The Ivory Wars: Heavily armed platoons of rangers at Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo wage war against elephant poachers.

[Source: ‘Africas elephants are being slaughtered in poaching frenzy’, Documentary by By Ben Solomon, The New York Times,

Watch Video: ^http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/africa/africas-elephants-are-being-slaughtered-in-poaching-frenzy.html]

.

Following years in Iraq and Afghanistan, two Australian ex-Special Forces operators set up the IAPF in Zimbabwe.  Their frontline now is global conservation.

.

IAPF ?

.

International Anti Poaching Foundation   (IAPF)

.

<<Damien Mander had a military career of nine years, three years of which were spent in Iraq.  He has invested his life savings including the sale all investment properties to fund the start up and running costs of the IAPF for the first few years.

In 2010 Damien’s long time best mate, Steven Dean, sold up everything and put the funds into the IAPF – moving to Africa to help with the struggle.  Collectively, they have invested the savings of seven years of working in war zones towards conservation.  Africa is now their frontline.  The IAPF is now funded through public donations, grants and fundraising activities.

They are totally commited using drones, night vision and thermal imaging to get the poachers.>>

.

.

 

 

<<The IAPF’s academy in Zimbabwe can only train Zimbabwean or regional nationals for work in IPZs (Intensive Protective Zones) within the country.

However, the IAPF accredited academy in South Africa (across the southern border) run by Eco Ranger, does give participants the opportunity to be trained from the grassroots level. No previous experience is necessary. (Then ambition and service rests with you).  Contact JC Strauss at Eco Ranger ^www.ecoranger.co.za for more information on upcoming courses.>>

JC

.

In 2005 – 2007, JC trained and developed 350 Wildlife Rangers for Limpopo Parks Board in South Africa and headed the Anti-Poaching teams covering 53 Protected Areas that brought down rhino and elephant poaching to 0% for 3 consecutive years.

Enough said.  Find Out More:

^http://www.iapf.org/en/

.

>EcoRanger Info Pack.pdf    (1.5MB)

Rhino face chainsawed off for its horn while still alive to sell for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

[Source:  ^http://soiledearth.com/images/south-african-rhino-poaching-rhino-wars]

.

TCM Poachers murder baby Rhino

[Source:  ^http://soiledearth.com/images/south-african-rhino-poaching-rhino-wars]

.

.

---

.

Further Reading:

.

[1]    Anti-Poaching Intelligence Group Southern Africa, ^http://www.antipoachintelligence.co.za/home

.

[2]    Warriors For African Rhino, ^http://www.warriorsforafricanrhino.org/

.

[3]    Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching (OSCAP), ^http://www.oscap.co.za/

.

[4]    Bush Warriors, ^http://bushwarriors.org/

.

[5]   ‘Ivory Wars‘, National Geographic, March 2007, ^http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/03/ivory-wars/fay-text

.

<<The dead elephant, a huge bull, lay on his side, right leg curled as if in wrenching pain. Dirt covered the exposed eye—magic done by poachers to hide the carcass from vultures. The smell of musth and urine, of fresh death, hung over the mound of the corpse. It was a sight I had seen hundreds of times in central Africa. As I passed my hand over his body from trunk to tail, tears poured down my cheeks. I lifted the bull’s ear. Lines of bright red blood bubbled and streamed from his lips, pooling in the dust. His skin was checkered with wrinkles. The base of his trunk was as thick as a man’s torso. Deep fissures ran like rivers through the soles of his feet; in those lines, I could trace every step he had taken during his 30 years of life.

This elephant’s ancestors had survived centuries of raiding by the armies of Arab and African sultans from the north in search of slaves and ivory. He had lived through civil wars and droughts, only to be killed today for a few pounds of ivory to satisfy human vanity in some distant land. There were tender blades of grass in his mouth. He and his friends had been peacefully roaming in the shaded forest, snapping branches filled with sweet gum. Then, the first gunshot exploded. He bolted, too late. Horses overtook him. Again and again, bullets pummeled his body. We counted eight small holes in his head. Bullets had penetrated the thick skin and lodged in muscle, bone, and brain before he fell. We heard 48 shots before we found him.

Souleyman Mando, the commander of our detachment of mounted park rangers, was silent. I sensed a dark need for revenge. The feeling was mutual.

“Next time, you will get them,” I offered.

He feigned a smile. “Inshallah,” he said.>>

.

TCM Poacher – Open Season!

Inshallah !

.

Shrinking Koala Habitat – completely dependent upon the whims of Australians, if we give a toss.

Being systematically destroyed by O’Farrell Government Loggers across coastal New South Wales, Australia

.

Koala Habitat is being trashed across New South Wales

 

[Source:  The following article was published as ‘When trees fall in the forests’, by Ben Cubby, Sydney Morning Herald, 20101112, ^http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/when-trees-fall-in-the-forests-20101111-17pgt.html]

.
<<The dull, grinding roar of logging trucks has become background noise in the hills around Eden, on the New South Wales south coast. Equally familiar is the sight of people photographing the loggers’ loads as they are hauled down to the local woodchip mill and on to ships bound for Japan. The campaigners are looking for signs of tree trunks that have hollows and may have supported native sugar gliders or owls.

About 1,200 kilometres north, in the subtropical rainforest near Casino, botanists and zoologists are poring over maps and Google Earth, tracking breaches of logging conditions – trees cut down inside protection zones, trees felled that supported endangered wildlife or nourished other flora.

The tit-for-tat battle in the forests has led to frustration on all sides, with forestry workers complaining of ”manic hatred” directed at them. Anti-logging activists say the damage to state forests is systematic and routine, as established rules in the NSW Forest Agreements are disregarded.

”It’s not exactly a surprise to us that there are so many breaches because the fox is in charge of the hen house,” says Lisa Stone, a campaigner with South-East Forest Rescue. ”It keeps happening over and over again. You have got areas where they are supposed to be taking out single trees and then you go there and it’s practically clear-felled.”

For each state forest targeted for logging, a plan must be drawn up that leaves some trees untouched, in accordance with the ”environmental protection licences” issued to logging contractors working for the state government agency, Forests NSW.

.

What the hell is Government’s Forests NSW doing to Wildlife Habitat?

 

Forests NSW Greenwash:

.

“Forests NSW is committed to ensuring a supply of timber from NSW State forests today and into the future while also protecting other forest values such as biodiversity, clean air and water and public access for recreation.  We are committed to running a safe and profitable business for the people of NSW.”

“The NSW (O’Farrell) Government has announced it will make Forests NSW a state owned corporation (SOC). Forests NSW will remain publicly owned and the nature of the business and business relationships will remain largely the same but the governance structures will change to improve the organisation’s commercial performance.

As a state owned corporation under the direction of a skilled commercial board, Forests NSW will be able to focus sharply on its core business of growing and harvesting timber to meet the community’s needs for hardwood and softwood products while still providing recreational opportunities for the people of New South Wales.”

[Source:  ^http://www.forests.nsw.gov.au/]

.

Ed:     So to the O’Farrell Government the forests are only about human needs – a babyboomer mindset, just like in the Old Testament.  “..And God said unto them be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”  [Bible, Old Testament, Book of Genesis 1:28]   ..and humans have been self-righteously buggering the planet ever since.

.

<<The many-layered oversight system produces a lot of work for the handful of NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water staff, some of whom have found themselves visiting the same logging sites repeatedly.

Forests NSW stressed that a warning letter can refer to separate breaches, which partly explains why the number of warnings issued to Forests NSW is so much lower than the number of times rules get broken.

Nonetheless, department staff have told the Herald that guidelines are often applied indifferently by loggers and some contractors are serial offenders. Forests NSW has also lost staff through voluntary redundancy this year which, some workers argued, affects its ability to police logging contractors.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Department said logging licences contained ”strict provisions to protect the environment, threatened species and its habitat”. Audits of logging operations are carried out every month as part of its compliance program.

”[The department] is concerned about the number of recent alleged breaches being reported in the south-east of NSW and in response is conducting several comprehensive field audits of Forests NSW work in the region. If any of the alleged breaches are found to be substantiated then the [department] will take appropriate action.”

New spice has been added to the deluge of investigations by the recent so-called ”peace deal” in Tasmania, which saw major logging companies, including Gunns, agree to stop logging in old-growth native forests. The deal also included an effective end to large-scale burning of native timber as a source of renewable energy, a process that is now permitted in NSW. The National Association of Forest Industries said it would oppose any effort to transfer the Tasmanian deal to mainland Australia.

A woodchip company, South-East Fibre Exports, is planning to build the state’s first wood-fired electricity plant at Eden, burning ”offcuts”. The company says opposition to its power plant is driven by people with the broader agenda of ending logging in native forests altogether. This seems likely to be true. South-East Fibre Exports blames anti-logging campaigners for setting up a fake website that mocks the company’s proposal, and a campaigner against the power plant, the former fashion designer Prue Acton, found an electronic bugging device in her home earlier this year. No one knows who is responsible for planting the bug, and there is no suggestion it is linked to the logging dispute. Police are investigating.

The NSW Primary Industries Minister, Steve Whan, said he had faith in the forestry companies and Forests NSW. ”Allegations of ‘systematic damage’ are overstated,” says Whan. ”The majority of the alleged breaches in question are minor in nature – with little to no impact on the environment.”

Former NSW Labor Minister for Minerals and Forest Resources, Steve Whan,

who also had Primary Industries, Emergency Services and Rural Affairs – i.e. politically imposed conflicts of interests.
.

In southern NSW, the forestry organisation is regularly scrutinised and was operating within the rules.

”Forests NSW southern region has received no penalty notices and not one case has been brought to prosecution for at least the past three years.  ‘As a local member in the area as well as the Minister for Forest Resources, I personally welcome the intense environmental scrutiny that forestry operations in the area are subjected to. It is very important that any logging operations in the region comply with all the environmental conditions in place.”

Documents maintained by Forests NSW staff show there were 13 breaches recorded in south-eastern NSW last year.The breaches include cases of ”lack of care taken by operator”, ”operator did not see marking tape” and ”poor rigour in completing surveys”. Some could be explained by mishaps such as a vehicle slipping on a steep hillside into a protected area. In one case a logging contractor cut down trees in an area marked as ”old growth forest” because a global positioning system device had run out of batteries.

Of the 13 recorded incidents, eight resulted in verbal warnings to forestry contractors and one, in which the estimate of damage made by environment department staff differed from Forests NSW’s, resulted in a warning letter. Environmental damage was in every case assessed to be ”nil” and no remedial action was taken.

In part, the mistakes could be put down to forestry workers working to tight deadlines in rugged terrain.

But anti-logging activists are not prepared to be that charitable. The parallels with the situation in northern NSW are remarkable. In the state forests around Casino and Tenterfield, a group called North-East Forest Alliance has identified damage to stands of trees inhabited by koalas, stuttering frogs, sooty owls, powerful owls, golden-tipped bats and yellow-bellied gliders. The same types of breaches are evident, with contractors failing to follow guidelines about properly marking up vulnerable trees. Trees up to two metres wide at the base were cut down inside an area of rainforest described as a ”special protection zone”.

Five sets of allegations, covering dozens of alleged individual breaches in separate forests, were sent to the Environment Department early this year. Staff undertook a joint investigation with the forestry agency, and Forests NSW said a ”compliance response team” had been established.

South-East Forest Rescue recently surveyed state forests at Mogo, near Batemans Bay, and found recent logging in areas that were supposed to have been preserved, including an Aboriginal cultural site and conservation areas. In a report sent to the government, it alleges that many hectares of forest that should have been off-limits to loggers had been cleared.

The group has also walked through south coast state forests Tantawangalo, Yambulla, Glenbog and Dampier, collecting photographs of logging sites. Earlier surveys of the various regions by the Environment Department show habitat supporting sooty owls, yellow-bellied gliders, square-tailed kites, giant burrowing frogs, bent wing bats, tiger quolls, glossy black cockatoos and powerful owls may have been damaged.

The group’s surveys have been passed on to the Environment Department. The department said its own studies in the area are expected to run until mid-November.  Stone says the group wanted Whan to visit the logging locations they had surveyed.>>

.

---

.

Koala habitat faces bulldozing in Victoria

[Source:  ‘Super-koala’ habitat faces bulldozing, by Claire Miller, 20051002, ^http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/superkoala-habitat-faces-bulldozing/2005/10/01/1127804696947.html]

Susie Zent in the area slated for road-widening 2005
(Photo: Cathryn Tremain)

.

South Gippsland  (2005):

.

<<Critical habitat supporting the so-called Strzelecki “super-koala” and endangered powerful owls is to be bulldozed as part of a controversial road-widening project in South Gippsland.

Several hundred trees, many home to koalas and with hollows suitable for nesting owls and other wildlife, will be lost, despite consultants warning the Latrobe City Council that the damp forest habitat is virtually irreplaceable in a region largely cleared of native vegetation.

The local member for Morwell, Brendan Jenkins, is appealing to Environment Minister John Thwaites for an 11th-hour reprieve after local conservationists lost their case in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Latrobe Council wants to widen Budgeree Road so that logging trucks servicing plantations can pass each other. Trucks now travel one way down the road and return via another route. Budgeree Road is also a tourist drive to Tarra Bulga National Park.

The tribunal initially raised strong objections to the project, near Boolarra, in the face of evidence that the council took little account of the vegetation affected, that traffic volumes did not justify the scale of the works, and that a redesign could save most trees. Then, in a surprise turnaround, it approved the project last month with minor amendments.

.

‘Strzelecki koalas are a genetically superior group that may hold the key to the species’ long-term survival in Victoria.

All other koalas in the state are descended from a handful of individuals transferred to French Island more than a century ago, a few years before koalas were hunted to near-extinction on the mainland.’

.

Ed:  This is a ecological cry of impending Koala regional extinction and a representative indictment of Australia’s deliberate and evil extermination of its wildlife.

.

The French Island colony was used to repopulate the state, but inbreeding is now becoming apparent. The Strzelecki koalas, however, appear to be a remnant of the original and genetically diverse mainland population.

The roadside forest is rare in its own right, being of “very high conservation significance”. This category has legislative protection under the Native Vegetation Management framework, and can be cleared only under exceptional circumstances.

The loss of hollow-bearing trees is also listed as a threat under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. Consultants from Biosis Research told Latrobe Council it would be difficult to find other damp forest areas that could offset the loss of roadside remnants.

Susie Zent, from Friends of the Gippsland Bush, said VCAT had set conditions for the roadworks based on a mistaken classification by the Department of Sustainability and Environment as to the vegetation’s significance. She said the VCAT decision could be set aside if the department admitted to an error of judgement and requested amendments to its permit conditions.

Latrobe’s chief executive officer, Paul Buckley, said he expected VicRoads to sign off the final plans within three or four weeks. He said the additional width was needed to improve safety.

A spokesman for Mr Thwaites said the department was waiting for final details from the council, particularly in relation to offset measures. “Offset measures are required to ensure there is no overall loss of areas that have ecological significance,” he said.>>

.

Strzelecki Koala Endangered

(South Gippsland Victorian, Australia)

.

<<Of major concern due to the logging and clearing activities of both Hancock Timber Resource Group and PaperlinX is the long term survival of populations of the Strzelecki and South Gippsland Koalas whose entire habitat is now owned by these companies.

An investigation carried out by Dr Bronwyn Houlden, School of Biological Science, University of New South Wales, 20th March 1997 and 6th April 1998 confirmed that the genetic pool of these koalas has not been compromised. Dr Houlden indicates that on a national basis koalas generally are not considered to be threatened. She advises that this assessment has unfortunately led to an extremely simplistic view of conservation of biodiversity in the species.

Through extensive analysis by herself and her collaborators she has revealed that the species is composed of highly differentiated populations with low levels of gene flow between populations throughout their range. The Strzelecki Koala population constitutes a separate management unit and is significant in terms of management of biodiversity on a regional and state basis. Dr Houlden found that the Strzelecki Ranges had the highest level of genetic variation, of any Victorian population she has analysed. This is important, given the low levels of genetic variability found in many populations in Victoria, which have been involved in the translocation program.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Strzelecki Koala Endangered’, Hancock Watch (conservation group), ^http://hancockwatch.nfshost.com/docs/koala.htm#content_top]

 

.

 

---

 

.

The Critical Habitat Truth behind Hancock Timber Resource Group

.

Foreign-owned and controlled Hancock Timber Resource Group,  claims publicly that its Victorian timber plantation operation, Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP) is committed to…

“environmental responsibility is underpinned by the company’s environmental policy and management system, forest stewardship program, best management practices, which include internal and external performance measures, and active community consultation program, working with groups such as Landcare, field naturalists and Waterwatch.”

.

Hancock Victorian Plantations claims…

“HVP sets its own high standards, its operations are monitored by local shires, water catchment management authorities, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and the Victorian Department of Environment and Sustainability. The company is also subject to regular audits to maintain its Australian Forestry Standards (AFS) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifications.”Around 70 per cent of HVP’s total landholdings are sustainably-managed plantations, growing largely on land that was previously cleared for farming. The company maintains the remaining 30 per cent of its holdings for plantation protection, conservation and other community values.In the Strzelecki Ranges, HVP has set aside almost half of its land from timber production, managing this native forest for conservation.”

[Source:  ^http://www.hvp.com.au/environment-conservation]

.

Editor:   It all sounds wonderful coming from this United States industrial logger. But since when has anyone trusted US corporations?  Read the snapshot log below.

.

Road hit female koala with broken jaw. Had to be euthanised after 6 weeks.

Urgent research is required to determine breeding populations, location and numbers. Logging seriously impacts on long term populations of this animal.

[Source:  Hancock Watch,  ^http://hancockwatch.nfshost.com/docs/koala.htm#content_top]

.

---

.

Snapshot of a month’s logging of Koala Habitat:

[Source:  ^http://hancockwatch.nfshost.com/docs/04sep.htm ]

.

South Gippsland, Victoria (October 2002) – systematically being destroyed for corporate profit by United States multi-national ‘Hancock Timber Resourse Group’:

.

Jeerlang West Road Strzelecki Ranges

• Locals outraged by removal of native vegetation – Koala Feed Trees. Koala corridor destroyed. Koalas are now not sited in this area. 8 Koalas have died in this area in the last 12 months.

.

Strzelecki Ranges (Jeeralangs)

• Eucalypts globulus – Bluegum (4ssp.) Southern Blue Gum – subspecies globulus. Restricted on the mainland to South Gippsland and Otways. Road works resulted in logging of older trees. Prime koala habitat destroyed by Grand Ridge Plantations/Hancock. A recent change in management will hopefully result in the end of this type of practice.

.

Strzelecki Ranges (Jeeralangs)

• Prime koala habitat destroyed without permit application by Grand Ridge Plantations/Hancock. Destruction of the rare Globulus globulus.

.

93-41 Creswick plantations

• Creek crossing over Anderson’s Gully which feeds into Creswick Creek. Tullaroop Water Catchment. Drinking water for Maryborough, Carisbrook, Talbot, Adelaide Lead, Alma, Havelock, Majorca and Betley. Sediment enters waterways mainly via creek crossings and roads.

.

93-41 Petticoat Plantation

• Tributary of Anderson’s Gully in the headwaters of the Murray Darling Catchment (Loddon River). Logging machinery driven straight through creekline.

.

93-41 Petticoat Creek

• Closeup of machinery entering tributary of Anderson’s Gully in the Tullaroop Water Catchment. Note build up of sediment which will wash into gully after rain. Note also buildup of stagnant water.

.

93-41. Petticoat Plantation

• Tullaroop Proclaimed Water Catchment. Machinery access into Anderson’s Gully tributary.

.

Morwell River East Branch/Strzelecki Ranges

• Creek crossing with sediment washing into waterway. Note also Slender Tree Fern an FFG listed species.  Australia’s first FSC Assessment team in the Strzelecki Ranges. Discussing roading/landslide issues in the Jeerlangs.

.

Traralgon Creek in the Latrobe River catchment (Strzelecki Ranges)

• Recent pine logging with limited bufferzone in a pine plantation by Grand Ridge Plantations/Hancock. As part of the Friends of the Gippsland Bush/Australian Paper Agreement of 1997, 50 m buffers of native vegetation will be established along Traralgon Creek after pine logging. There were also problems with a creek crossing at this location, which can be seen eroding into the creek in this photo.

.

Tributary of Jeeralang Creek with cool temperate rainforest (Strzelecki Ranges)

• A Myrtle Beech tree is in the centre of the gully. The person in the photo is holding a twig with Myrtle Beech leaves taken from the base of a tree in the gully. According to the 1997 8 Point Agreement 50m buffers along Jeeralang Creek will be replanted with indigenous species. This area should not have been logged at all. Cool Temperate Rainforest needs much greater buffer for its long term protection and survival.

.

Jeeralang West Road

• (Non-plantation) Blackwood and Austral Mulberry cut down along roadside easement which is Crown Land. Logged by Grand Ridge Plantations/Hancock.

.

Billy’s Creek Catchment/Strzelecki Ranges

• Twenty metre buffer should be reinstated at this site as in accordance with Billy’s Creek Water Supply Catchment, Plan no 1870. (Ideally the entire slope should be retired from timber production due to its steepness).

.

Billy’s Creek catchment/Strzelecki Ranges

• 20m buffers should be reinstated in this plantation area.

.

Jumbuk Road/ Strzelecki Ranges

• Logging of roadside buffers/easements. Wildlife corridors destroyed at this site as well as the head of a gully feeding into Billy’s Creek.

.

93-29 Scarsdale Plantation  (Woady Yaloak catchment)

• What is the long term impact on water yield from pine plantations in this catchment?

.

93-41 Petticoat plantation (Headwaters of the Murray Darling catchment [Loddon River])

• Tullaroop Water catchment is currently at 30% of its capacity due to primarily to drought. Hancock logged 223ha of pine in this catchment in 2001/2. Much of the land within the Creswick State Forest has in the past been affected by gold mining activities. Stabilisation of the worst affected areas was achieved with softwood plantations. Will sediment from these mining sites be disturbed by current plantation logging. Tullaroop catchment supplies towns such as Maryborough with drinking water. What is the impact of logging on water quality and quantity in this catchment?

.

Korweinguboora Reservoir catchment.

• Recently logged by Hancock. Note lack of buffer zones for this wetland feeding into the Reservoir. This reservoir supplies Geelong and other towns with drinking water.

.

Korweinguboora catchment  (Geelong’s water supply)

• How can Hancock guarantee that herbicides and fertilser residues will not enter Geelongs water supply? Note lack of buffers surrounding this drainage line.

.

A tributary of Creswick Creek in the Tullaroop Water supply catchment

• Note lack of creek buffer zones and ripping of soil into creek banks. Will herbicide residues enter water from this site? What impact will operations at this site have on quality of water for all species including people? Is this sustainable?

.

Tributary of Creswick Creek in Tullaroop water supply catchment

• Over 200 ha of pine plantations in this catchment were logged in 2001/2. What is the long term effect of fast rotation plantations on water quality and quantity? Pines cut out of creek itself and creek banks at this site.>>

.

---

.

Bligh Labor Government flogs off Queensland’s forests for $603M to Hancock

.

[Source:  ‘State sells off Forestry Plantations Queensland for $603 million to Hancock Queensland Plantations’, AAP, 20100518, ^http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/state-sells-off-forestry-plantations-queensland-for-603-million-to-hancock-queensland-plantations/story-e6freqmx-1225868108050]

.
.
<<The Queensland Labor government has announced the sale of Forestry Plantations Queensland – the first transaction in its controversial asset sales.  Treasurer Andrew Fraser said the 99-year licence for the timber plantation business would be sold for $603 million to Hancock Queensland Plantations.  The sale price is well in excess of the $500 million that had been anticipated.  Mr Fraser said he signed the contract on Tuesday morning.

“By reaching agreement on a price of $603 million, this exceeds original expectations and is great news for Queensland taxpayers,’‘ Mr Fraser told state parliament on Tuesday.  “This is the first of the five commercial businesses to be sold, licensed or leased to the private sector, as the government reforms the state balance sheet and builds a stronger Queensland economy.”

He said award staff would have their jobs guaranteed for three years.  Mr Fraser said Hancock Queensland Plantations, a company managed by Hancock Timber Resource Group on behalf of institutional investors, had won the right to grow and harvest the trees.

Crown plantation land on which the majority of the business sits will remain in government ownership.  The sale includes about 35,000 hectares of freehold land, which is about 10 per cent of the total estate.

Hancock Timber Resource Group manages more than two million hectares of timberlands worth approximately $US8.5 billion ($A9.7 billion) across the United States, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.>>

.

---

.

NSW Government accused of logging Koala Habitat

[Source: ‘NSW govt accused on koala habitat logging’, 20111118, ^http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8375719/nsw-govt-accused-on-koala-habitat-logging] .

<<The opposition has accused NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker of allowing the logging of koala habitats on the state’s mid-north coast.  Opposition environment spokesman Luke Foley said the minister had received a “scathing” letter from the local councils protesting her decision to allow logging of core koala habitats in the area.

“These councils are traditionally pro-development – but even they are alarmed that Robyn Parker is allowing a national icon to be endangered thanks to her ‘unsound ecological approach’,” Mr Foley said in a statement on Thursday.>>

He said that…

On October 27 Ms Parker said “logging protects koalas”

.

Editor:  Robyn Parker has not got a clue about her Environment portfolio.  She is another teacher-turned-politician and clearly insecure.  Last month Parker sacked the head of her department, Lisa Corbyn, and has been through five press secretaries. 

The opposition’s environment spokesman Luke Foley:  “When will Premier O’Farrell do the decent thing and get a new environment minister?”

[Source:  ‘Controversial Environment Minister Robyn Parker creates a climate of change’, by Andrew Clennell, State Political Editor, The Daily Telegraph, 20120121, ^http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/minister-creates-a-climate-of-change/story-e6freuy9-1226249892102]

 

Embattled: Ms Parker – thinks she’s only accountable to herself and Premier O’Farrell.

Picture: Kristi Miller Source: The Daily Telegraph

.

---

.

New South Wales allowed logging in Koala Habitat

.

[Source:  ‘NSW allowed logging on koala habitat’, by Rosslyn Beeby, Science and Environment Reporter, Canberra Times, 20110210, ^http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/nsw-allowed-logging-on-koala-habitat/2072043.aspx]

.

<<The NSW Government has allowed 2,000 heactares of koala habitat to be logged at Coffs Harbour in northern NSW, despite a local koala conservation plan endorsed by the local council, a Senate inquiry has heard.

One of Australia’s leading koala researchers, Alistair Melzer, has accused federal environment bureaucrats of doing little to avoid ”an escalating conservation crisis” as koala populations decline.

Dr Melzer, who heads Central Queensland University’s koala research centre, told the Senate environment committee inquiry it appeared that Canberra’s bureaucrats ”do not seem to be sensitive to the real state of the environment”.

The six-month inquiry, into the conservation status and sustainability of Australia’s koalas, is investigating threats to the future survival of the species.

In his submission, former Coffs Harbour City Council deputy mayor Rod McKelvey said the NSW Department of Environment’s private native forestry division granted logging permits which resulted in the loss of 2000ha of ”core koala habitat” protected by the council’s koala conservation plan. Mr McKelvey said the department subsequently argued the plan ”did not fall under” NSW environmental planning policy.

”I do not want to be included in the generation who stood by and did nothing while we systematically destroyed koala habitat, making it almost impossible for them to live here,” he said.

Gunnedah farmer Susan Lyle, who has koalas on her three properties, raised concerns about a mining exploration licence issued for open-cut coal mining in the region.

”Our koalas will be decimated. This mining licence is primarily in isolation and to allow such a development is sheer lunacy … There are many, many other resources that can be used for energy, but there is no replacement for the koala,” she said.

.

---

.

Federal Forest Enquiry a Sham

.

[Source:  ‘Federal Forest Inquiry a Sham’, 20111130, North East Forest Alliance, ^http://nefa.org.au/]

.

<<Conservation Group, North East Forest Alliance (NEFA), is outraged at the bias of the Federal House of Representatives report ‘Inquiry into the future of the Australian Forestry Industry’ and its refusal to consider the timber supply crisis and the over-logging of north-east NSW’s public forests.

NEFA spokesperson, Dailan Pugh, said that most of the evidence presented in NEFA’s 111 page submission was ignored by the inquiry on the grounds that it “criticised the industry”. “What they didn’t ignore they misrepresented. This pretend inquiry was a sham” he said.

“The Commonwealth is party to the North East Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) and claims that it satisfies its national and international obligations for the protection of world heritage, national estate and threatened species.

“While national heritage values were meant to be addressed as part of the RFA, they were not, so the Commonwealth gave the NSW Government an extra two years to complete the process.  A decade later and there has still been no assessment and the Federal Government does not care.

“Similarly the RFA was meant to provide protection for nationally threatened species.  The evidence we presented, such as the illegal trashing of a population of the nationally endangered fern Lindsaea incisa at Doubleduke, that was meant to be protected by a 50m buffer, was ignored because we were being ‘critical’.

“What is most astounding is that the inquiry refused to consider the evidence we presented on the current timber supply crisis due to the over-commitment of wood from north-east NSW’s public forests.

“Ever since new Wood Supply Agreements for timber from public land were given to sawmillers in 2004 Forests NSW have not been able to supply the committed volumes,” Mr Pugh said.

“The NSW Government’s recklessness in issuing these new Wood Supply Agreements has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars to buy back committed volumes and to compensate BORAL for Forests NSW’s failure to supply.  As the crisis worsens, taxpayers exposure to multi-million dollar compensation claims grows.

“In vain efforts to meet shortfalls and reduce their payouts Forests NSW have been over-logging plantations, cutting trees before they mature, increasing logging intensities, logging stream buffers, and logging trees and areas required to be retained for threatened species. They are cutting out the future of the industry and causing immense environmental harm in the process.

“It is appalling, that an inquiry dealing with forestry has completely ignored this crisis and recommended that the Commonwealth Government condone and support this grossly unsustainable and irresponsible logging.

“Local Page MP, Janelle Saffin features in the inquiry’s report despite her electorate being one of the worst affected by the timber supply crisis, rampant illegal logging and widespread forest dieback.

“We call upon Janelle to please explain why the Commonwealth continues to ignore the gross over-logging, fails to identify and protect national heritage values, refuses to take action on the illegal logging of the habitat of nationally threatened species and refuses to consider the dieback of tens of thousands of hectares of public forests in her electorate.   She needs to tell her constituents what she is going to do about it”” Mr. Pugh said.>>

.

---

.

South East Forest Rescue cranking it in south-east NSW

.

[Source:  ‘South East Forest Rescue cranking it in south-east NSW’, 20120118, ^http://www.thelaststand.org.au/tag/southeast-forest-rescue/]

.

<<South East Forest Rescue have taken some crackerjack action this morning, halting forestry operations with a giant tripod and tree sit structure to highlight illegal logging in the Yambulla State Forest, south of Eden. The logging compartment where breaches have been identified by SEFR contains records of nationally listed endangered species such as glossy black cockatoos, smokey mice, southern brown bandicoots, tiger quolls, eastern pygmy possums, bent wing bats, yellow-bellied gliders, gang gang cockatoos and white-footed dunnarts.

“The response from Forests NSW shows the complete lack of regard for the licence conditions that Forests NSW and their contractors must abide by. The licence conditions for threatened species and habitat conservation are not being adhered to, even though the conditions are grossly inadequate” said forest campaigner Lisa Stone.

“We have reported the breaches in this compartment to the Office of Environment and Heritage,” said Ms Stone.  “We stated last time that the probability of further breaches in this compartment if harvesting continues is high given that this logging contractor is a repeat offender and that FNSW still is not complying with the licence conditions” said Ms Stone.>>

.

---

.

‘NSW failing to protect koalas: Labor’

.

[Source:  ‘NSW failing to protect koalas: Labor’, 20111027, AAP republished in the Sydney Morning Herald,  ^http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/nsw-failing-to-protect-koalas-labor-20111027-1mlnt.html]

.

<<The NSW Liberal government is failing to protect koalas by allowing logging in remaining habitats, the opposition says.  Environment spokesman Luke Foley accused Environment Minister Robyn Parker of breaking an election promise to protect koalas after logging went ahead at the Bermagui State Forest on the south coast.

Logging also started last week at Boambee State Forest on the mid north coast, one of the last habitats for the vulnerable species in the area, Mr Foley said.

“For you to fail to respond and fail to intervene is a gross breach of your election policy to protect our national icon,” Mr Foley said at a budget estimates hearing in Sydney today.  “Surely the precautionary approach would be for you as Environment Minister to stop the logging of this key koala habitat?”

Ms Parker denied breaking any election commitments, and said the government was working hard to protect koalas.

“When it comes to forestry, we are about getting a balance and protecting our native species. We are working very hard on them,” she said.  “We have written to Forests NSW recommending a precautionary approach to managing impacts on koalas in the Boambee State Forest…The agreement that allowed logging to take place had been signed by the previous government, Ms Parker said.  “Perhaps you should go back and look at what was going on when your government signed up to that agreement.”>>

.

---

.

Koala habitat cleared to make way for more houses

.

[Source: ‘Koala habitat cleared to make way for more houses’, 20121127 (today), by Nicole Fuge, Sunshine Coast Daily, ^http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/koalas-lose-vital-coast-habitat/1637085/]

.

<<More than 100 hectares of koala habitat has been cleared to make way for more houses, another nail in the coffin for one of Australia’s icons.

Work has begun clearing the land behind Aussie World and the Ettamogah Pub for a 334-lot rural residential development.

Despite more than 30% of the 145-hectare site secured for environmental reserve and 12 hectares of revegetation to offset present clearing, Sunshine Coast Koala Wildlife Rescue volunteer Ray Chambers fears it’s not enough.

Mr Chambers said the area’s koala population was already fragile and the removal of so many trees would have a disastrous affect.

“We do have the odd koala in part of the Palmview area, it’s not a great deal but we know they are there,” he said. “From Forest Glen to the Caloundra turn-off is a koala corridor.”

.

Mr Chambers said there were only about 100 koalas left on the Coast, representing 18% of the Queensland population.

.

A council spokeswoman said despite approval of the development pre-dating an introduction of state-wide regulatory provisions for koala conservation, the council and Department of Environment and Heritage Protection officers had enforced koala protection measures and vegetation offsets.

Developer guidelines include:

• More than 30% of the original site secured in environmental reserve.
• Traffic calming, speed bumps, and fauna under and overpasses installed to minimise car strikes.
• Building envelopes to be enclosed with dog-proof fencing, leaving the balance of each lot free for fauna movement.
• About 12ha of revegetation, including planting koala food trees, to be carried out to offset the clearing.

The spokeswoman said a fauna spotting catcher had also been present during clearing.>>

..

Ed:  What chance do Koalas have?

.

[Source:  National Geographic, ^http://natgeotv.com.au/tv/koala-hospital/gallery.aspx]

.

The pergola entrance to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre

..using Old Growth ‘Tasmanian Oak’?

.

^Old Growth?

.

The new Blue Mountains Cultural Centre opened at 30 Parke Street, Katoomba in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney on Saturday 17th November 2012.

The Blue Mountains Cultural Centre is a very large complex for the town of Katoomba and the sparsely populated region.

It features:

• an art gallery
• state-of-the-art library
• an extensive scenic viewing platform towards the Jamison Valley (and World Heritage wilderness beyond)
• seminar room
• multi-purpose workshop
• coffee shop
• gift shop
• meeting rooms
• an interpretative centre for the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

.

It is a “purpose built cultural precinct; a place that simultaneously celebrates our unique sense of place, and allows us to explore what it means to live here, and share those understandings with those who visit our home.”

[Source:  ‘Grand Opening – Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’, (special feature), Blue Mountains Gazette, 20121114, p.2]

.

The Jamison Valley Wilderness

Contains natural stands of giant old growth Turpentines (Syncarpia glomulifera)

and old growth Mountain Blue Gums (Eucalyptus deanei)

.

Planning for the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre commenced way back in 1998 and there was much local community consultation in the planning process including with local Aboriginal people.

The building was commissioned by the local Blue Mountains Council and funded mainly by the New South Wales Government by more than $6 million.  The Cultural Centre was designed by architects Hassell & Scott Carver Architects and built by Richard Crookes Constructions.

The Cultural Centre, now built, is positioned on the top (roof) level of a building which has, in the main, been constructed for a new relocated Coles supermarket and shopping arcade.

Blue Mountains Cultural Centre entrance

.

While the now operational purposes of the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre promise to have considerable merit, there are two notable drawbacks associated with the recent construction of this building, which should not be forgotten to history.

.

1.    The Entrance Pergola appears to be of  ‘Tasmanian Oak‘

.

.

.

A ‘Tassie Oak’ comparison..

Tasmanian Oak in Tasmania

A new ten inch (wide) ‘Tasmanian Oak’ post inside Oatlands’ restored mill, Tasmania

It was probably from local Messmate/Stringybark (Eucalyptus obliqua), treated but not stained

(Photo by Editor, September 2009,  Photo Free in Public Domain)

.

The name ‘Tasmanian Oak‘ was originally used by early European timber workers who believed the eucalypts showed the same strength as English Oak.  When sourced from Tasmania, the wood is called Tasmanian Oak.  When sourced from Victoria, the wood is called ‘Victorian Ash‘ or ‘Mountain Ash‘.

This uniquely Australian hardwood timber is light-coloured, ranging from straw to light reddish brown.  It continues to be used in the building trade for panelling, flooring, furniture, framing, doors, stairs, external structures, joinery, reconstituted board and even as pulp for paper.

As the tallest flowering plant in the world, Eucalyptus regnans grow up to 100 metres tall.  Whereas Eucalyptus delegatensis and Eucalyptus obliqua do not reach these heights; instead reaching about 70m with the tallest trees achieving 90 metres, which is no less considerable.

Read More about >Tasmanian Oak

[Source:  Tasmanian Government, ^http://www.tastimber.tas.gov.au/species/pdfs/A4_ESB_Tasoak.pdf]

.

Nevertheless, all these species comprise timber logged from native old growth forests, not plantations.  Such forests are rare and fast disappearing due to excessive logging practices – their dependent ecosystems, flora and fauna included.

The Pygmy Possum (Genus Cercartetus)

Once prolific, but now threatened across the Blue Mountains heathland escarpment

due to misguided escarpment Government Arson labelled as ‘Hazard Reduction’

To the Rural Fire Service anything natural is phobically deemed to be a ‘hazard’.

[Source: ^http://www.warra.com/warra/research_projects/research_project_WRA116.html]

.

So logging and use of this native old growth timber is unsustainable, despite Australian timber industry certification claims, which are proven dubious.

Tasmanian Oak/Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans)

Its original distribution mainly from Tasmania

To a lesser extent variants come from the high rainfall areas of East Gippsland, Dandenong Ranges to Black Spur Range and the Otway Ranges.

.

A likely justification for the use of Tasmanian Oak for the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’s entrance pergola is that Tasmanian Oak being a strong hardwood timber is load-bearing with few knots.  While steel or another composite material could have been used, it is probable that the Tasmanian Oak was inadertently chosen for its aesthetic appeal, ignoring sustainability criteria.

Tasmanian Oak, like many Australian native hardwood timbers, is durable, termite and borer resistant, and fire resistant which makes its suitable for such an external structure, plus it is readily available and so a comparatively affordable building material.  The timber has few knots because it is sourced from old growth trees, perhaps aged over one hundred years, and so the trunk is very tall and straight between the tree’s base and the branch canopy.

The Blue Mountains are dominated by Eucalypt forests, which contain flammable natural eucalyptus oil. Although the Cultural Centre is wholly within the township of Katoomba some distance from native forests, compliance with the Building Code of Australia would have mandated the building material options for the pergola, including the requirement that the external structure be of fire resistant material.  Since the Cultural Centre is situated within the least risk buffer zone of a designated Bushfire Prone Area, the choice of building material would also have would been mandated under the Australian Standard AS 3959 ‘Construction of Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas’ and with local council’s Blue Mountains Local Environment Plan 2005 – Regulation 86 : ‘Bush fire constructions standards’.

Under AS 3959, the construction of new buildings, the use of timber as an extrenal building material is permitted in the lower risk levels provided the timber species must comply with minimum crierian for Fire Retardant Treated Timber.   The following timber species have been tested and found to meet the required parameters without having to be subjected to fire retardant treatment:

• Blackbutt
• Merbau
• Red Ironbark
• River Red Gum
• Silvertop Ash
• Spotted Gum
• Turpentine

.

[Source:  The Australian Timber Database, ^http://www.timber.net.au/index.php/timber-in-bushfire-prone-areas.html]

.

The above hardwoods are all threatened species and are disappearing fast; all Australian bar Merbau which is being depleted from old growth Indonesian rainforests.

The timber used in the Cultural Centre’s timber pergola is arguably of Tasmanian Oak, which is known variously by the common names Mountain Ash, Victorian Ash, Swamp Gum, or Stringy Gum.

It is a species of Eucalyptus native to southeastern Australia, in Tasmania and Victoria. Historically, it has been known to attain heights over 100 metres (330 ft) and is one of the tallest tree species in the world.  In native forests, the two species (Mountain Ash & Alpine Ash) that are combined to produce Victorian Ash are known to be two of the world’s largest trees, occasionally growing to over 100m in height.

Yet all these Australian native hardwood timbers are increasingly becoming scarcer as they are logged for such fire-resistant application.   

.

The Building Standard for Fire Retardant Treated Timber is driving deforestation of Australian Old Growth Forests.

.

These old growth timbers are the dominant canaopy species for wet eucalypt forests restricted to cool, deep soiled, mostly mountainous areas to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) altitude with high rainfall of over 1,200 millimetres (47 in) per year. The trees grow very quickly, at more than a metre a year, and can reach 65 metres (213 ft) in 50 years, with an average life-span of 400 years.

Eucalyptus regnans is the tallest of all flowering plants, and possibly the tallest of all plants, although no living specimens can make that claim.The tallest measured living specimen, named Centurion, stands 101 metres tall in Tasmania.

Before the discovery of Centurion, the tallest known specimen was Icarus Dream, which was rediscovered in Tasmania in January, 2005 and is 97 metres (318 ft) high. It was first measured by surveyors at 98.8 metres (324 ft) in 1962 but the documentation had been lost.  Sixteen living trees in Tasmania have been reliably measured in excess of 90 metres (300 ft).

Historically, the tallest individual is claimed to be the Ferguson Tree, at 132.6 metres (435 ft), found in the Watts River region of Victoria in 1871 or 1872.

Eucalyptus regnans

(marketed as ‘Tasmanian Oak’)

.

The fallen logs continue supporting a rich variety of life for centuries more on the forest floor.   These restricted mountain ash forests provide vital yet shrinking habitat for many of Australia’s threatened species of fauna.

.

2.  Construction created considerable land fill

.

It was observed throughout the construction phase of the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, that daily large skips of builders waste from the site were loaded alongside in Parke Street.

These commercial skips were consistently yellow in colour and the same size – about six meters long and two meters wide (12 cubic metre capacity).  Typically there were two such skips positioned and loaded with builders’ waste from the construction site each weekday.  This was observed over the course of a year up until August 2012.  They were loaded by bobcat-style machinery with all types of mixed rubbish – concrete, unwanted insulation, scrap metal, rubble, empty cans, you name it.  There was no separation of waste observed for recycling.  It would all have been trucked to landfill – possibly to either the nearby Katoomba or Blaxland waste management facilities, or else off-Mountain somewhere.

Commercial skip used to cart away builders’ waste from the construction site

(Approximate scale)

.

A conservative estimate of the land fill volume generated from the Cultural Centre construction site, which also included the Coles shopping complex, over the course of the year would be 12 cubic metres x 2 skips x 5 days x 42 weeks (generously allowing for 10 non work weeks out of 52) =  over 5,000 cubic metres of land fill!

.

---

.

Cultural Centre’s Green Credentials

.

The above two environmental impacts are far from encouraging for this high profile community-serving 21st Century building, and within a World Heritage Area to boot.

The interpretative concept is one that is meant to inspire locals and visitors alike.  So these two impacts are concerning and perhaps need to be clarified in the public literature produced by the Blue Mountains Council which commissioned the Cultural Centre.

The public impression promoted by the Blue Mountains Council is that the Cultural Centre is a eco-friendly building deserving praise.

<<It has free wi-fi and features a range of green initiatives including double-glazed windows, solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and low-energy LED lights in the gallery.>>

[Source:  ‘Grand Opening – Blue Mountains Cultural Centre’, (special feature), Blue Mountains Gazette, 20121114, p.3]

.

<<The Blue Mountains Cultural Centre has a range of green (building) features that ensure that its impacts on the World Heritage environment is kept to a minimum.

Some of the features include:

• A fully insulated roof, double-brick air cavity walls and double-glazed windows assist to insulate the building.
• Extensive rainwater collection, harvested by the Centre and the Carrington Hotel and stored onsite, in an underground 50,000 litre tank
• On the roof there are 54, 10kW solar panels to reduce the Centre’s reliance on traditional energy sources.

• The ‘green roof’ treats a portion of the Cultural Centre’s water run-off (with the aid of a UV disinfection system) that is then used for irrigation and toilet flushing.
• The Centre is lit with a combination of efficient, long-life lighting sources and lighting zoning to allow separate switching and dimming of areas adjacent to windows.
• The City Art Gallery uses LED lighting technology to significantly reduce power consumption.
• The building orientation itself is designed to provide protection to the open courtyard areas from the prevailing westerly winds and exposure to northern sunlight.

.

With these initiatives in place, the Cultural Centre aims to reduce water consumption by 5.5 million litres each year and reduce energy usage of 1.8 million kWh/year — enough energy to power 246 homes in the region.>>

[Source:  Blue Mountains Cultural Centre website, ^http://bluemountainsculturalcentre.com.au/about-us/history/environmental-design-aspects/]

.

A core part of the Blue Mountains Council’s 25 Year Vision for the Blue Mountains region focussed on ‘Looking After the Environment‘:

<<We value our surrounding bushland and the World Heritage National Park.

Recognising that the Blue Mountains natural environment is dynamic and changing, we look after and enjoy the healthy creeks and waterways, diverse flora and fauna and clean air.

 

Living in harmony with the environment, we care for the ecosystems and habitats that support life in the bush and in our backyards.

 

We conserve energy and the natural resources we use and reduce environmental impacts by living sustainably.>>

.

[Source: ‘Towards a More Sustainable Blue Mountains – A 25 Year Vision for the City, Blue Mountains Council ,2000-2025, ^http://www.sustainablebluemountains.net.au/our-city-vision/city-vision-publications/]

.

Ed:  Such are noble goals however outsourced, but if they are dismissed just as  ^’Greenwashing’  :the community message quicky becomes recognised as hollow spin and then any hard earned credibility risks being quickly lost.

.

Asian Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus)

Wrongly captured, cruelly caged and exploited as Bile bears or battery bears for TCM 

Kept in captivity to harvest bile, a digestive juice produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder.

.

<<When extracted, the bears’ bile is a valuable commodity for sale as an ingredient in so-called ‘Traditional’ Chinese Medicine (TCM).   The bears are also known as moon bears because of the cream-colored crescent moon shape on their chest.

The Asian black bear, the one most commonly used on bear farms, is listed as ‘Vulnerable to Extinction’ on the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN’s) Red List of Threatened Animals. Bear bile collection occurs in China, South Korea, Laos and Vietnam.

Traditional Chinese medicine has been practiced for more than 3,000 years, but the popularity of some TCM cures has helped drive certain species close to extinction, including Tigers and Rhinos.  The use of the term ‘traditional’ connected with Chinese medicine is debatable anyway.  The term ought to be replaced by ‘gullible’.

.

The use of endangered animal parts must be stopped completely.

TCM is immoral wildlife quackery only practiced by backward asians

.

Because of their use in medicines — along with other factors like habitat loss — tigers have almost disappeared, with as few as 5,000 to 7,000 left in the wild. If the use of their bones for TCM continues, the powerful and majestic wild tiger may not be around for future generations. Rhino horn has been used in Chinese medicines for centuries. But now only 3,100 black rhinos survive in Africa. In Asia, the situation is even more dire, with only about 2,800 of all three Asian species combined.

Although many TCM practitioners now reject the use of these and other endangered species, poaching continues. The use of these animals’ parts and products is deeply rooted in traditional East Asian cultures and these ancient practices are slow to change.

The Chinese Medicine Council and Ministry of Health, must therefore condemn the use of endangered animal parts by de-registering any practitioners found to be using them.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Chinese medicine council ban the use of endangered animal parts, ^http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/chinese-medicine-council-ban-the-use-of-endangered-animal-parts]

.

Cruel TCM Bear Bile

A fraud.  It does nothing it is purported claimed to do.

It could be cerebal fluid from a human infant – just as much a placebo, just as immoral.

.

[Source:  ‘Chinese doctors to call for ‘cruel’ bear farms to be closed’, 20110828, by David Harrison, Telegraph, Britain, ^http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8727071/Chinese-doctors-to-call-for-cruel-bear-farms-to-be-closed.html] .

.

.

Traditional Chinese Medicine?

 

The quackery spin:

 

 

 

.

The cruel reality:

.

 

---

.

Poachers of Manta Ray ‘gill rakers’ scam $US251/kg from Chinese

.

Giant Oceanic Manta Ray (Manta birostris) – a free one

[Source:  ^http://www.treehugger.com/ocean-conservation/alibabacom-stops-selling-manta-ray-products.html]

.

The Giant Oceanic Manta Ray (Manta birostris) is listed as ‘Vulnerable to extinction’ by The International Union for the Conservation of Nature due to overfishing.

They are the gentle giants of the ocean, weighing as much as 1400 kilograms. But an emerging market in Chinese (‘traditional’) Medicine for gill rakers is threatening global populations of giant manta rays.

An investigation last year found the main driver of the manta ray’s decline is rapidly increasing demand from Chinese and other markets for gill rakers – thin filaments that rays use to filter food from water – to be dried and boiled as medicines.

The group’s report found gill rakers were fetching on average $US251 a kilogram in Guangzhou in southern China, where 99 per cent of the world’s product is sold. Targeted fishing of rays occurs predominantly in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Peru and China.

.

Gill rakers, extracted from a slaughtered Mobula Ray to cater to backward asians

[Source: ^http://www.tonywublog.com/tag/traditional-chinese-medicine#axzz2D5oERJh9]

.

.

.

How to properly boost the human immune system:

According to the Harvard Medical School:

.

<<Our first line of defense is to choose a healthy lifestyle.

Following general good-health guidelines is the single best step you can take toward keeping your immune system strong and healthy.

Every part of your body, including your immune system, functions better when protected from environmental assaults and bolstered by healthy-living strategies such as these:

.

So why do such backward asians perpetuate the dodgy ‘Gill Raker’ trade’?

.

<<Just in the last fifteen or twenty years we’ve seen a new market opening up for a product from the manta rays, whereas before they were never really fished in significant quantities.

This product is the actual mechanism inside the gills of both manta and mobula rays. This structure of the body is called the gill raker, which is the part of the gill that strains their food out of the water.

Now this gill raker is chopped out of the manta’s body and are then dried and exported to Asia and they are then bought and consumed in a broth with other ingredients. The main ingredient is the gill raker because it’s believed that this has some medicinal properties that can treat a variety of different illnesses.>>

.

Ed: Which is a lot of baloney.

.

Gill rakers filter particles from water, allowing manta rays to feed.

Photo credit:  Guy Stevens

[Source:  ^http://conservationconnections.blogspot.com.au/]

.

Murdoch University manta ray researcher Frazer McGregor said the increasing affluence of the Chinese market was driving demand in animal products and the manta ray had been affected. He said the danger to the species was intensified by its slow rate of reproduction.

Now, amid increasing international efforts to curb the decline, the Australian Government will today protect the species – found predominantly in the tropical waters of northern Australia – under national environment law.

Under the protections, the giant ray will be listed as a migratory species, making it an offence to take, trade, keep, or move the species from Commonwealth waters. Fishers will now also have to report any interactions with a giant manta ray as is the case with other protected species such as dugongs and whale sharks.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said while Australia’s populations of giant manta rays were fairly secure, globally the species’ numbers have declined 30 per cent. Last year, the giant manta ray was listed as threatened under the international Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.

”The giant manta ray is a highly migratory species – with some being known to travel more than 1000 kilometres – and threats often arise outside of protected areas,” Mr Burke said.
”For this reason, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species and our national environment law are an excellent way to achieve international co-operation and co-ordination to better protect the species.’‘>>

.

[Source:  ‘Chinese medicine proves disastrous for manta rays’, by Tom Arup, Sydney Morning Herald, 20121020, ^http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/chinese-medicine-proves-disastrous-for-manta-rays-20121019-27wrg.html]

.

Poaching the Ocean’s Giants

This oceanic manta ray was caught off the coast of New Jersey in 1933.

It measured six metres from wing-tip-to-tip and weighed over 5,000 pounds.

Backward americans then branded them ‘giant devil fish’.

[Source:  Manta Trust (UK), ^http://www.mantatrust.org/about-mantas/mantas-at-a-glance/]

.

Ed:

It is about time that the Australian Government formally outlawed the poaching of all Australian wildlife and outlawed the use or importation of any wildlife or their body parts.

It is also about time that the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia and the  Australian Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine Association Ltd publicly renounce the use of wildlife parts across its entire practice.

.

.

.

Further Reading:

.

[1]   ‘Manta Rays Under Attack – Will CITES Save the Manta?‘, 20121005,  by Shawn Heinrichs, ^http://www.bluespheremedia.com/2012/10/manta-rays-under-attack-will-cites-save-mantas/

The following photos were taken at Raja Ampat Islands, located off the northwest tip of Bird’s Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia’s West Papua province, Raja Ampat.  These photos are copyright of Shawn Heinrichs:

.

.

.

.

[2]  ^MantaRayOfHope.org

.

[3]  ^WildAid.org

.

[4]   ^SharkSavers.org

.

[5]  ^ The Manta Trust

.

[6]  ^Manta Fisheries

.

[7]  ^Gill Raker Trade

.

[8]   Animals Asia, ^http://www.animalsasia.org    Go To:  >Campaigns  > ‘End Bear Bile Farming’

..

[9]   ‘Bear gall bladder uses popular search term illegal activity‘, ^http://www.thirdage.com/news/bear-gall-bladder-uses-popular-search-term-illegal-activity_11-29-2010#ixzz16o2bZTKE

.

[10]   ‘Bear Gall Bladders: Illegal And Ineffectual, But Lead Web Searches‘, 20101130, by Samantha Ellis, Global Animal, ^http://www.globalanimal.org/2010/11/30/bear-gall-bladders-illegal-and-ineffectual-but-leads-internet-searches/25331/
.

<<Bear gall bladders are dominating Internet searches and are widely used in ancient Asian medicines. However, not only is the trafficking and trade of bear organs illegal, but it has been found that the gall bladders have no medicinal purpose.

Why do people continue to slaughter endangered animals – tiger, rhino, bear – for small useless organs, when there is proven, legal medicine available? The world is too small to continue consuming these beautiful animals in the name of cruel tradition.’ For anyone trolling the internet and contemplating the galling act of buying a bear’s gall bladder on the black market, may we suggest going to a doctor to get something that works? Anybody involved in killing one of  the last 3,200 wild tigers for ‘medicine,’ consider for a moment what you are doing to this iconic and disappearing species. And to those foolishly using Rhino horn as an ‘aphrodisiac,’ learn to love Viagra and make everybody, especially the rhino, happy! — Global Animal

Bear Gall Bladder uses is being searched widely on the internet giving the impression that many are curious about the use of this organ. However, trafficking or killing the animals for organ parts is illegal and should be discouraged.

The bear gall bladder has been used typically in ancient Chinese medicine. The bile stored in the bladder is said to cure several ailments and is used in anything from eye drops to pharmaceutical drugs.

The price for these organs ranges from $400 to $600 each. The practice of killing the bears and trafficking in their organs is highly illegal spurring an underground trade in the organs.

“There’s a hot black market for black bears,” Chinese officials say.  “Like the drug trade, this business spawns a seamy underside of big money, international smuggling and murder.  But unlike the drug trade, the illegal goods in this operation travel from west to east.”

Bear gall bladders have no proven medicial qualities.>>

.

A staff member extracts bile from a live bear at a bear farm of Guizhentang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which makes medicine by using bile extracted from live bears, in Hui’an, southeast China’s Fujian Province,Feb. 22, 2012. [Wei Peiquan/Xinhua],

^http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2012-02/28/content_24750491.htm

.

We shoot horses, don’t we?

2012:  An Australian shooting a beautiful, intelligent, strong, healthy horse

..just because humans decided that this horse is unprofitable for human exploitive purposes:

…Horse Racing!

.

Horses exploited for gambling

.

Introducing The Knacker

.

The Knacker is a person in the trade of rendering horses unfit for human consumption, such as horses that can no longer work.   This leads to the slang expression “knackered” meaning very tired, or “ready for the knacker’s yard”, where old horses are slaughtered and made into dog food and glue.

But across Australia, it is not just old horses, but unwanted horses, that are being carted to be slaughtered.

.

Complicit Melbourne Knackeries – worth a peak

(‘Horse Death Camps’  – they arrive not knowing what will become of them, and are slaughtered)

.

1. Laverton Knackery, 88-98 Leakes Road, Laverton, Victoria, 3028
2. Yarra Glen Knackery, 28 Melba Highway,Yering Victoria, 3770
3. Dandenong Knackery, 10 Cahill Street, Dandenong, Victoria, 3175
4. Ballarat Knackery, Finch’s Road, Smythes Creek, Victoria, 3351

.

‘Moral Universalism’  v  ‘Ethical Dilemma’ – ‘Horse Racing’ couldn’t give a…

.

Such primitive and exploitative attitudes toward animals need changing.

‘Putting down‘ a health animal is euphemistic involuntary euthanasia.  But such slaughter is inflicted by humans not just upon horses, but upon the entire animal kingdom.

This is what the Nazi’s did to many humans – supposed ‘subhumans’ were judged unworthy of living because they didn’t suit their standards and purpose.  It was eupemistically called ‘Eugenics‘.

But what is the moral difference between Nazi selective extermination of unwanted humans and the Horse Racing Industry’s selective extermination of unwanted horses?

Humanity’s treatment of animals remains rationalised nazism, and rationalising is so dangerous that it can make a moral person commit immoral and amoral acts.

.

“Your ability to rationalise your own bad deeds makes you believe that the whole world is as amoral as you are.”

~ Douglas Coupland

.

‘Murder’ or ‘being put down’?

Clearly this is a case of ‘Moral Universalism’ – a gross evil wrong and a disturbing image agreed by all humanity. 

It is not a mere ‘Ethical Dilemma’.

Yet 21st Century societies continue to rationalise the exact same treatment of animals as ‘being put down’

and so regarded by the mainstream populous as a mere ‘Ethical Dilemma’.

Complexity is no excuse. 

This is rationalised, reinforced, conditioned and ultimately cultural.

 

.

<<As long as there have been men on the earth, the struggle between man and the subhuman will be the historic rule; the Jewish-led struggle against the mankind, as far back as we can look, is part of  the natural course of life on our planet. One can be convinced with full certainty that this struggle for life and death is just as much a law of nature as is the struggle of an infection to corrupt a healthy body.>>

~ Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, 1935

The year 1935 was only 77 years ago.  Nazi persecutions in Germany were then deliberately and systemically rationalised, reinforced, conditioned and ultimately became cultural across mostly an entire population.

.

Philosophical Quandary:

.

Read about:   ^Moral Universalism

Read about:   ^Ethical Dilemma

.

 Compare the above with:

.

Read about:   ^Moral Absolutism

Read about:   ^Moral Relativism

.

The Horse Racing Industry is exploitative of horses and immoral towards horses.  It engages in horse eugenics, which is immoral.

Horses are intelligent sentient beings.  Barbaric practices belong to past centuries. The 21st Century is an advancement beyond past barbarism.

Moral Sense Test:    If what is allowed to horses ought to be allowed to human children.

The following television programme aired last night (20121114) on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reveals the barbaric truth of the exploitative and murderous operations within the Racing Industry in Australia.  It reveals that many horses are bred for the Racing Industry, but also that many horses are murdered like fodder.

.

The exciting public image of Thoroughbred Racing

.

‘What happens to failed racehorses?”

.

What are you going to do to me?

.

Others profit from gamblers on horse racing

 

.

 

---

 

.

WARNING:    The following material includes morally disturbing images/scenes that are highly inappropriate for children to view. 

These images/scenes are included in this article in the pursuit of challenging the immorality of prevaling 21st Century cultural reality.

.

.

More than 8,000 bred racehorses a year throughout Australia are murdered for dog food

Click image to replay ABC programme:

‘What happens to failed racehorses?’

[Source: ‘What happens to failed racehorses?’, by Guy Stayner (reporter), Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 20121114,

^http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3632985.htm]

.

<<Owning a racehorse is promoted as an easy way to amass fame and fortune, but very few win any money at all let alone return their training costs and/or purchase price.

When a thoroughbred destined for racing is born in Australia, its chances of being a successful racehorse are slim. It is estimated that only 300 out of every 1000 foals produced will ever start in a race.

.

That means of the 18,000 thoroughbred foals born each year in Australia alone, an average of 12,600 will be ruthlessly discarded and mostly end up at “the doggers.”

.

Of the horses that do race, one Australian Study found that approximately 40% earned no money at all and only 13% earned enough money to cover costs.   These figures did not include the initial purchase price. Dr Paul O’Callahan, Chief Veterinary Steward of the Victorian Racing Club states that approximately less than 2% of horses actually earn their keep.>>

.

Breeding

.

While the racing industry argues that many ex-racehorses are sent to stud for breeding, the number of horses involved in breeding has been in steady decline for many years. Since 2000, the number of breeding mares has declined by 12% while stallions have decreased by 30%.  That means that for every horse that is sent to stud, at least one leaves. Nearly all the horses that leave the stud will be killed for dog food.

.

Riding Schools, Private ownership

.

Unfortunately, saving ex-racehorses from euthanasia often condemns them to a worse fate, in a downward spiral of abuse and neglect. Few members of the public have the expertise to care for and handle horses properly, let alone understand how much they eat and how expensive it is to feed even one horse, especially during droughts or where the availability of good quality land for agistment is limited. In these situations a horse may have to be fully handfed. Many horses bought as ‘paddock ornaments’ end up totally neglected and left to starve as a result. Horses sold to riding schools or trail riding clubs can lead a miserable existence of hard work, improper care and insufficient feed.

.

‘But a humane and kind retirement for racehorses in some Elysian field (pagan paradise) is largely an urban myth.’

.

A few lucky ones!

.

There is no doubt there are a few lucky horses that are saved by caring individuals and horse rescue shelters. Unfortunately, the numbers are extremely low due to the expensive costs and the time needed in retraining and maintaining a horse.  An average healthy horse costs in excess of $4,000 per year.

.

The Doggers and Abattoirs

.

In a business where making a profit is extremely difficult, it is vital to discard a horse as soon as possible after deciding it is no longer viable. To facilitate this, many trainers have arrangements with transport contractors, knackeries or abattoirs that pick up horses on demand. The horses are often picked up at discreet times to spare track workers, strappers, trainers and owners from the guilt of this sad reality.

Younger horses will generally be killed for human consumption in one of Australia’s 2 horse abattoirs located in Caboolture, Queensland and Peterborough, South Australia. Older horses generally end up as dog (food).>>

.

For more information: Search Google Terms:  ‘Horse Slaughter‘,  ‘Horsemeat: The Facts‘

.

‘Wastage’ – the ‘bycatch‘ of Horse Racing

.

 

Unwanted Race Horse on Death Row at the Knackery

.

Unwanted Race Horse being murdered at the Knackery

.

Murdered Race Horse at the Knackery

.

[Source:  The Coalition for the Protection of Race Horses – website, ^http://www.horseracingkills.com/the-issues/wastage/]

.

The Media Glamour of Horse Racing

.

Horse Racing is Immoral – no question

Horse Racing breeds, genetically modifies, exploits, then slaughters horses only so that humans can gamble.

Horse Racing is not a sport, just as Cock Fighting and Badger Baiting are clearly not sports.

True Sport is a fair contest involving human physical exertion.

Animal use is not sport but exploitation.

Never bet on a horse race in respect to horses on principle

.

Victorian Racing’s Oak’s Day Fashion

Part of the promotion of race going

…as ethical as wearing fur coats

.

No shortage of profiteers from gamblers on horse racing

.

New Zealand’s Pharlap was poisoned by Americans

Read the True Story:  ^http://www.pharlap.com.au/thestory/

[Copyright © 2012 Equus Marketing Pty. Ltd]

.

Remember what happened to thousands of horses in World War I?

[Source:    Click link to play Movie Trailer >  ^http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lf9HgFAwQ&feature=relmfu]

.

---

.

Further Reading:

.

[1]     Coalition for the Protection of Race Horses

^http://www.horseracingkills.com/

.

[2]    ‘What happens to failed racehorses?‘

Television programme by Guy Stayner (reporter), Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 20121114, ^http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3632985.htm]

.

Programme Transcript:

.

<<LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The Spring Racing Carnival this year has been dogged by claims of corruption and skulduggery, but there’s another ugly underside to the so-called “sport of kings”.   7.30 has obtained video of failed racehorses being shot for pet food, a fate suffered by thousands of horses around the country each year.

Guy Stayner reports, and a warning: this story contains images of horses being put down.

GUY STAYNER, REPORTER: The dust has hardly settled on the Spring Carnival and the images of Green Moon’s Melbourne Cup victory and the Royal presentation will be replayed for decades.

But this is the video the industry would prefer you didn’t see. Horses walking into the killing box for their meeting with the rifleman. This is Cup Week at the knackery.

WARD YOUNG, COALITION FOR THE PROTECTION OF RACEHORSES: The racing industry can’t possibly stand up and say that they love these horses and then the next day when they can no longer earn money on them, send them to the knackery where they will receive a bullet in the head and be killed for dog (food).

GUY STAYNER: The shooting of horses at the Melbourne knackery was secretly filmed by animal activists. Industry insiders estimate 10,000 race horses a year are slaughtered. The majority are used for pet food and horse sales around the country are attended by meat buyers.

At the Echuca sales this month about 100 horses were sold at auction, including failed race horses.

JOHN MOYLE, AUCTIONEER: Lot’s of those horses, contrary to what a lotta people think, actually go to homes and people will test their skills at educating them, breaking them in, using them as a kids’ pony.

GUY STAYNER: The sales can still become a dumping ground for race horses. This obviously injured horse was listed for sale at Pakenham last week.

???: A lot of people just don’t care. Like, they don’t wanna put the money into fixing them.

GUY STAYNER: There were currently about 15,000 thoroughbred foals born every year. The industry calls the number of horses lost to racing each year “wastage”.

Is the so-called issue of wastage a problem for racing?

HUGH WIRTH, RSPCA: A big, big problem and we don’t know how bad it is, but we suspect it’s very bad. We are breeding lots and lots and lots of horses. Some of them fall by the wayside for things that should never happen and that causes wastage.

GUY STAYNER: So is the racing industry breeding too many horses?

HUGH WIRTH: Absolutely.

GUY STAYNER: While the Clydesdale cross can sell for thousands of dollars in the main ring, race horses in the rear saleyards only fetch a couple of hundred.

RACHEL BEATSON, HORSE RIDER: The breeder came up to me and had a chat to me and he said, “She raced a week ago in Wodonga and came 1,400 metres behind last place.” She’s pretty slow. She’s not born to be a race horse.

GUY STAYNER: Not fast, but this horse was very lucky.

RACHEL BEATSON: I knew I had to take her home. She was just gorgeous.

GUY STAYNER: What would’ve happened to this horse if you hadn’t have … ?

RACHEL BEATSON: Dog meat. The dog meat man was bidding against me and I just – I said, “I’m gonna keep going so you might as well stop, buddy.” Yeah.

GUY STAYNER: So what did she cost you?

RACHEL BEATSON: $300. Not much at all.

GUY STAYNER: But finding a new home for a thoroughbred is easier said than done. They cost between $50 and $100 a week to keep and are often difficult to handle.

BILL SAUNDERS, HORSE TRAINER: A lot of horses are quite frazzled by racing and you find that they quite often need two or three months just to sort of come down out of the clouds and eat some grass and generally get used to being a horse again.

GUY STAYNER: Bill Saunders runs a race horse retraining program west of Melbourne. He’s found new homes for 50 former race horses in the past two years.

BILL SAUNDERS: Some of them are quite badly injured or, you know, really difficult in the head in terms of being quite mad, and those horses are probably better off put down. But of the ones that are left, there are many, many that are very suitable riding horses and of course many of them do go out and do exactly that.

GUY STAYNER: While it’s difficult enough to rehome a race horse, about a third never even reach the track.

HUGH WIRTH: Something like 8,500 horses at an early age are excluded from the racing industry. Usually due to injury – mostly due to injury. Mostly due to the fact that they were prepared for racing when they were juveniles and not mature in bone and limb. That’s the big problem for the racing industry.

WARD YOUNG: The racing industry needs to realise that by breeding these animals and by profiting from them while they’re racing and having those sort of benefits, they owe a responsibility to that animal to look after it for its entire life, not just its life while racing.

GUY STAYNER: Racing Victoria admits there is room for improvement and is considering an owners’ levy as part of a new strategic plan on race horse welfare.

BILL SAUNDERS: We have many owners here who’ve actually been prepared to pay money to get their horses retrained in order to give them a good home. Unfortunately it’s not as widespread as I would like it to be.

RACHEL BEATSON: (To horse) We’re gonna be buddies, we’re gonna be buddies.

LEIGH SALES: Guy Stayner reporting. >>

.

[3]    Ban Jumps Racing

^http://banjumpsracing.com/blog/tag/steeplechase-race/

.

[4]    Animal Aid

^http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/horse/

.

[5]     Racing Victoria

^http://www.racingvictoria.net.au/

.

[6]   The Scale of the Horse Meat Issue

^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_meat

.

In 2009, a British agriculture industry website reported the following horse meat production levels in various countries:

Horse meat production levels (2009)

Country	Tons per year
Mexico	78,000
Argentina	57,000
Kazakhstan	55,000
Mongolia	38,000
Kyrgyzstan	25,000
Australia	24,000
Brazil	21,000
Canada	18,000
Poland	18,000
Italy	16,000*
Romania	14,000
Chile	10,000
France	7,500
Uruguay	8,000
Senegal	9,500
Colombia	6,000
Spain	5,000*

* Including donkeys.

[Source:  ‘Argentina-Horse Meat world production figures‘, Farming UK, 20090117, retrieved 20110304]

.

[Ed:  A horse weighs up to about 500kg, so for every 1 ton, two horses were slaughtered; so according to the above statistics in Australia’s case 48,000 horses were slaughtered in 2009 for horse meat.

.

Animal Activists are brave moral champions exposing the immoral barbaric reality of our forebears, and are to be applauded for doing so.]

.

.

Lessons from coal mining destruction of the Appalachian Mountains and its people

2010 West Virginia, United States of America

.

<<Maria Gunnoe is a community member and organizer for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.  Here, she displays the coal dust wiped from Frankie Mooney’s garage in Twilight, West Virginia.  The nearby blasting routinely fills the air with coal dust clouds, which then settle on buildings and turn air filters black. If Massey had its way, Twilight would become the next Lindytown – but Frankie’s property is closest to the company land and his refusal to sell protects the rest of Twilight from destruction.>>

[Source:  ‘Stand with Coalfield Residents at Appalachia Rising‘, by ‘Carolyna’, 20100917, ^http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/carolyna/]

.

‘New report highlights health fears for Hunter Valley’

[New South Wales, Australia]

[Source:  ‘New report highlights health fears for Hunter Valley’, 20121029, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-29/new-report-highlights-health-fears-for-hunter-valley/4338446]

.

A Dickensian Industry

[Source: The 2012 London Olympics, ^http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/london-2012-opening-ceremony-opinion-1176668]

.

<<Health authorities are coming under pressure to properly investigate the health impacts of mining on Australia’s largest coal mining region, in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

It comes after new research showing a link with increased death rates and disease in some other countries.

Sydney University’s Associate Professor Ruth Colagiuri analysed research from 10 countries including the USA and the UK.   She says coal mining communities there had elevated rates of cancer and higher death rates from illnesses such as heart, lung and kidney disease.  Birth defects were also more prevalent.

Deadly Coal Dust

.

Professor Colagiuri:

• There are clear indications of serious health issues associated with coal mining and coal-fired power plants for surrounding communities.  But.. there has been no such research done in the Hunter Valley.
• We have very little in Australia on the health harms at all.  I guess until we have our own studies we don’t know for sure but it would be silly to think that some of the evidence is not applicable here, particularly if it’s not from the countries that are more applicable to Australia, culturally and economically.
• It is time to gather the evidence, so (that) judgments can be made…about whether the harms we’re finding in the international literature do apply to Australia.

.

The Cancer Council’s head Ian Oliver agrees:  “The people who live in these areas need to be aware of whether the same thing applies here,” he said.

Sydney University’s independent research was commissioned by environmental group, Beyond Zero Emissions.

Hunter Valley Coal Train

[Source:  Photo by Vince Wang

^http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11342636-s30.htm]

.

The Chairman of a Hunter Valley health lobby group has described as ‘unconscionable’ the lack of research by both State and Federal Governments into the health impacts of mining.

Dr John Drinan from the Singleton Shire Healthy Environment Group says the latest report just reinforces what Hunter mining communities have been calling for.

“It really is unconscionable that governments have allowed this sort of thing go on for years knowing full well there are implications of coal mining on health,” he said.

“Here we are in the Hunter Valley generating billions of dollars a year for the Government coffers, yet they’ve seen no need to put any effort back into finding out whether this has any deleterious impacts on our health.”

Coal mining in NSW’s Hunter region co-exists with wine growing, racehorse breeding, dairy and other pastoral industries.

[Photo by Jo Schmaltz].

.

‘Research needed into Hunter’s coalmines’

[Source:  ‘Research needed into Hunter’s coalmines’, by Ian Olver, The Herald (newspaper), 20121102, ^http://www.theherald.com.au/story/524537/opinion-research-needed-into-hunters-coalmines/]

.

Cancer Council Australia chief executive, Professor Ian Olver:

<<I did not expect the lecture room at the University of Sydney to be overflowing for the release of a report on the impact of coalmining. But it was.

The group Beyond Zero Emissions had commissioned Ruth Colaguiri’s group at the university to review all the research in Australia and overseas on the effect of coalmining on local communities.  They were particularly worried about the Hunter Valley – and with reason.

.

The population of 700,000 lives in a region that has more than 30 open-cut coalmines and six coal-fired power stations.

.

As I left the launch of the report I fell into step with a person from the area. He told me his village was next to go. An open-cut mine was coming.

Dust clouds the view of the Ulan Mine conveyor belts

(North west of Mudgee, NSW)

.

I asked about compensation, but, more resigned than angry, he told me that he was to receive none. He couldn’t sell, because who would buy with the mine approaching?

A mine worker for years, he would have to stick it out on his few acres growing grapes with an open-cut mine for a neighbour, located within a few kilometres.

The University of Sydney researchers reviewed 38 studies:

.

‘Data from Appalachian coalmining counties in the United States or areas in Nova Scotia, Canada, most nearly paralleled local conditions.  Adults living in coalmining communities had higher rates of lung, heart and kidney disease and lung cancer. Hospitalisations for chronic lung disease increased with the amount of coal mined…’

.

Children had more asthma and higher levels of lead and cadmium in their blood. There was a higher incidence of some birth defects.

It was a similar story for those living near coal-fired power stations, with adults having a higher death rate from cancers of the lung, head, throat, bladder and a higher incidence of skin cancer and children have more breathing difficulties.  They also reported more miscarriages. People living in these areas score lower on assessments of their quality of life.

Why would these illnesses occur?

Each stage of coal production – mining, transport, washing, burning the coal and disposing of the waste products – releases particles into the environment that have the potential to cause harm if the level of exposure is high and prolonged.  Burning coal makes a contribution to greenhouse gases.  Waste products including heavy metals have the potential to contaminate the water supply.

So what about in the Hunter Valley? Are the same health problems reported there?

We don’t know. The detailed research needed has not been done.  The main thrust of the report is that we need to collect evidence so the extent of the health impact is known. Anecdotes are not sufficient. But the overseas studies give us a strong reason to push for local studies.

What we do know is that 16% of the Upper Hunter Valley consists of open cut coalmines and massive expansion is planned.  It is only recently that the NSW Government has set up a network of stations to monitor particle pollution of the air.  To be most valuable they will need to report each occasion when particle levels exceed acceptable limits and how frequently, rather than averages.

The report went further than documenting the health and environmental impacts of living near coalmines and coal-fired power stations. It also documented the adverse social impact on the surrounding communities.

This time there were studies from the Hunter Valley.

.

‘There is an injustice if people do not know the potential extent of the environmental damage, poor air and water quality and how it may damage their health.’

.

However, we need to know details about the levels of exposure to pollutants from mining in the Hunter and whether they are causing an increase in illness before we can ask the governments or the  industry to increase protection.  Communities become distressed by being disempowered and not being able to influence the changes that are reducing their living standards, and influencing their access to natural resources.

There is no doubt about the need for power production, but this needs to be balanced against harms to local communities. Diseases such as lung cancer are difficult to treat and we must seize upon any opportunity for prevention.  Individual stories may raise awareness, but advocacy for change must be based on solid evidence and we must do the Australian research into the health impacts of coalmining on local communities to help us achieve a just balance.>>

.

Black Lung – centuries change but Coal Dust doesn’t

<<‘Black Lung’ is a legal term describing a preventable, occupational lung disease that is contracted by prolonged breathing of Coal Mine Dust. Described by a variety of names, including:

• Miner’s Asthma
• Silicosis
• Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis
• Black Lung

.

.. all are all dust diseases with the same symptoms.

.

Like all occupational diseases, black lung is man-made and can be prevented. In fact, the U.S. Congress ordered Black Lung to be eradicated from the coal industry in 1969. Today, it is estimated that 1500 former coal miners each year die an agonizing death in often isolated rural communities, away from the spotlight of publicity.>>

[Source: United Mine Workers of America,^http://www.umwa.org/?q=content/black-lung]

.

Protesters on horseback take to the streets in November 2009 to voice concerns over the proposed Bickham coal mine (Hunter Valley)

Friends of the Earth Sydney congratulates Pages River and Tributaries Water Users Association and Rivers SoS Alliance in their successful campaign to stop the proposed Bickham open-cut coal mine and save the Pages River (near Scone in the NSW Hunter Valley).
[Source:  Friends of the Earth Sydney,

^http://www.sydney.foe.org.au/news/nsw-government-rejects-coal-mine-first-time-ever]

.

‘Coal industry thriving, but at what social and health cost?’

[Source:  ‘Coal industry thriving, but at what social and health cost?’,  by Ruth Colagiuri, Emily Morrice, The Conversation, 20121102, ^http://theconversation.edu.au/coal-industry-thriving-but-at-what-social-and-health-cost-9266]

.

<<If you believe industry propaganda, coal mining is a panacea not only for economic ills but also for smoothing troubled social waters. But a lack of local evidence about the health impact of the coal industry should give us all cause for thought.

With the highest density of coal mining activity close to towns and farms in Australia (well over 30 operating mines and six active coal-fired power stations, and the largest black coal exporting port in the world), many Hunter Valley residents remain unconvinced. Less than a two-hour drive north of Sydney, in one of the largest, most fertile, beautiful river valley systems in Australia, the Hunter region’s long tradition of coal mining has co-existed for many decades in balance with wine growing, racehorse breeding, dairy and other pastoral industries.

But the seemingly indiscriminate granting of mining licences by the previous state government (and little abatement likely under the current government) has put a major strain on relations between the mining industry, other local industries and the citizenry.

This is unsurprising considering inequities such as water rights favouring the coal industry over local farmers, the removal of local government input from the coal mine licensing process, and concerns about the transgenerational effects of irreparable environmental damage.

And then there’s health. Ongoing concerns and myriad anecdotal reports of serious health impacts have been expressed by both local communities and health professionals, and echoed by organisations such as Doctors for the Environment. But there’s virtually no hard evidence in the peer-reviewed literature to confirm or deny the negative health impacts on communities near coal mines or coal-fired power stations in Australia.

Such evidence is available in other countries and is summarised in a new independent report that cites 50 articles exploring the health and social harms of coal on community health from 13 countries. And it’s not pretty.

.

Health and Social Harms of Coal Mining in Local Communities:

.

Spotlight on the Hunter Region cites excess deaths from lung cancer, chronic heart, respiratory and kidney disease related to living near coal mines. The evidence is mostly from the United States and often features a dose-response effect related to coal quantity or surface area of the mine. Other effects include high blood levels of heavy metals in children, and higher rates of birth defects.

Living near coal combusting power plants is associated with excess death – in this case from lung, laryngeal and bladder cancer. Respiratory complaints, increases in non-melanoma skin cancers, still births and miscarriages are also reported.

So how alarmed should Australians be? The problem is we don’t really know. Mining methods, practices and regulatory controls vary across countries and may account for some of the reported health effects. As may factors such as difficulties in accurately measuring exposures to toxins and particulate matter in air pollution.

Despite these limitations, it would be irresponsible to ignore the possibility that some of the effects demonstrated in similar countries are likely to apply here.

The lack of local evidence in itself is alarming – particularly at a time when NSW Health is believed to be investigating a cancer cluster in the Illawarra mining region of the state. Six children living in close proximity are said to have developed either leukaemia or a lymphoma in the past five years.

A report by the Australia Institute and many other technical reports on the coal industry point out that externalities are rarely included in cost estimates of the benefits and harms of coal extraction and combustion. These factors include environmental damage, social costs such as tax subsidies to the industry (of up to $10 billion annually) and health harms estimated by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering(ATSE) at $2.6bn annually.

Nonetheless, major developments in the coal mining industry are underway. Massive expansion of the port of Newcastle – already the world’s biggest black coal exporting port – is in planning stages. Commonly referred to as the “T4” Project, Port Waratah Coal Services propose expanding their Kooragang terminal in Newcastle in order to increase coal exports by up to 120 million tonnes a year.

CNA Coal, Muswellbrook

Hunter Valley

.

Further coal port expansions are also planned by North Queensland’s Bulk Ports Corporation’s at Dudgeon Point, south of Mackay, and Rey Resources are planning their “Duchess Paradise” coal mine, which lies on a coal reserve estimated at 500 million tonnes near the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley, Western Australia.

But we have a glaring absence of local evidence to determine what impacts these projects will have on the health of surrounding communities. Surely such evidence should play a role in policy and planning of the expansion of Australia’s coal industry. It would also help us, as a society, to make up our minds about what we value more – money or our people and the planet that sustains us.>>

.

.

‘Coal is killing Australia’, new book reveals’

[Source:  ‘Coal is killing Australia’, new book reveals’, By Christa Schwoebel, 20120527, ^http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51154]

.

‘Rich Land, Wasteland’
book  by Sharyn Munro
Exisle Publishing & Pan Macmillan
453 pages, pb, $29.99

^http://www.exislepublishing.com.au/Rich-Land-Wasteland.html

.

<<When a coalmine starts up near a township, a village or a farm it is to be expected that lives will change.

Indeed change is often promised and welcomed ― more Jobs, more money flowing into the community, better roads and services. In short, progress is promised.

The reality, however, is that not only do the benefits not evolve as the mines begin their operations, they destroy the land, pollute the water and air, erode people’s physical and emotional health and rip up the social fabric.

The media lead us to believe that Australia’s wellbeing depends on the mining sector. The more minerals that are exported, the healthier the Australian economy is and the better off we are.  But such stories hide the real impacts of mining from most Australians.

Sharyn Munro puts aside “the diversionary cloud of spin” and tells the real story of coal mining. A resident of the upper Hunter who saw the coal mines taking over vast tracts of that valley, she spent a year travelling to the different parts of Australia where coalmining is destroying communities, livelihoods and ecosystems.

She found that “coal is killing Australia”.

Meeting victims of the industry in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, in WA and Tasmania, she records their stories. In Rich Land, Wasteland, she lets them tell their side of the story.

They tell us that there is “a war taking place in Australia”. It is an invasion where “the invaders are mostly foreign or multinational”. It looks like the second invasion of the continent.

The victims of this war, the people harassed and displaced by the mines, are fighting the invasion and mostly they have been fighting alone. They live in smaller communities or on the land, isolated from neighbours by distance and by the mines’ strategies of divide and take over.

All are deeply shocked by the lack of support from the governments and the legal system.

With their health, properties and livelihoods on the line, they try to stand up against the wealthy opponents.

The “warring sides are more unevenly matched than any David and Goliath cliche can convey”, the book says. Most of them have taken the fight up reluctantly. But if they are not despairing early on, they get increasingly incensed by the injustice they experience.

All are disillusioned, if not deeply depressed, by the failure of democratic processes.

Occasionally, they win a small concession ― only to be wiped out again by the mining companies’ blatant disregard of the conditions placed on their operations or by changed government regulations.

Where the invasion has been beaten off, as in the Margret River region in WA, the attackers regroup a short distance away, where they hope resistance will be weaker.

Each of the individual stories Munro presents is underpinned with meticulously researched facts and figures. Judiciously inserted at relevant points, these expand the anecdotal evidence into a systematic documentation of the true impact of coalmining.

In some sections, the seemingly obvious becomes a revelation.

.

Take the impact of dust:

.

From the blasting and machinery working in open cut mines, to vast piles of overburdened, uncovered coal trains up to two kilometres-long on their way to the ports and fly-ash from the coal power stations, it negatively affects the health of people, animals and plants.

The dust consists of smaller and larger particles of lead, arsenic and mercury, which are inhaled and ingested by animals and humans. Its role in higher rates of health problems such as asthma have been proven, yet the government does not act.

Contrary to the findings and advice of medical experts, governments assures residents they have nothing to fear. In 2010, the Independent Review of Cumulative Impacts on Camberwell (Hunter) “dismissed fears mines are making people sick”.

The report advised people to stay inside, close doors and wear masks, put on air-conditioners and seek medical advice.

.

Conditions placed on mining operations, such as to reduce dust, are hardly ever monitored ― except by the mining companies themselves. Their results never surprise.

There are many more, widely varied aspects to this war. These include issues such as ownership of mines and who benefits, the fast and huge expansions of coal mining as well as coal seam gas exploration and extraction, collusion of mine operators and government agencies, strategies applied to move people out of the way of mines, the impact of the predominantly male fly-in-fly-out workforce, higher road traffic, new exclusive rail lines and shipping in the Great Barrier Reef.

Everywhere there is environmental destruction, a lack of ― indeed the impossibility of ― site rehabilitation, and water depletion and water contamination. Everywhere, it poses the question: how can this happen in a democratic country such as Australia?

With so many details, an index would help reading and following up on some facts. The subheadings to the chapters that list locations help only to a point. I would have liked a list of acronyms and some maps.

However, when turning to the internet to look for the locations, I found that satellite maps gave extra insights into the vast onslaught of coal mines on the country.

Reading this book, veil after veil is lifted, revealing the reality of Australia today. It could be a deeply depressing book, if it weren’t for the encounters with many individuals who are standing up and speaking out.

As one says, “you must fight or nothing happens”. Munro encourages the readers to add their voices, stop the plunder and “speak up for the smart, sustainable and humane Australia we could be instead” ― the country worth fighting for.>>

.

Government vested interest in Coal Mining

‘In 2008-09 the royalty revenue generated by the NSW minerals sector was $1.28 billion, with coal accounting for approximately 95% of the total.’

[Source:  New South Wales Government, Division of Resources and Energy – Minerals and Petroleum,

^http://www.resources.nsw.gov.au/resources/royalty, website accessed 20121111]

.

‘Hunter coal mine fined for dust emissions‘

[Source:  ‘Hunter coal mine fined for dust emissions’, by Cole Latimer, Safe To Work, 20120524, ^http://www.safetowork.com.au/news/hunter-coal-mine-fined-for-excessive-dust]

.

<<Rio Tinto’s Mt Thorley Warkworth coal mine has been fined by the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure after failing to minimise dust emissions.

A (paltry) $3000 fine was issued after an investigation into “significant dust emissions from the Mt Thorley Warkworth mine on Sunday 13 May,” the Department says.

The miner has been warned that “further breaches for dust emissions are likely to attract stronger enforcement action by the Department, including the potential for criminal proceedings in the Land and Environment Court”.

In January the mine came under fire for the placement of its water fill points, which reduced the effectiveness of the water cart fleet and its dust reduction activities.

Rio stated that this issue had been identified in 2010, and it had since secured funding to solve the problem, with the initial two fill points commissioned in December 2011, and the remaining three in February.

These new fill points are predicted to cut fill times by up to 15 minutes, while the storage capacity of each point has also been increased to enable continuous refills.

Rio stated that an early warning system for faults had been installed as well as automatic cut off.

It also received a number of noise complaints in January, accounting for 85% of submitted complaints.

According to the Department, breezes and low cloud cover contributed to noise transfer from the mines.

The Department’s executive director for major development assessment, Chris Wilson, said the mine has now failed to minimise offsite dust emissions and had not suspended or modified operations.

“Both the Upper Hunter Air Quality Network and the mine’s own real-time air quality monitor showed a spike in dust levels above the permitted 24 hour average,” Wilson said.  “Our investigations have indicated that the mine’s air quality and dust mitigation measures required under the mine’s planning approval, were not adequate on that day.”

While the complaints occurred over a weekend, an officer from the nearby Singleton compliance unit was able to immediately attend the mine; Wilson adding that “the compliance officer observed that the mine was continuing to operate a dragline and excavator, despite dust being generated.

“These activities should have been suspended by the mine in the windy conditions.”

Under its existing operating approvals, the mine has to ‘implement best management practice to minimise odour, fume, and dust emissions’.

“This includes commitments by the mine to minimise wind-blown and traffic generated dust from coal handling and coal stockpiles, using water sprays on coal stockpiles to reduce airborne dust and using water trucks to minimise dust on roads.  “The inspection found these commitments were not being complied with on 13 May,” Wilson said.

“Consequently large volumes of dust from mining operations flowed across the Putty road and the dust was also visible from the Golden Highway,” he added.  “The decision to issue a penalty notice to the mine follows two previous warning letters last year in relation to dust.”>>

.

.

‘Foreign investors sow deep roots in food bowl’

[Source:  ‘Foreign investors sow deep roots in food bowl’, by Leonie Lamont, Sydney Morning Herald (newspaper), 20110730, ^http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/foreign-investors-sow-deep-roots-in-food-bowl-20110729-1i4ar.html]

 

Sour taste … Ruby Marshall (age 12), and her sister April (age 11)

Display an anti-mining sign at their lemon stall in the former farming village of Wollar

(Photo  by Peter Rae)

.

<<Mining and energy companies have bought more than 35,000 hectares of rural land in NSW in the past year, in a scramble with foreign investors in agriculture to snap up prime sites.

A Herald review of land sales found the mining interest was focused on a swath of rural land extending from the Upper Hunter through the rich Liverpool Plains to Narrabri. Mining companies spent more than $85 million buying 27,500 hectares in this area – nearly 80 per cent of the total bought.

Community agitation about the collision of farming and mining interests has risen with miners’ purchases including $14 million paid by Coalworks for Kurrumbede, the family property of poet Dorothea Mackellar, near Gunnedah.

The miners’ outlay of $113 million is challenging overseas investment in agriculture, which amounted to $125 million in the past year, buying 225,000 hectares. Despite the soaring dollar, Australia’s openness to foreign investment has made it an attractive destination for miners as well as investors and sovereign wealth funds seeking to exploit the growing demand for agricultural produce.

Chris Meares, a land agent and rural property expert, said over the past year the main ”buying power” had been institutions, corporates and mining companies – many foreign-owned.

”In the last two years, credit has got very difficult to obtain in Australia,” he said. ”Initially [after the global financial crisis] the overseas investors said the dollar was too high, but then they saw some very good investment opportunities sitting there. Commodity prices were strong and there was little opposition from Australian investors, so they could come in and buy assets globally at very cheap rates. That’s what’s happened.”

The mining boom in NSW is underpinned by prices for thermal and coking coal, which have jumped almost 60 per cent over the past five years. Export prices for liquefied natural gas – which are driving the coal seam gas boom in Queensland and NSW – have risen 36 per cent in five years and are still rising.

Mining companies said it was wrong to assume the sales meant the land was excised from agricultural use. Aston Resources said its 2800 hectares near Tamworth, which it bought for $4 million, would not be mined as it was an environmental offset – high value native trees and grassland next to the Mount Kaputar National Park, and cleared grazing land that would be leased to the original farming owner.

But Bruce Marshall, who moved to the former farming village of Wollar 20 years ago, said expansion by the mining giant Peabody Energy there had ”split the community”. Anti-mining signs adorn his fence and the fresh lemon stall run by his daughters April, 11, and Ruby, 12, beside the road to the mine site2.

This month, the NSW government set new environmental and consultative conditions for miners and extractors.

The NSW Minister for Resources and Energy, Chris Hartcher, said there had been a ”changed paradigm” that people had to acknowledge but residents and mining companies needed to know what the rules were.

”If it is essential to protect water or Prime Agricultural Land. We will not shy away from making the decision it is inappropriate [to mine] in these areas.”

The Herald used RP Data, a property information system, to review sales of more than 250 hectares during the past year. The review did not cover purchases by individuals – typically farming families – and small companies associated with them.

The biggest mining spender was Shenhua Watermark, majority owned by the Chinese government, which spent $26.5 million on 2700 hectares in the Gunnedah area. It has spent more than $200 million acquiring land for its planned $1.7 billion open-cut coal mining operation.>>

.

‘Cancer concern for people surrounded by coal mines’

[Source: ‘Cancer concern for people surrounded by coal mines’, by Richard Noone, The Daily Telegraph, 20121030, ^http://www.news.com.au/national/cancer-concern-for-people-surrounded-by-coal-mines/story-fndo4bst-1226505615788]

.Jason and Belinda Passlow with children Harrison, Lachlan and William in Bulga (Hunter Valley)

(Photo by Waide Maguire, The Daily Telegraph)

.

<<People surrounded by coal mines in the Hunter Valley could be at more risk of cancer, heart, lung and kidney disease and birth defects.

A new report has found serious illnesses were rife in communities near mines overseas.  The report calls for an urgent health impact study in the Hunter after analysis of 50 peer-reviewed research papers from 10 countries, including the US, the UK and China, found a wide range of adverse health effects in those living close to mines.

Lead author, Sydney University associate professor Ruth Colagiuri, said similar studies in Australia’s largest coal mining region were needed “so governments and community can make informed decisions and develop policies to minimise health harms”.

The study – Health and Social Harms of Mining in Local Communities: Spotlight on the Hunter Region – was commissioned by Beyond Zero Emissions. “With plans for 30 new or bigger coal mines, an independent authority is urgently needed to monitor emissions in the region and for an in-depth health study to take place,” BZE spokesman Mark Ogge said.

Mother-of-four Belinda Passlow said her two eldest children, Eleanor, 14, and Lachlan, 10, developed asthma after moving to Bulga, a village near four open cut mines in the Upper Hunter. She said they were forced “like most people around here” to put up with constant dust.>>

.

‘Stand with Coalfield Residents at Appalachia Rising (USA)’

[Source: ‘Stand with Coalfield Residents at Appalachia Rising’, by ‘Carolyna’, Greenpeace (USA), 20100917, ^http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/carolyna/]

.

Appalachia Rising is three days of coalfield residents and activists from across the country standing together for an end to Mountain Top Removal (MTR), an extremely destructive form of mining where the tops of mountains are blown off to extract the coal seams below.

I saw firsthand the effects of MTR on Appalachian communities while visiting Rock Creek, West Virginia (USA) this past January.  Below is a selection of photos that my friend, Phoebe Neel, and I shot while bearing witness to the destruction.

Goals Coal Plant in WV, owned by Massey Energy

.

This behemoth of a complex owned by Massey Energy contains the Goals Coal Processing Plant.

Above it, sits the Shumate Coal Sludge Impoundment Pond, which contains 2.8 billion gallons of toxic coal waste.  Beyond that is the Edwight Mountain Top Removal site, whose blasting puts the dam at risk of failing.

Also out of the picture is Marsh Fork Elementary, which would be wiped out if such a failure were to occur.  Thankfully, the community won a six year fight this past April to build a new school, which will break ground next year.

Just realized that most of my description was for what is NOT shown in this photo.  It says something when you need to be that high up to see the extent of the problem.

.

Massey Energy Notice

(Photo by Phoebe Neel)

.

A ‘No Trespassing’ notice from Massey Energy in the rubble of a demolished house.  Massey bought out the residents of Lindytown, West Virginia (USA) one by one so the company could level the town and expand the mountaintop removal site that borders it.  Saying the residents had a choice in the matter is a farce – with the noise, dust, and polluted well water that comes with MTR, you trade your health for your home.

.

Demolished home in Twilight, West Virginia

.

This is a wider shot of Lindytown, which shows three homes that have been bulldozed.  Surveying the scene, I remember thinking that it could’ve been the site of a natural disaster – a storm that had decimated the neighborhood.  However, this was caused by man and was just a precursor to the much wider destruction of themining to come.  Nothing would be rebuilt; those concrete steps would always lead to nowhere.

The next two photos should be looked at as a pair.

 

Bee Tree site

(Photo by Phoebe Neel)

.

This one is of the Bee Tree site in Pettus, West Virginia (USA) and the huge earth-moving machines that are used to extract the exposed coal.  The striking thing about this for me is that all the rubble is refered to as “fill,” which companies like Massey dump into neighboring valleys, burying streams and polluting drinking water.

.

Brushy Fork Impoundment

(Photo by Phoebe Neel)

.

This last photo is of the Brushy Fork Impoundment, which at 8.2 billion gallons, holds much more coal waste than the Shumate Impoundment.  However, it has one important thing in common – it’s also located close to an MTR site, where blasting can affect its structural integrity.  It lies less than half a mile away from the Bee Tree site.  Marfork Coal, a subsidary of Massey Energy, estimates a dam failure could cause a wave of coal sludge as high at 72 ft.

This is just a small selection of what I witnessed in West Virginia.  And when you come to DC for Appalachia Rising, you won’t see any of these scarred landscapes.  But what you will see are more people like Maria Gunnoe – people who refuse to give up and instead are rising up.

.

Coal Bin Flag

. Coal Dust Victim

.

[Source: ^http://residencehill.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/coal-bin-flag.html]

.

‘Devil’s Dust’ – past decades of asbestos fibre exposure are being repeated with coal dust exposure

..it’s just that the law hasn’t caught up yet.

.

(Click image to enlarge)

.

<<An outstanding photographic exhibition from Tasmania’s elite landscape photographers, showcasing our beautiful island home.

The artists that feature in this exhibition all have different styles of work and between them manage to capture the raw beauty of Tasmania.  With over 45 years experience trekking around in the wild places most people never get the chance to see these, artists will reignite your love of this place and remind you that Tasmania is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  There is something for everyone in powerful landscapes to incredibly delicate and intricate macro photographs.  Their passionate love for Tasmania and their desire to conserve and protect it for future generations’ shines through in the breathtaking pieces featured in this exhibition.  Hailed as being the exhibition of the year, this is not to be missed.>>

..A FREE EVENT

.

Long Gallery

Salamanca Arts Centre

77 Salamanca Place, Hobart, Tasmania

^http://www.sac.org.au/events/wild-tasmania/

.

‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but having new eyes’

~ Marcel Proust, French novelist

.

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

Click image to enlarge

Inscribed on the asset register of World Heritage sites in 1994…but how much has been wiped out by October’s bushfires?

[Photo Source:  New South Wales Government,

^http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/oxley-wild-rivers-national-park/travel-info]

.

Location of Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

Click image to enlarge – note the patchy dark green of  remnant forests

[Source:  Satellite Map – Google Maps]

.

The ‘Macleay River’ Bushfire  (Oct 2012)

.

Macleay River Bushfire October 2012

– left to burn for a week from 12th Oct 2012 because not a threat to private property

..then the wind picked up…unbelievable!

.

Over the past month, a single contiguous area covering some 60,000 hectares of vegetation has been left to burn by bushfire.  That equates to 600 km2 or roughly 25km x 25km.

Much of what has been burned is/was of World Heritage values within the included Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.  This is unacceptable custodial neglect.

If this was Sydney, this is the black boxed area that would have been incinerated:Putting this 60,000ha bushfire into a Sydney urban perspective

Professional urban fire fighting would not allow 60,000 hectares of private property and human lives to burn

– such would historically dwarf the Great Fire of London.

.

The Rural Fire Service has labelled the bushfire the ‘Macleay River Fire‘.  But it began as two separate bushfires on or before 12 October, nearly a month prior.  One was then labelled ‘Georges Junction Fire‘ and the other ‘Freds Creek Fire‘, both purportedly ignited by bush arsonist(s).  Seven days later, the Georges Junction Fire has burnt an estimated 8,931 ha, while the then much smaller Freds Creek Fire had burnt 1,688 ha.  By the time the combined bushfire was extinguished 60,000 hectares had been burned, much within the World Heritage Area..

This is yet another classic case of bushfire neglect primarily by the delegated custodians of the National Park and World Heritage Area – the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.  Is this due to chronic lack of resourcing; and/or symptomatic of a disturbing rationalist culture that believes that burning Australian vegetation, even ancient rainforest, could be somehow beneficial to biodiversity.

Remote ignitions go undetected, then unsuppressed, until many days later, bushfire weather conditions worsen and the fires get out of control, combine and destroy vast areas of important Nationl Park and World Heritage. 

This 2012 Macleay River Fire is like the ‘2006 Grose Valley Fires‘ of the Blue Mountains repeated to script.

.

Read our article:   >‘2006 Grose Valley Fires – any lessons learnt?’

.

The Australian Government continues to be ultimately culpable for gross neglect in failing to protect its custodial listed natural heritage.

The Rural Fire Service has learnt to avoid accusatioins of incompetence by routinely removing timely records on its websites about the operational response in the days at the start of the ignitions.   Details about the timings of ignition detection and initial suppression are deliberately withheld from the public.

The following bushfire updates are mainly from second-hand news media.   A notable recurring theme across these news reports is that the media interest and the target of the fire fighting effort, just like in urban fire fighting, is to save humans lives and property. This is not a bad thing, but the glaring omission is the lack of interest in suppressing the bushfire in the National Park and World Heritage.

The Rural Fire Service policy and operational strategy is such that if human lives and properrty are not directly threatened by bushfire, then a bushfire is allowed to continue burning, irrespective of whether it is burning through National Park or World Heritage.  Since the Rural Fire Service has the same terms of reference as the professionaly paid New South Wales Fire Brigade, then they are essentially doing the same urban job.

The only reason the Rural Fire Service exists in less populated rural areas instead of the professionaly paid New South Wales Fire Brigade, is traditionally so that the Australian Government and New South Wales Government can save money by relying on unpaid, under-resourced volunteers.  Yet the environment in rural fire fighters work in is inherently more dangerous, demanding and in need of sophisticated resources for military-speed detection and suppressions of bushfires.

.

21 Oct:   Bushfire Update

.

‘Blazes burn out of control: Permits suspended as hot, dry weather hits North West’

[Source: ”Blazes burn out of control: Permits suspended as hot, dry weather hits North West”, by Wendy Spooner, Northern Leader (regional newspaper), 20121021, ^http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/411057/blazes-burn-out-of-control-permits-suspended-as-hot-dry-weather-hits-north-west/]

.

Satellite infrared image of the fire called Georges Junction inside the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

Having already burnt out a massive 14,000 hectares and is likely to join up with the Freds Creek fire.

The active edge of the fire shows up bright yellow; the red areas are the burnt areas.

(Photo by New England RFS)

.

<<Two massive bushfires in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park were basically running unchecked yesterday because of adverse firefighting conditions, incident controller for the New England bushfire emergency, Allyn Purkiss, said.

Mr Purkiss said the two Section 44-declared fires one named Freds Creek and the other Georges Junction were likely to join up yesterday and burn out a total of 30,000 hectares in the coming weeks.

“They took a big run under strong winds (on Saturday)..The fires had started after landholder burns had got away”, Mr Purkiss said.

..The fire named Freds Creek, which started on October 12, had burnt out 3,189 hectares and was crowning at 4am yesterday, with flames jumping from treetop to treetop.

“It means it’s very uncontrollable very dangerous conditions,” Mr Purkiss said yesterday.

The RFS had been unable to aerial-bomb the fires because of gusty winds.  Mr Purkiss described it as “nigh-on impossible” to water-bomb in those conditions.
Instead, RFS volunteers had concentrated on saving property.   He said it was hard to tell how many homes and remote-area shacks might be affected.

“We’re still trying to come to terms with that. We could have up to 50 in the area: there are shacks all through this country,” he said.

Mr Purkiss said the other fire, Georges Junction, had already burnt out 14,000 hectares.   (Ed: Same as the 2006 Grose Valley Fires).

He said conditions in the New England RFS zone were “fairly similar” to strong, gusty winds on Saturday.  “The forecast is for 50km/h winds by late afternoon,” Mr Purkiss said.

No homes had been lost in either fire yet.  “None that we know of,” he said.  The RFS was doing a “fairly extensive reconnaissance of the area”, he said.

Three other fires one about 40km east of Guyra, one near Walcha and one near Ebor had also started since Friday.

The Guyra fire, which started on Saturday, was located in the Mt Mulligan/Wards Mistake area.

Locals had alerted the RFS to the fire, which was in “very remote country … it’s difficult to get to no roads, no trails”, Mr Purkiss said.

“I’ve tasked an aircraft to get out there today and map it and give us some intel (intelligence),” he said..

“No properties were under threat: it was burning in scrub.“

.

Mr Purkiss said he was “not sure” how much land had been burnt out he would have to wait for information provided by the aircraft crew.

The Walcha fire, called Panhandle and in the Enfield State Forest, had burnt out five hectares by the time it was contained by mid-afternoon on Saturday.

The Ebor-area fire was located “in an area we can’t get to”, Mr Purkiss said.  “We’re flying to map it today,” he said yesterday.

It had also burnt out five hectares.

“Local landholders and Ebor RFS assisted in containing it,” he said.

Mr Purkiss said the New England RFS zone was unlikely to lift its suspension of fire permits today.

“While ever we have a bushfire emergency like this going, all permits are suspended we’re already dealing with enough fires, so we don’t need any more mistakes giving us grief than we already have,” he said.

Mr Purkiss said this season had already started to play out differently compared to the past three years.

In the past three fire seasons, rain had usually come along and helped extinguish any fires but this season was different, with many more periods of extended dry weather.

“In talking to the local staff, they say that this (Georges Junction) is the largest fire they have had since 2009,” Mr Purkiss said.  “We’re working hard to get it done.  We thank the volunteers and employers for allowing us to fight these very large fires.”>>

.

22 Oct:   Bushfire Update

.

‘Macleay River fire threatens homes’

[Source:  ‘Macleay River fire threatens homes’, by Victoria Nugent, The Armidale Express (regional newspaper), 20121022, ^http://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/410559/macleay-river-fire-threatens-homes/?cs=469]

.Properties between Georges Junction and Five Day Creek were at threat from fire yesterday

(Photo: The Armidale Express)

.

<<Fire continues to threaten properties near Oxley Wild Rivers National Park after two blazes combined yesterday.

The Macleay River bushfire had already burnt about 20,000 hectares early yesterday afternoon as more than 30 firefighters battled the out of control blaze, NSW Rural Fire Service spokeswoman Bridie O’Connor said.

The inferno may have posed a threat to properties between Georges Junction and Five Day Creek, particularly on the Carrai and Fitzroy Tablelands and on the Macleay River in the vicinity of Lower Creek and Comara, Ms O’Connor said early yesterday afternoon.

“We’re looking at a minimum of six hours before some properties might be affected,” she said.   “People should expect to see smoke and fire and be alert.”

Hot and windy conditions over the weekend (20th and 21st) saw the fires at Georges Junction and Freds Creek combine.

The Georges Junction fire, near Cochrane State Forest, which started on October  12 had burnt more than 14,859 hectares and was still burning out of control when it met with the Freds Creek fire early yesterday afternoon.  The fire at Freds Creek was being controlled yesterday afternoon after three State Forest groups joined the NSW Rural Fire Service to use bulldozers to create fire breaks earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, the Armidale to Kempsey Road between Waterfall Way and Bellbrook was closed on Saturday and Sunday because of the fires.
The Rural Fire Service was concentrating its efforts on establishing containment lines.

People on properties near Georges Junction and on the Macleay were urged to be alert for fire warnings.>>

.

23 Oct:   Bushfire Update 

.

 

‘Total fire bans expected back in place by Thursday’

[Source:  ‘Total fire bans expected back in place by Thursday’, by Campbell Walker, Namoi Valley Independent (newspaper), 20121023, ^http://www.nvi.com.au/story/415687/total-fire-bans-expected-back-in-place-by-thursday/]

.

<<…Adverse weather conditions on Sunday hindered attempts to subdue two massive bushfires in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. Fire crews were reduced to protecting property on the ground and the two fires merged late on Sunday as fire crews battled from the ground to protect property, unable to water bomb due to gusty winds across the region.

The fire, now named the Macleay River Fire had burnt out 28,733 hectares as of last night,   Inspector Brett Loughlin, public liaison officer for Armidale Section 44 with the NSW Rural Fire Service, said.

Mr Loughlin was expecting the fire to burn out more land.

“We’re doing some mapping now and expect it to be around that 30,000-hectare mark,” he said.   He said 52 firefighters were on the ground creating firebreaks, doing backburning and  helping protect the property of landholders living within a few kilometres of the fire front.

“There are properties in close proximity,” Mr Loughlin said.  “The fire has flared up a little this afternoon and some embers are falling around properties in the Lower Creek area.

“No property is under threat at the moment … the fire’s not doing anything like it was doing on Saturday (when it was out of control – a day of hot, gusty westerly winds).”

Five helicopters are currently tasked to water bombing the Macleay River Fire.

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is still shut to the public…>>

.

.

25 Oct:  Bushfire Update

.

‘Arson suspected in Macleay River fire‘

[Source:  ‘Arson suspected in Macleay River fire’, by Kitty Hill, Northern Daily Leader (local print newspaper), 20121025, ^http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/420443/arson-suspected-in-macleay-river-fire/]

.

<<Rural Fire Service forensic investigators have interviewed a ‘person of interest’ as the battle to contain the Macleay River fire enters its 15th day.

RFS investigators from Kempsey and Coffs Harbour arrived yesterday to investigate the possible cause of the blaze in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park which has since burnt out 33,160 hectares of bush and pasture land.

RFS Public Liason Officer Inspector Brett Loughlin said all major fires were investigated as a matter of cause and investigations were ongoing.

Around 80 firefighters from the NSW RFS, FRNSW and NPWS, supported by five aircraft and four bulldozers are fighting the fire, which has a 247 kilometre perimeter.

Ember attack on properties around the Lower Creek area were reported yesterday but Inspector Loughlin said that firefighters were working with local landholders to protect at-risk homes.

Inspector Loughlin said that good containment lines had been established by fire crews in the last 24 hours and today “aerial incendiary” work  by helicopter would be carried out on the south western side of the blaze.  “It’s still an active fire but we’re starting to get a handle on it,” Inspector Loughlin said.

The Macleay River Fire is the culmination of the ‘Freds Creek Bushfire‘ and ‘Georges Junction Bushfire‘ that had merged last weekend.  The fire is burning in the vicinity of the Comara, Georges Junction, Five Day Creek, Lower Creek, Blanches Creek and Smith Creek areas.

Another fire burning near Guyra, has been contained. The ‘Mulligans Bushfire‘, which has burnt out 3207 hectares near the Guy Fawkes National Park has been burning since Saturday.>>

Macleay River Bushfire

(Photo by Sean Bremmer)

.

1 Nov:  Bushfire Update

.

Rural Fire Service Reported Operational Statistics:

[Source:  New South Wales Government,  Rural Fire Service, ^http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/]

‘MACLEAY RIVER FIRE‘
ALERT LEVEL:  Advice
LOCATION:  50 kms east of Armidale, 75 kms west of Kempsey, 65kms east of Walcha
COUNCIL AREA:  Armidale Dumaresq
STATUS:  Being Controlled   (Ed:  glass half-full spin)
TYPE:  Bush fire
FIRE:  Yes
SIZE:  51,405 ha
RESPONSIBLE AGENCY:   Rural Fire Service
UPDATED:   1 Nov 2012 15:25

.

5 Nov:  Bushfire Update

.

‘NSW fires declared natural disaster zones’

.

[Source:  ‘NSW fires declared natural disaster zones’, by AAP, 20121105, ^http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/nsw-fires-declared-natural-disaster-zones/story-e6frf7kf-1226510654741]

.

<<Three local government areas have been declared natural disaster zones in the wake of a major fire that has been raging in northern NSW for two weeks.

The massive front formed on October 21 when the Freds Creek and Georges Junction fires combined at the Macleay River.  It has damaged over 51,000 hectares of:

• National Parks
• State Forests
• Private Land

.

across three shires:

1. Armidale Dumaresq shire‘
2. Walcha shire
   
3. Kempsey shire

.

“These fires have been burning in the area for a number of days and due to the conditions, they merged into one large fire, jumped containment lines and threatened numerous properties,” Emergency Services Minister Michael Gallacher said in a statement on Monday.

“This declaration triggers a number of disaster assistance schemes to assist with the cost of disaster relief and recovery.”

Over the last two weeks, bushfires have raged across the New England and Mid North Coast regions.  Other fires under this declaration include the Clay fire in Armidale Dumaresq, the Panhandle fire in Walcha and the Mulligans fire in Guyra on the western side of Guy Fawkes National Park, which has burnt over 3,400 hectares of National Park and private land.

Mr Gallacher said the Macleay River fire had damaged significant portions of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, which is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, a series of protected areas which were first inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986 and extended in 1994.

 

.

5 Nov:  Bushfire Update

.

<<Three separate fires burning out of control south-west of Casino since the weekend have been contained, the Clarence Valley Rural Fire District reports.

The ‘Dubadar Creek Bushfire‘, which was believed to have been started by arsonists before blowing out from 50ha to 300ha on Saturday, was contained on Sunday and was extinguished at midday today, the district’s incident controller Stuart Watts said.

Two separate blazes, also deliberately lit, at Mt Pickabooba 4km from the Dubadar Creek fire were expected to be contained by this afternoon following back-burning, Mr Watts said. The Rural Fire Service had 10 fire trucks, 19 personnel and two bulldozers working to bring the fires under control on the weekend.  The Northern Star has approached the police for comment.

The battle with the blazes come as NSW Police and Emergency Services Minister Michael Gallacher declared natural disasters for the Mid North Coast – parts of which only a year ago were receiving the same declaration for floods – and New England areas.

“The main focus of this declaration is the Macleay River Fire, which developed on 21 October 2012 as the culmination of the Fred’s Creek and Georges Junction Fires,” Mr Gallacher said in a written statement.

“These fires have been burning in the area for a number of days and due to the conditions, they merged into one large fire, jumped containment lines and threatened numerous properties…Firefighters have been working hard to create containment lines around the Macleay River Fire to protect properties as the fire approaches.

“As of 1 November 2012, the Macleay River Fire continues to burn and is estimated to have damaged over 51,000 hectares of National Parks, State Forests and private land across the three LGA’s of Armidale Dumaresq, Walcha and Kempsey.

“The Macleay River Fire has damaged significant portions of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, which is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, a series of protected areas which were first inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986 and extended in 1994.“>>

.

Reader Comment:

by  ‘coco50’ from Ballina 20111105:

<<When is our judicial system going to get serious about arsonists? It is difficult enough to catch them. Think about what they do. They destroy natural bushland and animal habitat. They put the lives of people at risk or even cause deaths. They destroy property which causes hardship and suffering and years to rebuild. This pushes up everyone’s insurance premiums. They out emergency services personnel at risk.

But when we get an arsonist in court, the defence counsel makes an argument like: “My client had a difficult childhood – his parents and peers didn’t understand him. He is remorseful”

The Judge almost cries while handing out a “slap on the wrist” sentence. It is much harder to start a fire in jail while you are doing 20 years time. Lock them up!>>

.

[Source:  ‘Fires contained as disaster declared’ , 20121105, Northern Star (local print newspaper), ^http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/fires-contained/1609219/]

.

6 Nov: Bushfire Update

.

Rural Fire Service Reported Operational Statistics:

.

[Source:  New South Wales Government,  Rural Fire Service, ^http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/]

.

‘MACLEAY RIVER BUSHFIRE’
ALERT LEVEL:  Advice
LOCATION:   65km East of Walcha
COUNCIL AREA:  Armidale Dumaresq
STATUS:  Being Controlled
TYPE:  Bush fire
FIRE:  Yes
SIZE:  59, 663 ha
RESPONSIBLE AGENCY:  Rural Fire Service
UPDATED:   6 Nov 2012 09:10

.

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is World Heritage ‘protected‘

.

1986:   Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed on the World Heritage List.

.

World Heritage Listing because local people thought it was so important to save before it was gone

.

Over twenty-five years ago, in 1986 the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, then called the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia (CERRA), were inscribed on the World Heritage List for their outstanding natural universal values.

Theses rainforest comprise the Great Escarpment of eastern New South Wales, then known as the Australian East Coast Sub-tropical and Temperate Rainforest Parks, were inscribed on the World Heritage list meeting the following three World Heritage Natural Criteria:

• Outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes and biological evolution   (World Heritage Natural Criterion viii)
• Outstanding example representing major stages of the earth’s evolutionary history   (World Heritage Natural Criterion ix)
• Containing important and significant habitats for the in situ conservation of biological diversity      (World Heritage Natural Criterion x)

.

Trying to save the surviving remnant patches of Gondwana Rainforest ecosystems

(Ed:  These few green shades are emblematic of Australian ransacking)

Read:  >Large Map

[Source: ^http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/gondwana/pubs/gondwana-map.pdf]

.

The Gondwana Rainforests contains the largest and most significant remaining stands of subtropical rainforest and Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei) cool temperate rainforests in the world, the largest and most significant areas of warm temperate rainforest and one of only two remaining large areas of Araucarian rainforest in Australia.

 

Enormous Antarctic Beech  (Nothofagus moorei)

At Cobark Park, Barrington Tops, 50 metres tall

.

The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia is a serial property comprising the major remaining areas of rainforest in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.  They include the most extensive areas of subtropical rainforest in the world, large areas of warm temperate rainforest and nearly all of the Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest. Some of the oldest elements of the world’s ferns and conifers are found here and there is a concentration of primitive plant families that are direct links with the birth and spread of flowering plants over 100 million years ago.

A wide range of plant and animal lineages and communities with ancient origins in Gondwana, many of which are restricted largely or entirely to the Gondwana Rainforests, survive in this collection of reserves. The Gondwana Rainforests also provides the principal habitat for many threatened species of plants and animals.

The area is one of the best places on earth to see ancient ferns and Araucaria such as Hoop Pines.

 

Hoop Pine

(Araucaria cunninghamii)

Found naturally in the dry rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland and in Papua New Guinea.

The trees can live up to 450 years and grow to a height of 60 m.

.

Rainforest once covered most of the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana and remains the most ancient type of vegetation in Australia. The Gondwana Rainforests provide an interesting living link with the evolution of Australia. Few places on earth contain so many plants and animals which remain relatively unchanged from their ancestors in the fossil record.

Due to two centuries of colonial deforestation across New South Wales and Queensland – timbergetting, ‘land clearing’ for agriculture and housing – the reserves of rainforest that comprise The Gondwana Rainforests in discontinuous patches, surrounded by fireprone eucalypt forest and cleared agricultural lands.

These patches range in size from tiny gully stands to lush forests covering large valleys and ranges.    Collectively, these ‘serial sites’  despite their small size and scattered fragments, provide proximity and interconnection by corridors of semi-natural habitats and buffers.   Their natural asset value is fragile and demands intensive management and protection in order to preserve their ecological integrity.

.

Read:   >Gondwana Rainforests of Australia Fact Sheet   (4 pages, PDF, 1.4 MB)

[Source:  Australian Government, ^http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/gondwana/resources.html]

.

The ecosystems of the Gondwana Rainforests contain significant and important natural habitats for species of conservation significance  (World Heritage Natural Criterion x).

The Gondwana Rainforests provides the principal habitat for many species of plants and animals of outstanding universal value, including more than 270 threatened species as well as relict and primitive taxa. Many of the rare and threatened flora and fauna species are rainforest specialists, and their vulnerability to extinction is due to a variety of factors including the rarity of their rainforest habitat.

The Gondwana Rainforests also protects large areas of other vegetation including a diverse range of heaths, rocky outcrop communities, forests and woodlands. These communities have a high diversity of plants and animals that add greatly to the value of the Gondwana Rainforests as habitat for rare, threatened and endemic species. The complex dynamics between rainforests and tall open forest particularly demonstrates the close evolutionary and ecological links between these communities.

Species continue to be discovered in the property including the re-discovery of two mammal species previously thought to have been extinct:

1. The Hastings River Mouse (Pseudomys oralis)
2. Parma Wallaby (Macropus parma)

 

Parma Wallaby (Macropus parma)

Endemic to rainforests and sclerophyll forests in New South Wales from the Watagan Mountains in the South to the Gibraltar Range in the North.

Parma wallabies were thought to have become extinct a century ago until being discovered again in the 1970s.

.

1994:   Oxley Wild Rivers NP added to World Heritage

.

In 1994, large extensions of rainforests across south-east Queensland and New South Wales including  the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park were added to the World Heritage listed Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia (CERRA), now entitled The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (since 2007).

OxleyWild Rivers National Park – location map

[Source:  Google Maps]

.

These reserves comprise almost 50 separate remnant reserves of unspoilt rainforest wilderness stretching from north-east New South Wales (the Oxley Rivers region) up through south-east Queensland. Each of these reserves contains important nature conservation values in its own right, however the full significance of the property becomes evident only when viewed as a whole, and collectively CERRA provides a significant network of habitats for many of Australia’s rare and endangered species.

Since 1994, the Australian Government in co-operation with both the New South Wales and Queensland Governments have recognised the need for coordinated, consistent and cooperative management, to ensure that the integrity of CERRA‘s values is protected.  At the time, the World Heritage Committee requested the Australian Government complete management plans of individual sites.  Six years later in 2000, the Australian Government published its ‘Strategic Overview for Management for the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia to guide co-operative management by the three Governments in relation to the identification, protection, conservation, rehabilitation and presentation of the Gondwana Rainforests.   In 2002, a Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee and a Community Advisory Committee were established.

The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia are managed principally by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (part of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change) and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.

.

Read:   >’Strategic Overview for Management‘  (59 pages, PDF, 1.1 MB)

[Source:  Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia – Strategic Overview for Management’, November 2000, Australian Government, ^http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/publications/strategy/pubs/mgtoverview.pdf]

.

Later 1,850 ha of Winterbourne State Forest, also known at the Big Lease, was added to the reserves wilderness.  Currently (2012), the remaining 1,560 ha of Winterbourne and 1,075 ha of Enmore State Forests are to be added to the National Park. Further inclusions include Green Gully headwaters and 1,439 ha of leasehold land in the lower Chandlers River gorge.

The Macleay Gorges Wilderness Area, covering 50,000 hectares, was declared World Heritage in 1996 and further extended in 1997.

In 2007,  Macleay Gorges Wilderness Area and Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, along with the 50 separate Crown Land reserves of remnant ancient rainforest were collectively renamed under the umbrella term Gondwana Rainforests of Australia to better reflect their World Heritage values.   These include important rainforested areas between Newcastle and Brisbane from Mount Royal National Park and Banrrington Tops National Park to Lamington National Park inland of Queensland’s Gold Coast.

.

Read:  > Oxley Wild Rivers National Park – key threats and impacts  (PDF, 170kb)

[Source:  Australian Government, ^http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/publications/pubs/mainland-islands-oxley-wild-rivers-national-park.pdf]

.

Aspley Falls in flood

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

.

High waterfalls crashing into steep gorges are spectacular examples of an important ongoing natural process – erosion. Erosion by coastal rivers created the Great Escarpment and the steep-sided caldera of the Tweed Valley surrounding Mount Warning. This towering mountain was once the buried plug of an ancient vast volcano. Today, rainforest grows on the fertile, well watered soils that remain.

The Macleay River on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, has the world’s second-fastest flowing currents during flooding, when it can hold over 200,000 gigalitres.

Its headwaters flows from the Gara River on the eastern side of the Northern Tablelands near the tonwships of Armidale and Walcha.  Key tributaries are the Chandler River, Styx River and Apsley River as well as the Tia River, Dyke River and Yarrowitch River, which pass through a number of spectacular gorges and waterfalls in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.

The Macleay River flows 400km south-east through Kempsey and into the Pacific Ocean at South West Rocks.   Upon colonial discovery in the 1820s; the ancient, tall native Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) forests were completely deforested.

Australian Red Cedar Forest

Tamborine National Park, Gold Coast Hinterland, Queensland

(such trees have long been logged through the Oxley Rivers region)

.

In 1976, the Apsley Macleay Gorges were identified as being of ‘true wilderness quality‘.

At that stage the public protection offered to the area was limited to two small reserves in the south, and a few local council run recreation areas at popular sites such as Wollomombi Falls, Dangars and Apsley Falls. With future land-use undecided, the NSW Electricity Commission began surveying the Apsley Valley for a hydro-electric scheme in the late 1970s. The Apsley Gorge National Park of 6,718 hectares was gazetted followed by the 3,456 hectare Yarrowitch Gorge National Park soon after.

In 1989 East Kunderang Station of 30,400 hectares passed to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and was proclaimed the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.

.

Rich Wildlife through Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

.

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is rich in fauna, with over 350 species recorded, including 55 mammals.

It is a major refuge for the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby (Petrogale pencillata), with the largest confirmed population in the Green Gully area of Yarrowitch.

.

Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) in Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

This species is listed in New South Wales as ‘Vulnerable to extinction’, but that was by the NSW Scientific Committee in 2003, nine years ago

There have been two major bushfires through since then – one in 2009 and now in 2012

How many viable individuals have been lost to the Macleay River Bushfire – does the NSW NPWS know or care?

.

<<Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, including Green Gully Track, is closed until further notice due to wildfire.>>

[Source:  ^http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkFireClosure.aspx?id=N0043]

.

Other species found in the park include:

• Dingoes
• Bandicoots
• Bats
• Koalas
• Wombats
• Quolls
• Brushtail Possums
• Sugar gliders
• Platypus
• Echidnas
• Numerous small ground mammals
• Wedge-tailed Eagles
• Peregrine falcons

 

Over 173 bird species, 38 reptile and 19 amphibian species have been recorded in Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.

Skinks, goannas, tortoises, lizards, snakes, frogs and fish occur in the park, particularly on the river flats. A number of fish species have been recorded. Notable, is the speckled longfin eel (Anguilla reinhardtii), which breeds in the ocean with the juveniles eventually returning to the Apsley–Macleay River system.

There are fourteen known threatened species within the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park:

Six mammal species:

1. Brush-tailed Phascogale (tuan)   (Phascogale tapoatafa)
2. Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (Petrogale penicillata)
3. Koala  (Phascolarctos cinereus)
4. Squirrel Glider (Petaurus norfolcensis)
5. Tiger Quoll   (Dasyurus maculatus)
6. Hastings River Mouse  (Pseudomys oralis)

.

Four bird species:

1. Glossy Black Cockatoo  (Calyptorhynchus lathami)
2. Greater Sooty Owl  (Tyto tenebricosa)
3. Superb Fruit-dove  (Ptilinopus superbus),
4. Turquoise Parrot  (Neophema pulchella)

 

One amphibian subspecies:

1. Macleay River Turtle   (Emydura macquarii dharra)

.

One reptile species:

1. Carpet Python  (Morelia spilota variegata)

.

Two frog species:

1. Peppered Tree Frog (Litoria piperata)
2. The Glandular Frog or New England Tree Frog  (Litoria subglandulosa)

.

Brush-tailed Phascogale

[Source:  Animal Hospital, ^http://www.chidlowmarsupialhospital.org.au/page-17-1-identification.html]

.

All these wildlife were previously widespread, but now are vulnerable to extinction or worse; which has become an Australian cliché, but at the same time an indictment on Australians.

But how much of this protected wilderness region is left after last fortnight’s bushfire catastrophe?

How can it be deemed to be protected, when bushfire is allowed to ravage it and its vitally recognised flora and fauna?   Was the World Heritage Area allowed to burn as a convenient bushfire management operational defacto Hazard Reduction?    There were no human assets at risk.  It was wilderness and so out of sight out of mind…such is the dominant bushphobic culture of the Australian and State Governments, so accused of neglect and incompetence after the 2009 Victorian Bushfires that killed 173 people.

To current anthropocentric (20th C babyboomer) governments, this ‘Macleay River Fire’,  irrespective of its World Heritage ecological protection, is blanketly and culturally dismissed as just another hazardous fuel region to target within Australia’s continent-wide Government Arson strategy.  Successive generations will revisit this prevailing cultural mindset of ‘hazard reduction‘ and cast it alongside 19th C ‘timbergetting‘ and 20th C ‘clearfelling‘.

In the Blue Mountains, some 40,000 hectares of native vegetation is currently approved by the same Australian and New South Wales Governments for deliberate burning.

If deliberately setting fire to the native vegetation is committed privately it is deemed bush arson and so attracts a poultry 14 years gaol or less even less, despite people having been burned to death as a direct consequence.

But if deliberately setting fire to the native vegetation is previously prescribed by Government, then participants are artificially deemed legally immune and impune from criminal liability, even if the prescribed bushfires they light get out of control, which is all too frequently.

The Australian Government’s official public relations message reads:

Institutional arrangements for the protection and management of Gondwana Rainforests are strong. The property is made up of 41 reserves, almost all of which are within the protected area estate, and primarily managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. Both States have legislation relating to protected areas and native flora and fauna that provide protection for the values of the Gondwana Rainforests.

All World Heritage properties in Australia are ‘matters of national environmental significance’ protected and managed under national legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This Act is the statutory instrument for implementing Australia’s obligations under a number of multilateral environmental agreements including the World Heritage Convention. By law, any action that has, will have or is likely to have a significant impact on the World Heritage values of a World Heritage property must be referred to the responsible Minister for consideration. Substantial penalties apply for taking such an action without approval. Once a heritage place is listed, the Act provides for the preparation of management plans which set out the significant heritage aspects of the place and how the values of the site will be managed.

National Heritage is also a matter of national environmental significance under the EPBC Act.

Importantly, this Act also aims to protect matters of national environmental significance, such as World Heritage properties, from impacts even if they originate outside the property or if the values of the property are mobile (as in fauna). It thus forms an additional layer of protection designed to protect values of World Heritage properties from external impacts.

The impacts of climate change and high levels of visitation, undertaking effective fire management, and mitigating the effects of invasion by pest species and pathogens present the greatest challenges for the protection and management of Gondwana Rainforests.

Climate change will impact particularly on those relict species in restricted habitats at higher altitudes, where particular microclimatic conditions have enabled these species to survive.

Management responses include improving the resilience of the property by addressing other threats such as inappropriate fire regimes and invasion by pest species, and trying to increase habitat connectivity across the landscape.

[Source:  Australian Government, ^http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/gondwana/values.html]

.

Recall 2009:   9,500 hectares of Oxley Wild Rivers left to burn

.

In December 2009, a lightning strike started a bushfire in the Youdales Hut area of the Oxley Wild Rivers region.  The hut was unaffected (human property?), but 1,500 hectares of inaccessible steep country was burnt out before it was brought under control.

Another lightning strike started a large bushfire in the Reedy Creek region of the park. This fire has burnt out over 8,000 hectares of rough country.

.

[Ed:  Yes, steep wilderness terrain without convenient fire trails carved through it, is naturally inaccessible to lumbering urban fire trucks – so RFS/NPWS where were the waterbombing aircraft on 12th Oct 2012, when the fires were tiny and manageable?]

.