destroy habitat vital for the survival of threatened species. Failing the audits and losing the court case could have serious impacts for the agencies as major retailers like Bunngs and Officeworks shift away from selling forest derived products that cant be shown to be environmentally acceptable.

09.01.2022 Yes - Latrobe Valleys pollution impacts East Gippsland air as well! Air pollution from Australias ageing coal-fired power stations kills around 800 people each year. This national death toll is twice as high as the number of smoke inhalation deaths in the recent catastrophic bushfire season, and eight times greater than the average annual casualties from all natural disasters. The smoke pollution spreads hundreds of kilometres from regional plants into major cities, new research finds.

09.01.2022 VicForests - its way past the time to stop pretending to be environmentally acceptable. You have no social licence. You are widely acknowledged as a barefaced hooligan, vandalising public property while relying of the public purse, and pumping out lies from your PR department.

09.01.2022 "While dogs and dingoes have a lot in common, dingoes as a population can be distinguished by a cluster of features that help them live in the wild.." The funda...mental difference between dingoes and domestic dogs is their independence... "You can't put a dog out in the Simpson Desert whereas a dingo will live anywhere in Australia independently of humans and breed successfully." As part of this independence, dingoes are good at solving problems for themselves, rather than having to be trained like dogs, Dr Smith added. For example, it has a big brain and strong jaws, and its head is the widest part of it body. "So anywhere its head can go, its body can go," Dr Smith said. A dingo's narrow chest and other anatomy also allows for efficient movement over large distances, Dr Smith said. And this can be seen in its relatively straight trail of paw prints. The dingo also has super flexible joints. "They can twist their head left and right but also they can put their head up and look straight up or behind," he said. Dingoes can contort their bodies in some pretty amazing ways. "Their elbows, wrists, back hips all flex and allows them to get into wombat holes and under fences. "If you put a dingo on its hind legs, you can splay out its arms wide. "And if they're standing, you can grab their back foot and string it out like you would their tail, straight out behind them." Scientists like Dr Smith are still trying to work out exactly why dingoes have all this flexibility, but it could help with hunting and latching on to prey, or chasing them into burrows. Even the ears of a dingo can move independent of each other, and face backwards, Dr Smith said. "There are also other differences between dogs and dingoes, including their breeding patterns, territorial nature and social structure and the fact that dingoes are more likely to howl than bark. All this gives them an edge in the wild, Dr Smith said, suggesting this probably explains Dr Cairns's findings that the dingo's gene pool is still strong, despite mixing with dogs. "Their dingo-ness stays pretty prominent and if it didn't, they wouldn't have the tools to survive in the wild," he said. See more

08.01.2022 Watch YOUR LANGUAGE!Harvesting or Logging?Timber or a pile of woodchips?Managing or Trashing?"Coupe" or a stand of forest with valuable habitat? Sustainable or cut out and get out?..."Balanced" or heavily weighted political decisions to favour vandalism of public property?Many people do the industrys work for them & use carefully fashioned industry-speak, those crafted terms that send pretty images to the public about forest destruction. The industry must be laughing at us.https://eastgippsland.net.au/diabolical-dictionary/

08.01.2022 "Theres actually no evidence out there that logging forests helps fight fires... Its a bit frustrating to see people claim that its the consensus in science when its not." A Tasmanian academic study was retracted last week, after it had used incorrect data from the government. This gave the pro-logging/burning sector a chance to claim it was bad research. The UTAS study linked Tasmanian logging practices with an increased risk of bushfires, prompting a fierce round of po...litical back-and-forth. But contributing author and researcher Dr Jennifer Sanger says the retraction has had a "negligible" effect on the science, and was the fault of incorrect public information provided by the state government. "We had to withdraw our paper because what we called plantation wasnt plantation,"

08.01.2022 Endangered dolphins dying in the Gippsland Lakes. Why...?

07.01.2022 BREAKING NEWS! Just as the ruling on the Leadbeaters Possum case in the Federals Court was handed down (the possums won!) Bob Brown launched a lawsuit in the same court to end Tasmanias horrific era of logging. ---- The Bob Brown Foundation has launched a legal action which it hopes might end native forest logging in Tasmania by establishing that the industry is breaking federal environmental laws.... Should the foundation win, similar actions could be taken against native forest logging in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia, said the foundations lawyer, Roland Browne. The foundation lodged the case against the Tasmanian government, the federal government and the Tasmanian state-owned logging corporation, Sustainable Timber Tasmania, at the Federal Court in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon. The states are granted exemptions to the federal environmental protection for logging operations under so-called Regional Forest Agreements, which are supposed to ensure that the operations are conducted in accordance with strict environmental regulations. But, according to the foundation, the agreement under which Tasmanian logging is conducted lacks proper enforcement mechanisms, Sustainable Timber Tasmanias practices are not sustainable, and the state and federal governments are failing to properly enforce environmental standards. "You can see as clearly as the nose on your face that this is not sustainable logging," said former Greens leader Bob Brown, referring to a visit he made on Tuesday to a coup in Tasmanias Southern Forest that had recently been logged and burnt. Bob Brown Foundation is launching legal action against native forest logging in Tasmania. "Nothing is left. In Tasmania, hundreds of thousands of hectares of wildlife-filled native forests have been logged and put to the torch so that not a living cell remains," he said. "This is the habitat of endangered species like the swift parrot, to say nothing of insects that are not even known to science. There is nothing left in these coups. You can see the hard shells of native snails left in the ash." Mr Browne said since the RFA which Sustainable Timber Tasmania was operating under had been in place, the swift parrot, which travels between Tasmania and Victoria, had gone from endangered to critically endangered while its habitat was logged. He said a lack of enforcement mechanisms was common to RFAs that were in place in Victoria and NSW as well as Tasmania. Mr Browne said the foundation had received advice from a senior counsel that the case had good prospects for success. Mr Brown added: "We firmly believe that we can win this, that logging in Tasmania under the RFA is illegal. "Two years ago, I took Tasmania anti-protest laws to the High Court and won." Sustainable Timber Tasmania was contacted for comment. https://www.theage.com.au//bob-brown-lawsuit-aims-to-end-t

07.01.2022 The language of the logging industry spin doctors ...

07.01.2022 No - the NSW Bushfires enquiry didnt recommend that landholders will be forced to conduct burns on their property - this IS NOT in the report. How did it make headlines across most media outlets then? Thanks for this expose Justin Field.

07.01.2022 Gippsland Extinction Rebellion hits Melbourne ! Thanks Ro Gooch. xx

06.01.2022 There are some fantastic facts in this clip. Its a great response to the forest-blaming lobby groups which claim parks are the problem - and too much fuel (h...abitat). Also it said lack of burns did NOT cause the fires, climate change did. A shame they want to do more burning though as a rec. Its a political placation which has more evidence now that show burning mostly increases a forests flammability and destroys its natural fire resistance. See more

06.01.2022 Australias native species are facing an extinction crisis. The fed govt wants to ram through changes to their environment Act (EPBC) to hand environmental management to the States, including areas and species of national value. This would be devastating. The legislation has already passed the Lower House and will soon be debated in the Senate. Want to help add your voice - then you might like to urgently contact your Senators and Federal MP to ask that they vote against the bill. Our friends at the Humane Society International have made this a relatively simple operation. You need only follow this link:

05.01.2022 Some good news for a change... With Labor and the Greens both opposed, the government would need support from at least one of the trio and the two One Nation senators to kill off Fed env laws, in the upper house.

04.01.2022 We seem to read these headlines every week now. Three local enviro groups are set to take on VicForests over yet more breaches of its already weak obligations. Its been overlogging areas close in to homes, creating serious busfire hazards around towns and communities. The Office of the Conservation Regulator appears to be little more than a front - a brick wall between the community and the Minister, specially designed to deflect or excuse complaints.

04.01.2022 "...Australia had 1,020 species of lizard and snake,...North America has 390 species and the UK just six. ... until last summers fires, the places around East Gippsland had always been considered a refuge for threatened lizards. A place for them to hang on. Now hes not so sure. As Australias east coast was ablaze late last year, scientists published a comprehensive assessment of the health of the nations snakes and lizards. The last major assessment was in 1993... Theyr...e the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates that we have, ... astonishing 2.46bn lizards and snakes estimated to have been in the path of Australias fires last summer... If we are genuine about wanting to stop the obvious decline and extinction trajectory of some of these species, then we first need to stop doing harm, he says See more

04.01.2022 Justice Mortimer in the Federal Court has just made orders in favour of the Friends of Leadbeaters Possum. The coupes in question are NOT to be logged! The excuse of loss of profit by VicForests was not accepted. This should have major implications for all Victorian forests currently on VicForests death row list. The finer details will come later when the legal team can properly look at the written orders. Well done Steve, Friends and the EJA team!

04.01.2022 First Dog nails it again on forests and climate ... and coal!

03.01.2022 The attack-dog style of public commentary by logging lobbyists cop a massive serve from an elder stateman forester. In an open letter to the Institute of Foresters Australia... Dr John Dargavel said the institutes reaction damages our standing and demeans all foresters in the public eye. We cannot afford to continue to present ourselves as a blustering, reactive, negative profession, when the heart of forestry offers positive hope for the future.

02.01.2022 And - the manager of the Eden chipmill is on record saying they need Victorian logs to survive.

01.01.2022 The 24th Nov is the International Day of Action on Forest Biomass Energy #forestsarenotfuel Please join thousands of others by signing this petition. This is happening in Europe now, but Australia is also keen to burn forests in electricity furnaces to generate power. https://bit.ly/2IE9AZq

01.01.2022 Some First Dog therapy.

01.01.2022 Rainy, cold weekend where you are? If youd like to do something for our environment heres a simple little task: Make a submission to the Inquiry on Ecosystems Decline in Victoria. Due in 8 days. Lets swamp them. Heres an online cut and paste or you can alter it with your own words and experiences. https://www.envirojustice.org.au//make-a-submission-ecos/