One
of the world's great old growth forests...
Spot‑tailed
(Tiger) Quoll photograph by Jeni McMillan
.
. . threatened by logging
The
ancient Eucalypt, the largest flowering plants on earth, still survive
here along with many unique and threatened animals.
Amazingly,
this area is not protected, and is threatened by an intense logging
and woodchipping regime which will destroy Goolengook forever.
Goolengook
has become a forest icon through intense media attention during
Regional,
State and National Environment groups have campaigned for years to
have the breathtaking forests of Goolengook protected as an addition
to the adjacent Errinundra National Park.
A
current study into Victoria's timber supply has shown that East Gippslands
forest and especially the good quality forest has been seriously overcut.
Some in the logging industry are now claiming that forest conservation
reserves, for example Special Protection Zones in Goolengook Forest,
should be opened up for logging.
Read on to see what all the fuss is about.
East Gippsland's forests form a unique biodiverse ecosystem which has evolved since Australia separated from the ancient super‑continent Gondwana some 50 million years ago.
Over
300 rare and threatened plant and animal species are found within
the region's one million hectares of forest. The old growth forests
are the preferred habitat for animals such as the Spot‑tailed
Quoll, Powerful Owl, Sooty Owl and the Long Footed Potoroo.
The
region contains the largest contiguous areas of old growth and undisturbed
forest in Victoria and is of national and international significance.
In
1987, the Victorian Government first officially proposed East Gippsland
for World Heritage Listing. At the time, the proposal was not supported
by the Commonwealth Government, but several studies since have confirmed
the region has World Heritage values.
The
East Gippsland Regional Forest Agreement (RFA)
East
Gippsland was the first region in Australia to have an RFA signed.
This was an attempt by Federal and State governments to end the debate
over the logging of native forests and to deliver jobs and job security
to East Gippsland's logging industry.
Neither
of these objectives has been achieved. Over the past six years, jobs
in the logging industry have fallen by 60%, yet since the East Gippsland
RFA was signed in 1997, woodchipping has doubled.
The
old growth wet forests of Goolengook were one of the first areas subject
to logging following the signing of the East Gippsland RFA. This was
met with a high profile and long-running forest rescue protest. The
East Gippsland RFA has been publicly denounced by all environment
groups involved in the process. The East Gippsland REA has only succeeded
in escalating forest conflict in the region.
The
Forests of Goolengook
Goolengook
encapsulates everything that is special about East Gippsland.
It
contains an unrivaled assemblage of flora and fauna that includes
a multitude of rare, vulnerable, threatened and endangered species
and plant communities. Logging will destroy these flora species and
degrade habitat for animals.
Goolengook
has nine plants, animals or communities listed as threatened under
the Victorian Government's Flora and fauna Guarantee Act (1988) and
another nine plants listed as rare or vulnerable.
The
Slender Tree‑fern is nationally rare and close to extinction
in Victoria. The Long‑footed Potoroo, only discovered in 1980,
and one of Australia's rarest mammals, will suffer from increased
mortality from habitat destruction. The Spot‑tailed Quoll, the
largest marsupial carnivore on the mainland, and related to the Tasmanian
Tiger, is threatened with extinction and will suffer from loss of
habitat and increased competition.
Goolengook
is also a stronghold for the threatened Powerful and Sooty owls.
Breaking the Chain of Destruction
In
the last 5 years approximately 30,000ha of East Gippsland's forests
have been logged out.
For
almost a decade up to I million tonnes of East Gippsland's forests
have been made available for woodchipping each year for as little
as 9 cents a tonne. That is less than one dollar for a big eucalypt
tree, some of which are hundreds of years old.
Only
5% of Australia's original old growth forests remain while the national
criterion for old growth reserves is 15%.
If
logging goes ahead in Goolengook over I,000ha of outstanding old growth
forests will be clearfelled, rainforest will be bulldozed and a number
of threatened species will lose irreplaceable habitat.
Nesting
and roosting trees for species which can only live in old growth forest
will be destroyed.
Ancient
forests are being clearfelled and turned into mono‑culture tree
farms, destroying the biodiversity that has taken millions of years
to evolve. This further heightens the significance of Goolengook,
as it provides a rare opportunity to protect a number of species in
one catchment.
This
is Victoria's Noah's Ark but unfortunately the logging industry may
see felling these forests as the solution to their problems.
A
Goolengook National Park
Given
Goolengook's biological importance and unrivaled array of natural
values, we have a responsibility to pass it on intact to future generations.
The to proposal to extend the Errinundra National Park to include
Goolengook is the‑best way to guarantee the protection of these
remarkable old growth forests and the wide array of rare and threatened
animals and plants which live there.
Environmental
organisations are campaigning to have Goolengook added to the adjacent
Errinundra National Park. The Goolengook National Park proposal seeks
to protect old‑growth forests, endangered species habitat and
a variety of rare rainforest communities.
The
proposal is based on scientific recommendations made by government
scientists who studied Goolengook's forests and the flora and fauna
it supports. Scientists describe Goolengookas one of the, most significant
forests in south-eastern Australia.
This
is the most reasonable expectation of scientists and environment groups,
protecting a tiny area of the best of East Gippsland's forests. The
proposal aims to include a further 5000 hectares within the Errinundra
National Park. Half of what is proposed for National Park status is
already part of the National Park reserve system, or not available
for logging. The other half accounts for less than 0.3% of the East
Gippsland Forest Management Area.
Lion
of the forest: East Gippsland is a stronghold for the threatened Powerful
Owl.
Who
Wants to Log Goolengook?
East
Gippsland Logging (EGL)
Since
1998, EGL has been the logging syndicate which undertakes logging
operations in East Gippsland, under contract from the state Department
of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE).
Daishowa
Paper Manufacturing
Daishowa
is the driving force behind forest destruction in East Gippsland,
and would be the major recipient of woodchips from the area.
Daishowa established Australia’s first export woodchip mill in 1967,
commencing operations in 1971, exporting woodchips from East Gippsland
and the New South Wales south coast.
Daishowa
exports up to 800,000m3 of pulp logs annually to Japan, from their
export facility at Eden on the New South Wales south coast.
In
early 2001, Daishowa merged with Nippon Paper Industries to form Nippon
Unipac, now Japan's largest company and the seventh largest corporate
entity in the world.
Midway
Forest Products Midway is one of four woodchip mills based in Geelong.
Midway have a statewide licence to extract and export 3 10,000 tonnes
of woodchips from native forests each year. The woodchips are sent
to Japan to be manufactured into paper and packaging products.
Until
the recent slump in the export market a woodchip train carried logs
from Bairnsdale in Gippsland to Midways.
The
Goolengook Forest Rescue
Australia's
Longest Ever Blockade
In
early 1997 Australia's longest running forest blockade was established
Goolengook, and is still there to this day.
For
a brief period commencing on the eve of World Environment Day, June
4,1997, the chainsaws and bulldozers moved, in to destroy the forest.
Only 100 hectares were destroyed before environmentalists
Logging
has been stopped ever since. For nearly 5 years there has been an
almost constant protest camp. Over 300 people have been arrested,
including Australian Greens ‑Senator Bob Brown and mountaineer
Brigitte Muir, the first Australian woman to climb Mount Everest.
To
date, the Bracks government has rejected calls for the protection
of Goolengook and the National Park proposal, and has sanctioned the
logging of these forests in the near future.
Upon
their election in February 2001, the Gallop, and Beattie Labor Governments
in Western Australia and Queensland moved to protect ' their old growth
and high conservation value forests ‑ why won't the
It's
time to turn up the heat. Over the next couple of years, you will
witness, either the protection or destruction of what remains of Victoria's
old growth forests.
These
forests belong to all of us, not to any government, nor are they simply
a resource to be plundered. Please stand up for their protection.
What
You Can Do...
1.
Write to: The Honorable Steve Bracks, Premier of Victoria, 1 Treasury
Place Melbourne, 3000.
steve.bracks@parliament.vic.gov.au
2.
Book a Goolengook Slide Show for your community group. Call: Andrew
Picone on 9428 7872.
3.
Join the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria's Fauna Survey of the
Goolengook Block. 26 December‑3 January. Call: 9877 9860.
4. Join the Goolengook Forest Rescue Blockade. Call: Goongerah Environment
Centre (GECO) an (03) 5154 0156.
5.
Join one of the organisations below or make a tax‑deductible
donation:
Payable
to: The East Gippstand Forest Fund (EGFF). Mail to: CROEG, Private
Bag 3, Orbost 3888.
6.
Use the media ‑ write letters to The Age or your local paper
calling for Goolengook to be added to the Errinundra National Park
or contact a radio station and do the same.
Fax
The Age on (03) 9601 2414 or email on letters@theage.fairfax.com.au.
Write to Letters Editor, 250 Spencer Street, Melbourne 3001.
Call
talkback radio 3AW an (03) 9696 1278 or 3L0 on (03) 9414 1774
For
Further information Contact:
Goongerah
Environment Centre Office
Friends
of the Earth
e-mail
or
http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/
Concerned
Residents of East Gippsland:
http://www.vicnet.net.au/~croeg
The
Wilderness Society
Environment
Victoria
Field
Naturalists Club of Victoria
