Cameron & Turner report doctored.

Conservationists compared the draft Cameron and Turner report with the final report and found that many changes and omissions had occurred. In particular recommendations to conduct further research into the link between logging practices and the incidence of elevated myrtle wilt were deleted .

The deleted recommendations within the Draft Survey and monitoring of myrtle wilt within Cool Temperate Rainforest in Victoria; Cameron and Turner 1994, page 47 are as follows:

6 Recommendations for Further Research

3. investigate the quantitative relationship between physical disturbance and myrtle wilt incidence, with particular reference to disturbance associated with forestry activity and its management implications.

Kile et al. (1989) and Packham (1991) established a quantitative relationship between high levels of myrtle wilt and logging and roading activity in Nothofagus-dominated callidendrous cool temperate rainforest in Tasmania. Such a relationship has yet to be demonstrated experimentally in Victoria where stand size, stand composition, land use history and the pattern of myrtle wilt incidence differ significantly from that observed in Tasmania. There is an urgent need to investigate the relationship between disturbance associated with forestry activity and myrtle wilt incidence in Victorian, with particular reference to its management implications.

Copies of the original draft Cameron and Turner myrtle wilt report dated November 1994 and final July 1996 report were handed to S.G. Mueck, a former botanist with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for critical review. Mueck made the following observations:

The 1994 version clearly identifies timber harvesting as a significant potential initiator of myrtle wilt. It also makes recommendations to be applied in Victoria for appropriate buffer widths to protect existing stands of Nothofagus dominated Cool Temperate Rainforest from timber harvesting and associated activities such as roading. These recommendations are based on the precautionary principle, in an attempt to minimise the potential risk of disease spread to Cool Temperate Rainforest in the vicinity of timber harvesting activities. The 1996 version has removed or altered the buffer width recommendations and statement identifying timber harvesting as a significant vector of disease in a Victorian context. With no recommendations to influence current timber harvesting practices, the threat of an accelerated spread of this disease through Cool Temperate Rainforests remains very high.

The recommendations for further research presented in the 1994 version …. however have been deleted. It would appear, therefore, that there will be no action or research undertaken to restrict the spread of myrtle wilt.

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