Otway Ranges Environment Network

 

 

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9. FLORA AND FAUNA / BIODIVERSITY ISSUES



Logging industry propaganda

  • There are no known extinctions of any species due to logging practices. Link

  • Biodiversity is threatened by other things such as agriculture and land clearing not logging. Link

  • Otway rainforests are excluded from logging and appropriate buffers applied. Link

  • "Ecological Sustainable Forest Management" is adopted to protect biodiversity values. Link

  • Habitat trees are retained in areas clearfell logged to protect flora and fauna. Link

  • Flora and Fauna values were protected under the RFA process by the CAR reserve system. Link

Brief Response

There are no known extinctions of any species due to logging practices

  • Nominations to the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act acknowledge that logging practices threaten endangered species with extinction. The State governments failure to complete Action Statements as required by the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act means that clearfell logging threatens engendered species with extinction.

    See nominations for Endangered Species and Threatening Processes listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.

    See Failings of the Flora & Fauna Guarantee Act

  • Clearfell logging contributes to Habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation can lead to local and regional extinctions of plants and animals. Before an extinction occurs, endangered species will suffer a decline in numbers as they are forced to live in smaller and smaller islands of habitat. A decline in numbers makes endangered species vulnerable to extinction by other forces such as wildfire, feral animals and other human pressures.

  • The Spot Tail Quoll is an example of where logging practices are contributing towards the decline and extinction of an animal in the Otways.

  • Cool temperate rainforest and the impact of the myrtle wilt disease is an example of a where logging practices are contributing to the decline of an endangered plant community.

  • Clearfell logging reduces the number of hollow bearing trees for animals to live in.

Biodiversity is threatened by other things such as agriculture and land clearing not logging.

Otway rainforests are excluded from logging and appropriate buffers applied.

"Ecological Sustainable Forest Management" is adopted to protect biodiversity values.

  • Ecological Sustainable Forest Management' (ESFM) is another fancy way of for Forestry Victoria saying they are not damaging the environment when in fact they are. See The Failure of ESFM


  • The system of ESFM relies on the completion of Action Statements as a part of the FFG Act. This is not being done. Hence ESFM is a failure.
    See Failings of the Flora & Fauna Guarantee Act

Habitat trees are retained in areas clearfell logged to protect flora and fauna

  • Habitat trees (which are also know as hollow bearing trees and veteran trees) are rarely left in coups. The normal practice by Forestry Victoria is to kill large veteran trees to allow more sunlight onto an area clearfell logged. If the veteran tree is not cut down then a poison such as round-up is often used. Notches are cut into the trunk of the tree and injected with poison. See Hollow Bearing trees.

  • The claim by Forestry Victoria that habitat trees are retained is a part of a public relations campaign to deceive the community into thinking flora and fauna values are being protected.

  • The failure to retain hollow bearing trees is a breach of the Code of Forest Practices for Timber Harvesting and the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act threatening process known as Loss of hollow-bearing trees from Victorian native forest .

Flora and Fauna values were protected under the RFA process by the CAR reserve system.

  • The Design of CAR reserve system can best be summed up as being incomplete and poorly designed. A major reason for the poor design is a lack of scientific research of Otway biodiversity values.
    See The CAR Reserve system lacks scientific credibility.

  • The Comprehensive Adequate Representative(CAR) reserve system. Comprehensive and adequate by who's definition? Again, just because a title says "adequate" does not mean that it actually is. CAR is a nice PR term used by Forestry Victoria and the pro-clearfell & woodchip lobby groups.


 
   
 
 

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