Posts Tagged ‘Regent Honeyeater’

Ironbark Firewood: receiving stolen forests?

Friday, May 18th, 2012
The classic image of the ‘Camp Fire’

.

Australia’s tradition of the ‘Wood Fire’ is ecologically destructive

.

During Australia’s winter months, many in older homes habitually yearn for the warmth and glow of a traditional Wood Fire, and so utilise their open fire places and wood heaters.  So habitually, upon the onset of winter people stock up on Firewood.  It is a cultural yearning for the nostalgia of the Wood Fire – warm, earthy, dancing flames, flickering, spark spitting, the woodsmoke – we’ve all been there, it is tantalising and it feels right because it is natural – the ancient campfire tradition across humanity.  In doing the Wood Fire ritual, we seek to rekindle our connection to Nature.

 
The warmth and glow of a traditional Open Fire
…but the demand is driving deforestation of Ironbark Forests

.

In earlier times when a few hundred of us settled in a given forest region, few forest resources were taken and so the forests replenished and seemed to cope.  The forests were naturally resilient.

But as subsequent human hoards have invaded the land, and have bred and sprawled across the countryside in the hundreds of thousands, we have deforested entire forests in the process.  These forests haven’t coped with the devastation.  No forest could cope.

Australia’s native forests have been hacked, logged, burned and bulldozed into agrarian pasture to the horizon.  Australia’s original blanket vegetation cover has been reduced to sad islands barely able to support wildlife habitat and in many cases causing extinctions – locally, regionally and nationally.  All one needs do is a Google Earth search to appreciate the devastation on the natural landscape.

A legacy of forestry

.

Humanity’s sheer numbers and the encouraged consumption rate of Australians risk exacerbating the deforestation.  Contemporary Australia is simply extending and perpetuating the old colonial exploitive mindset and a lifestyle reminiscent of 19th Century invading colonists.

 

The cultural heritage of the Wood Fire is necessarily contributing to this deforestation, particularly to Australia’s native Box-Ironbark Forests.

For Australians to continue to yearn for the glow, warmth and woodsmoke of the traditional Wood Fire now that we number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, and so the aggregate consumption of timber for firewood has simply become unsustainable.  Our native forests have become too small and disparate to sustain wildlife breeding.

The few shrinking native forests that our forebears and their frenzied clearing have left us, simply are disappearing.  Australia’s remnant native forests continue to be destroyed by us just to serve this selfish cultural yearning for earthy nostalgia of the Wood Fire.  The same applies to all woodheaters.

A classic wood fire in an old style open fireplace

.

The Australian Wood Fire cultural imperative through winter has become a driver of forest extinctions.  There have become too many of us wanting tonnes of the forest to burn in our open fires and wood heaters, and too few forests left.

Australia’s firewood demand is driving deforestation.  There is estimated to be around 800,000 wood heaters and 700,000 open fire places in Australia (ANZECC, 2001).   There combined use is unsustainable and has got to stop!   We need to question this inherited and habitual Open Fire/Woodheater culture and the devastating impact it is causing to our native forests.

.

“One of the hidden environmental issues affecting Australia’s woodlands, the collection of firewood, is starting to be revealed. CSIRO has prepared a report, Impact and Use of Firewood in Australia, pointing out alarming environmental problems.
 
For example, up to 6 million tonnes of fuelwood is consumed in Australia each year – double the amount of annual exports of eucalypt woodchips!”

[Source:  ‘Firewood Conference’ in Armidale, NSW, May 2001, ^http://dazed.org/npa/npj/200102/FebYourNPA.htm]

.

Commercial Firewood is Forest ‘Eco-theft

.

Firewood taken from a native forest for personal use is one thing.  The scale and severity of adverse impact upon forest ecology will vary according to the amount taken and the ecological sensitivity of the place it is taken from.  Few domestic takers of firewood will be qualified ecologists and so will have no or little comprehension or respect for such impacts.

A private firewood stack

.

According to the CSIRO, up to 5.5 million tonnes of timber is harvested annually for Australian domestic firewood use. When industrial firewood use is included, the total amount rises 20% to between 6-7 million tonnes.  This weight is roughly double the amount of eucalypt currently exported annually from Australia as woodchips.  About half of all domestic firewood is collected by the consumer and 84% of domestic firewood is collected on private property.  [CSIRO, 2000]

Across Australia, access to State Forests is unfettered and the collecting of firewood for personal (domestic) consumption is an uncontrolled free-for-all, little improved from the exploitative mindset of Australia’s early and more ignorant colonists.

Australian colonial  ‘progress’

.

Deforestation by firewood taking is perhaps not as broadscale and well known as the Conservation Movement’s exposure of state-sanctioned Industrial Logging by the likes of Australian state government departments:

  • VicForests‘    (Victoria)
  • Forests NSW‘    (New South Wales)
  • Forestry SA‘   (South Australia)
  • Forestry Tasmania‘    (Tasmania)
  • Forests and Wood‘    (Queensland)
  • Forests Products Commission‘   (West Australia)

.

Or is it?

It is Australia’s Commercial Firewood Industry that contributes to the demise of Australia’s remnant native forests by its ‘death by a thousand cuts‘.    Commercial Firewood entails the direct taking of wood from Australia’s native forests for commercial sale and profit.  It is of a scale far greater than domestic forewood collecting, but where are the statistics kept and publicised by the Australian Government?

Just as demand for firewood drive supply, the artificial low economic cost of firewood encourages demand volume.  Since firewood is sold a low cost, it competes favourably with jalternatiuve sources of fuel, such as gas and electricity, for domestic heating.  Commercial firewood suppliers also deliberately appeal to the Wood Fire cultural image to encourage their firewood sales.  Suppliers and consusmers thus feed off each other at low cost and high volumes, and so more native forests lose out.

A commercial firewood stack

.

The low or no cost availability of timber from State Forests Native timber means that the industry operates on an industrial scale taking vast quantities of timber, particularly from the preferred hardwood Box-Ironbark Forests and the like.  The Commerical Firewood Industry is encouraged by the Australian Government and by all state governments, which ignore the practice as if Australia’s natuve forests are unlimited, as if it had no adverse ecological impact upon the forest ecologies, as if it didn’t matter, as if there were no tomorrow.

Commercial Firewood Production
Norwegian Hakki-Pilke industrial machinery enables an industrial scale operation
[Source:  Mascus Australia, ^http://www.mascus.com.au/]

.

Across Australia, each state government issues cheap permits for collecting firewood from State Forests.

This reflects:

  1. A cultural disregard for the values of Australia’s disappearing forest ecologies up to Prime Ministerial and Cabinet level
  2. The inadequacies of State laws to protect forest ecology
  3. An antiquainted colonist mindset persisting throughout the dominating Liberal and Labor parties.

.

The ecological impacts and the plethora of ecological advice and warnings about the destructive impacts of logging on forest ecology are being ignored.  Australia’s Commercial Firewood Industry fuels demand for cheap firewood and in the process exacerbates Australia’s deforestation.

Australia’s Firewood Industry is unsustainable and has got to be nationally controlled.   We need to challenge this exploitative industry and correct ignorant government policies.  We need to find alternatives to the Wood Fire to stem the devastation of Australia’s remaining native forests and to help prevent more wildlife extinctions.

.

‘Forest Eco-theft’ involves the immoral taking of timber from a native forest, especially in large industrial quantities, for commercial gain and incurring no or little economic cost to the taker. The intended or actual use of the timber is irrelevent, but may include logs, firewood, craft timber, or woodchips. The greater the timber volume taken, the greater impact upon a forest and so the more serious the Eco-theft. 

.

‘Eco-theft’ is only different to criminal theft because of the colonist exploitative mindset of current governments rejecting native forest having ecological value worthy of protection under the Crimes Act.

.

An industrial scale Hakki-Pilke firewood processor from Norway

.

Forest Eco-theft in an environment of dwindling forest habitat has become a key threatening process.  At the current rate of Forest Eco-theft, Australia’s native forests fueling our pleasure for earthy glows and hearth warmth, will be gone.

Firewood Logging simply destroys forest habitat and contributes to the demise and local extinctions of threatened and endangered wildlife.  Australia’s flora and fauna deaths and ultimate extinctions has become infamy – Australia currently has the worst record of mammalian extinctions on the planet, and the Firewood culture is contributing to it.

Many consumers of firewood either actively couldn’t care, or else passively turn an insular blind eye to the adverse ecological impacts of firewood harvesting.  Our Australian Government ignores the firewood deforestation problem, avoiding it for party political convenience – immorally, irresponsibly and unrepresentingly.

Just as Poaching Wildlife is immoral, so too is Forest Eco-theft.    Both these exploitative practices hark to colonial times and need to be banned.

Firewood Logging of State Forest near Taralga NSW in 2006.
(along the Goulbourn-Oberon Road, just west of the Blue Mountains)
“This is in the habitat of Diuris aequalis. Had a fair result after two visits to this site and three submissions to local Council. Department of Environment and Conservation have imposed rigid conditions on this business.”
[Source:  ‘Habitat – Protection or Destruction‘, 2006, by  Alan W Stephenson, Conservation Director, Australian Orchid Council Inc.
^http://www.orchidsaustralia.com/article_%20conservation_no3.htm]

.

.

Why choose ‘Ironbark Firewood’ ?

.

Why choose Ironbark Firewood ?  Why not choose an alternative sources of fuel for home heating?   Never thought to question the legitimacy of your fuel?

Here’s the justification by one firewood supplier as to why one should choose Ironbark Firewood:

  1. ‘Long Burning. Harder to start but will burn 6 – 8 hours. These timbers are the slowest growing and the hardest of all hardwoods.’
  2. ‘Very little ash. Clean out fire only once per season approximately.’
  3. ‘Strong Burning. Cannot be put out even if the vent closed, unless water is used.’

A classic Ironbark ‘Open Fire’

.

The most common type of firewood commerically sold and promoted in the eastern Australian states is Ironbark Firewood.   This is typically sourced from Box-Ironbark Forests  (native grassy woodlands).

According to the Firewood Association of Australia (FAA), Ironbark and Box are the preferred firewood in Queensland, while in Victoria, southern NSW and South Australia, River Red Gum is preferred.  Jarrah and Wandoo hardwood timbers are preferred in Western Australia, while in Tasmania, Brown Peppermint is considered the best firewood.

[Source: ^http://www.firewood.asn.au/faq.html]

.

What the hell? 
Old Growth cut up for cheap firewood?

[Source: “Environmental vandals” cut down 100-year-old trees on land at East Maitland, 20180905, by Donna Sharpe, ^https://www.beaudeserttimes.com.au/story/5629093/chainsaw-massacre-environmental-vandals-cut-down-100-year-old-trees/]

.

Sydney’s Firewood has been linked to ongoing Queensland land clearing, and in Queensland successive backward state governments have an ignoble reputation for land clearing like there’s no tomorrow.

Landclearing in Queensland has become the major supplier of Sydney’s quality firewood.  Most of Sydney’s big firewood companies now rely on the Sunshine State for a significant proportion of ironbark and box logs – highly sought-after timbers because of their density. The National Parks Association says firewood from endangered Queensland woodlands is being used in homes across New South Wales.

Back in 2001, the National Parks Association of NSW called on the NSW Government to limit the State’s use of firewood following revelations that most of the wood sold by Sydney’s big firewood companies comes from clearing of Queenslands threatened Ironbark and Box woodlands.

Ironbark Woodland of Central Queensland
[Australia Natural Resource Atlas]

.

At the time, Mr Charlie Spiteri, the owner of Betta Burn Firewood, one of the biggest suppliers in Sydney, refused to reveal how much firewood he supplies each year but estimates that the Sydney region, including Katoomba, consumes about 100,000 tonnes.

Commercial Firewood stockpile
(click photo to enlarge)

.

Spiteri said about a third of his supply was sourced from Queensland, where the wood is worth between $40 and $50 a cubic metre. By the time the freight reaches Sydney, it is worth up to $125 and is being snapped up. “People are choosing ironbark and box and we have to go where the timber is,” Mr Spiteri said.

Other major sources of hardwoods for Betta Burn include the Pilliga State Forest in north-west NSW and private properties in the Nyngan area.

Executive officer at the National Parks Association (NSW), Mr Andrew Cox, said:

“Firewood collecting is the second largest threat to Australia’s temperate woodlands after land clearing. Now its being linked to landclearing!”   “We know little about the impacts of firewood collecting and governments have been slow to take an interest. Most firewood consumers are unaware of where their wood comes from or the huge impact it has on threatened animals, birds and reptiles.”

“The firewood industry is large, but mostly unknown”, said Andrew Cox, NPA Executive Officer. “About 1,500,000 tonnes of firewood are used by New South Wales each year, exceeding the State’s yearly combined production of sawlogs and woodchips.”

“Firewood collecting targets slow-growing ecosystems and some of their most important components. Eucalypt species such as ironbark, box and red gum are the most favoured firewood sources.”

“We need to move away from the need to ‘clean-up’ a forest or woodland and instead look at dead wood as an important ecological component – just as important as the living trees.”

“Its because we’re not properly managing the woodlands that a wave of bird extinctions is underway in central NSW. More than 20 woodland dependent birds are declining from their former range and may become extinct in NSW. “It’s not ecologically sound, it’s not sustainable and there are serious impacts on birds, on animals that depend on the hollows.”

But no-one knows for sure how much timber salvaged from the bulldozed woodlands of Queensland is making its way south of the border in convoys of semi-trailers. Firewood collection operates in a legal vacuum – especially on private land – and virtually no figures are kept for where wood is sourced or how it is collected.

[Source: ‘Sydney’s Firewood Linked to Queensland Land Clearing‘, by Andrew Cox, Executive Officer, National Parks Association of NSW, 20010428, ^http://dazed.org/npa/press/20010428firewood.htm]
A typical commercial firewood truck – 2 tonne?

.

Since then, over a decade ago, what has changed?  Anything?  Nothing?  Has the problem gotten worse?

.

83% of the original Box-Ironbark Forests have gone

 

Box Ironbark forest in central Victoria dominated by Red Ironbark   (Eucalyptus tricarpa)
[Source:  Ian Lunt’s Ecological Research Site, ^http://ianluntresearch.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/fire-and-rain-2-water-for-ironbarks/]

 

In Victoria, few forest and woodland ecosystems are as poorly represented in parks and reserves as the distinctive Box-Ironbark ecosystems of northern Victoria.

Since European settlement these forests and woodlands have been extensively cleared and fragmented for agriculture, urban development and gold mining, and cut for a variety of wood products. They once covered three million hectares of northern Victoria, but 83% of the original Box-Ironbark vegetation has now been cleared.

Original distribution of grassy woodlands across New South Wales
(Dominated by Box-Ironbark Forests)

.

Not only have the forests and woodlands been mostly cleared, but what is left is highly modified from its original structure and is also very fragmented. These remaining forests and woodlands are mostly on public land and these areas are  ecologically important for a rich diversity of flora and fauna, many of which are rare or threatened.

Box-Ironbark forests and woodlands are highly accessible and the visitor is rewarded by a vibrant array of bird species, carpets of wildflowers in Spring, the rich aroma of eucalypt  nectar, and many sites of historical and cultural interest. Despite their apparent uniformity, these forests actually have great diversity with around 1 500 species of higher plants and over 250 vertebrate species recorded in the region; many are largely restricted to Box-Ironbark forests and woodlands.

Some 297 Box-Ironbark plant species and 53 animal species are now classified as extinct, threatened or near-threatened.  In addition, at least ten plant and animal species are known to have disappeared from the study area since the 1840s, and numerous others have become locally extinct. It is also clear and of great concern that many species, particularly birds, are known to be still declining.

Accordingly, a key feature of Box-Ironbark nature conservation is the promotion of ‘recovery’ for many species, rather than simply maintaining the status quo.  Many Australian animals are dependent upon large, old eucalypt trees which contain the hollows required for shelter and breeding. At least six of the threatened Box-Ironbark fauna species are strongly dependent upon these trees. The massive loss of large old trees over the last 150 years is strongly implicated in the decline of these species and perhaps many others. It is therefore recommended that as well as protecting existing large old trees, additional measures be taken to ensure that there will, over time, be more large old trees in the forests.

[Source: ‘Box-Ironbark Forests & Woodlands Investigation‘, (Environment Conservation Council, 2001), Executive Summary, by The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, 2001, ^http://www.veac.vic.gov.au/documents/385-Executive-Summary.pdf]

 

.

‘Why is Firewood so cheap?

.

Ironbark is a preferred firewood in eastern Australia because it burns longer and hotter, so Australia’s native Ironbark forests continue to be logged for firewood.

Ironbark firewood stack, commercially cut and split ready for domestic delivery

.

The Australian hardwood timber industry now mainly relies upon plantation timbers and sustainable forestry management practices.  Australian Ironbark Flooring retails at a premium price at typically over $80/m2 at 19mm thick.   If that square meter of flooring was stacked one metre high to achieve a cubic metre, the calculated retail price for a cubic metre would be (1000m/19mm = 50 layers of flooring roughly, making the retail price for a cubic metre of Ironbark flooring around $80 x 50 = $5600/m3!

Expensive Ironbark Flooring
Sourced from sustainable plantation timber, unaffordable to the Commercial Firewood Industry,
so firewood suppliers take the Ironbark out of State Forests instead.
[Source: Northern Rivers Timber, ^http://www.northernriverstimber.com.au/gallery.php]

.

But commercial suppliers of firewood do not own plantation timber, nor do they buy their firewood from plantation timber growers.  They certainly do not pay $5,600/m3 for firewood.

Commercial firewood is generally sold at considerable profit at under $160/m3, reducing in price according to volume purchased.  Why would an commercial grower of plantation Ironbark hardwood sell the timber for firewood at $160/m3, when as flooring the typical market price is a factor of some 35 times greater at $5600/m3?

.

Commercial Firewood taken from native forests means that the $160 selling price is nearly all profit!

.

Australia’s commercial firewood instead is simply taken from Australia’s native hardwood forests.  It is simply taken from State Forests at no cost to the commercial operator, except for a pultry token permit fee.   That is why it is sold so cheaply.

This is why firewood remains a cheap affordable source for domestic household heating.  But the cost is artifically economic and excludes the ecological cost.

How is this not Forest Eco-Theft?   If the suppliers of Ironbark Firewood had to pay hardwood plantation owners a fair wholesale price for firewood, at such a high price their business model would be unviable.  Firewood suppliers only exist because their business model relies upon firewood theft from dwindling State Forests, which continues to go unpoliced and ignored by the Australian Government.

Industrial Firewood Industry

.

Where do YOU get your FIREWOOD from?

.

  1. Where do you get your firewood from?
  2. Is it legal or eco-stolen?
  3. Is it accredited?
  4. What is Australia’s Firewood Industry doing to protect Australia’s long exploited and dwindling Ironbark Forests from firewood theft by firewood suppliers?   
  5. What is the Australian Government doing to prevent firewood theft from State Forests? 
  6. What is the Australian Government doing to monitor and control Australia’s firewood industry?
  7. Who in the Australian Government monitors the integrity and ecological protection of State Forests across New South Wales and indeed across Australia?
  8. Where is the ongoing review and analysis into the ecological health of Box-Ironbark Forests (Grassy Woodlands) across New South Wales and Victoria?
  9. Why are the statistics on firewood theft from State Forests not collected and publicised?
  10. Who polices and penalises deforestation of State Forests?
  11. How many people are caught and fined/gaoled for deforestation of State Forests
  12. Isn’t it illegal to steal firewood from State Forests – living trees or deadwood?

.

At the time of publication of this article, the New South Wales Government’s official website on Environment and specifically on Threatened Species reads:

“There has been a serious system failure on the threatened species website (www.threatenedspecies.nsw.gov.au) and it is no longer available”

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

.

Pile of Ironbark Firewood cut and split ready for domestic delivery

.

In the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, the local newspaper advertises numerous suppliers of firewood, particularly at the onset of winter, and particularly promoting Ironbark Firewood as the premium product as follows:

Firewood suppliers advertising in the Blue Mountains Gazette, 20120516

.

But from where do these firewood suppliers source their firewood?

Not one of the above advertisements provides any proud statement about sourcing their wood ecologically responsibly, nor about being ecologically accredited.  The default presumption thus is that none of these suppliers is environmentally responsible, nor accredited.  So don’t buy from any of them!

Is the advertised firewood sourced illegally from Australia’s disappearing Box-Ironbark Forests, and so exacerbating the deforestation problem?  How do we know it isn’t?

How simple is it for any common thief to buy a chainsaw, drive out to a patch of State Forest in a ute or in a truck or with a trailer in tow, then chainsaw several trees in a Box-Ironbark Forest, paying nothing for them, then flog the wood for personal profit?   Too easy!  Anyone can buy a chainsaw from a local garden tool supplier, even a kid.  There are no chainsaw laws in Australia.  It is treated like buying secateurs.   Bunnings sells cheap chainsaws brand-new for just $200!

So armed with a trailer and chainsaw, a common thief has a lucrative business, one ignored by the Australian Government.    With firewood retailing from $160/cubic metre, it is a nice little earner.  This exploitative immoral trade in Ironbark Forest ecology is negligently condoned by the Australian Government and state governments.

A native tree cut for firewood
(Blackheath Fire Brigade, Rural Fire Service, Blue Mountains, November 2011)
 

.

‘Forest Eco-theft’ wiping out Ironbark Habitat

.

Logs have life inside

.

‘Collecting firewood is one of humankind’s oldest activities.  Australians enjoy the beauty and warmth of a wood fire, and in many regional areas wood fires are the only practical source of heating.

Dead trees, often with hollows, make popular firewood as they are seasoned and burn well.  But firewood collection comes at a cost to the environment, the consequences of which may not be entirely understood for years.  Many firewood users are unaware of the ecological price of collecting dead trees and fallen logs.  Often they mistakenly think they are just keeping the forest or farm tidy.

Firewood harvesting has an effect on our native woodlands, and a variety of threatened species.  Dead standing and fallen timber provides crucial habitat for numerous species of animals and birds.  It is now recognised that the removal of this wood for firewood is contributing to a significant loss of wildlife, particularly in the woodlands of south-eastern Australia.  It is not just native animals that benefit from old wood left lying on the ground.  This debris is valuable shelter for stock too.  How many times have you found a newborn calf or lamb against an old log safe from the weather?

Habitat Tree of critical value to wildlife
…destroyed by Forestry NSW

.

Not only does standing and fallen dead wood provide important habitat for animals and birds, it also plays an essential role in maintaining forest and woodland nutrient cycles.  Scientists from the CSIRO believe that dead wood is at least as important as living trees, fallen leaves and soil for the maintenance oif ecological processes sustaining biodiversity.’

[Source:  ‘Are you burning their homes to warm yours?‘, a brochure questioning the dependency on firewood), by The National Heritage Trust. The Natural Heritage Trust (the Trust) was set up by the Australian Government under the Natural Heritage Trust Act 1997 to help restore and conserve Australia’s environment and natural resources.  The Trust had three overarching objectives:  (1) Biodiversity Conservation, (2) Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, and (3) Community Capacity Building and Institutional Change.  The Natural Heritage Trust ceased on 30 June 2008. It has been replaced by Caring for our Country, but taking supplanting a natural heritage conservation philosophy with a more anthropocentric utilitarian ‘resource management’ philosopy, ^http://www.nrm.gov.au/]

.

Cleaning up some messy dead timber –  through whose eyes?
Nature is naturally ‘messy’

.

The Regent Honeyeater has become a ‘flagship species’ for conservation issues in the box-ironbark forest region of Victoria and New South Wales.

Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera-phrygia)
Nationally listed as ‘Endangered‘. 
Listed as endangered in Queensland and New South Wales, while in Victoria it is listed as threatened.
[Source: ^http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Anthochaera-phrygia]

.

Australia’s native Regent Honeyeater, was formerly more widely distributed in south-eastern mainland Australia from Rockhampton, Queensland to Adelaide, South Australia, but is now confined to Victoria and New South Wales, and is strongly associated with the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range.   Its natural habitat is eucalypt forests and woodlands, including Box-Ironbark Forests.

The Regent Honeyeater has been badly affected by land-clearing, with the clearance of the most fertile stands of nectar-producing trees and the poor health of many remnants, as well as competition for nectar from other honeyeaters, being the major problems.  Birds Australia is helping to conserve Regent Honeyeaters as part of its Woodland Birds for Biodiversity project.

[Source: Birds Australia, ^http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Anthochaera-phrygia, and further references: ‘Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition’, ‘The Honeyeaters and their Allies of Australia’]

.

Leard State Forest Leadership
(New South Wales)
[Source:  ^http://www.kateausburn.com/2012/04/10/leard-state-forest-next-frontier-of-the-coal-industry/]

.

Further Reading:

.

[1]    ‘Box-Ironbark Forests & Woodlands Investigation‘, by The Environment Conservation Council, 2001) by The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, Australia,^http://www.veac.vic.gov.au/investigation/box-ironbark-forests-woodlands-investigation-ecc-

‘This report contains the ECC’s recommendations for public land use in the Box-Ironbark area of northern Victoria, extending from Stawell to Wodonga. The recommendations incorporate those for parts of the LCC’s North Central, Murray Valley and adjoining areas.’    (>Read Report, PDF 6.6MB – large file may be slow to load)

.

[2]    ‘National Approach to Firewood Collection and Use in Australia‘ , June 2001, Australian and New Zealand Environment Conservation Council (ANZECC), Australia,^http://www.environment.gov.au/land/publications/pubs/firewood-approach.pdf  (>Read Report , PDF 990kb)

.

[3]  ‘Impact and Use of Firewood in Australia‘, by Don Driscoll, George Milkovits, David Freudenberger, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia,^http://www.environment.gov.au/land/publications/pubs/firewood-impacts.pdf,  (>Read Report, PDF 400kb)

.

Coalpac plundering Blue Mountains values

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

In the north-western area of the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales (eastern Australia) lies the ancient Gardens of Stone.   The area is so named because of its spectacular and rare sandstone rock formations known as ‘pagodas’ (large tapered, stepped or laminated sandstone formations) along with the abundance of native flora and fauna that thrive there.

Yet since November 2009, part of this beautiful pagoda country (some 1088 hectares of the Ben Bullen State Forest) with its important wildlife habitat, has come under threat of destruction from proposed open cut coal mining.

Johnson’s Grass Trees on Genowlan Mountain
© Photo by Jaime Plaza van Roon
(click photo to enlarge)

.

Gardens of Stone National Park

.

In 1994, a Gardens of Stone National Park was created covering 15,000 hectares and joining Wollemi National Park on the northern part of Newnes Plateau. Other large landscape features include the outstanding mesas of Donkey Mountain in the Wolgan Valley and Pantoneys Crown in the Capertee Valley. Pantoneys Crown was previously protected in a much smaller nature reserve, and is the centrepiece of the commanding view of the valley from Pearsons Lookout on the Castlereagh Highway.

Pantoneys Crown, Gardens of Stone National Park, NSW
© Photo by David Braddon-Mitchell
[Source: ^http://dbm305.smugmug.com/Other/Pantoneys-Crown/13102823_B2fHx#950356269_VhEUF]
(click photo to enlarge)

.

Gardens of Stone Proposed Stage 2

‘But Gardens of Stone is an unfinished park.  Environment groups, including Blue Mountains Conservation Society, have advanced a plan to protect much more of this unique landscape, by extending the park and creating a new state conservation area over adjacent plateaus and escarpments which are presently state forest and Crown land. The overall proposal is known as Gardens of Stone Stage 2, situated just north of the town of Lithgow.  (The state conservation area classification allows underground coal-mining to continue.)

[Source: ^http://www.bluemountains.org.au/gos2.shtml]

 

‘These unprotected areas are just as valuable as the existing park, and are rich in special environments such as pagodas and canyons, nationally endangered high altitude shrub swamps and an unusual heathland on Genowlan Mountain. Rare and threatened species include the beautiful yellow Pagoda Daisy, Deane’s Boronia, Blue Mountains Water Skink, Wolgan Snow Gum, Giant Dragonfly, Regent Honeyeater, Genowlan Pea and Beautiful Firetail. In the western parts of the area the moist mountain vegetation begins to give way to drier inland communities, including grassy box woodlands, one of the most diminished and threatened environments in Australia.

‘The Gardens of Stone Stage 2 provides one of the most beautiful displays of sandstone geodiversity in Australia, comprising dramatically coloured sandstone escarpments and promontories, narrow canyons, cave overhangs, swamps and the complex arrays of rock pinnacles known as pagodas.  The area has one of the Blue Mountains’ areas of highest plant diversity including ancient windswept montane heathlands, nationally endangered upland swamps, a unique species of snowgum (E. gregsoniana) and other high plateau woodlands representing the highest development of native vegetation on Sydney Basin sedimentary rocks, poorly conserved grassy white box woodlands on slopes below the sandstone, fascinating oil shale mining ruins on spectacular Airly Mesa, and outstanding Aboriginal cultural sites on and around Newnes Plateau.

Gardens of Stone
© Photo by Hamilton Lund, Tourism NSW
Blue Mountains – Visit NSW, ^http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/blue-mountains  (click photo to enlarge)

.

The area embraces the last unprotected part of the 1934 Greater Blue Mountains National Park proposal compiled by Myles Dunphy for the National Parks and Primitive Areas Council.   It also includes the Blue Mountains Western Escarpment lands from Blackheath to Lithgow.  The Gardens of Stone Stage 2 proposal advanced by The Colong Foundation for Wilderness, the Blue Mountains Conservation Society and the Colo Committee is to include all of the remaining parts of Newnes Plateau and surrounding sandstone uplands – an area of 40,000 hectares.  It would protect the most spectacular pagoda landscapes in Australia.

Associated with these pagoda landforms are found large caves, mazes, ancient montane heathlands, endangered upland swamps, snowgums, grassy woodlands and moist gullies that contain tree ferns, stands of old growth forest and rainforest, and, in some places, slot canyons.

Reservation of Stage Two would also secure the outstanding ochre coloured cliffs of the Blue Mountains’ Western Escarpment and the rare plant communities that lie above them.  Reservation of the remaining unprotected parts of the Gardens of Stone as a State Conservation Area is urgently required to rein in ongoing and accelerating environmental degradation.

[Sources: Gardens of Stone National Park, http://www.worldheritage.org.au/resources/national-parks/gardens-of-stone-national-park/ and Blue Mountains Conservation Society, http://www.bluemountains.org.au/gos2.shtml]
Pagodas of the Gardens of Stone (still outside the National Park)
© Photo by Andrew Valja
[Source: Blue Mountains Conservation Society, http://www.bluemountains.org.au/gos2.shtml]
(click photo to enlarge)

.

.


.

Threats from Coalpac Pty Ltd

.

CoalPac is a private Queensland coal mining company headquartered in Pullenvale in outer eastern Brisbane.   In 1989, CoalPac took over coal mining operations outside the town of Lithgow in New South Wales, at the Cullen Valley Open Cut Mine and the Invincible Open Cut Mine.    The Mines currently operate at 2 mtpa and Coalpac has plans for significant expansion of coal mines in the Gardens of Stone area.

Coalpac’s CullenValley Mine
[Source: Lithgow Environment Group, Inc.]
(click photo to enlarge)

.

‘Coalpac is seeking approval for the consolidation and expansion of the existing Cullen Valley Mine and Invincible Colliery operations to produce up to a total of 3.5 million tonnes per annum.’  [Source: http://cetresources.com/about-us]

This proposed extension of its open-cut and highwall mining will intrude into a large area of the publicly-owned Ben Bullen State Forest (BBSF), NSW.  The extension area is equivalent of 2,176 football fields of predominantly old growth forest will be clear-felled and excavated if this goes ahead. The pagoda’s features and stability may be threatened by collapse.

Cracked Hassans Walls, Lithgow ~ caused by nearby mining
[Source: Lithgow Environment Group, Inc.]

.

“The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (now within the Office of Environment and Heritage) has acknowledged its wish to add BBSF to the conservation reserve system as a matter of priority” says Lachlan Garland, President of the Blue Mountains Conservation Society.

“Allowing this operation would mean the equivalent of 2,176 football fields of predominantly old growth forest of the BBSF being clear-felled and excavated.

“This forest is a publicly-owned area of conservation and recreational importance.  The community expects state forests to be protected from destruction in perpetuity.

‘Baal Bone Creek’ area at risk
©Photo by Ian Brown.
‘Baal Bone and Long Swamp (7,800 hectares) comprise massed pagoda ‘villages’ above the Long Swamp, a diverse swampy plain. They collectively form an evocative landscape of broken stone, reminiscent of Cambodia’s forest of State Forest temples, while nearby indigenous cave art honours this landscape.’
(click to enlarge, then click again to enlarge further)
 

.

“Habitats for the Regent Honeyeater, Tiger Quoll and Powerful Owl and at least 32 threatened native animals, 5 of which are listed under the EPBC Act, will be completely removed.

“Our iconic Lyrebirds also use the sides of pagodas to nest and raise their young. Mining will completely remove the protective pathways for adult birds foraging between nesting sites and will destroy their food habitats within the more fertile valley floors.

“The effective privatisation and liquidation of a large part of the forest is an outrageous precedent that should not be set; it is a direct challenge to the state’s efforts to reduce deforestation.

“The Blue Mountains Conservation Society seeks to work with the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Robyn Parker, to continue our important work and safeguard the future of the Gardens of Stone.

“We invite all politicians to visit the Gardens of Stone area with us on Sat 14th May, 2011 to see first hand the stunning areas under threat from mining.”
The NSW Department of Planning finalised the Director-General’s Requirements (guidelines) for the Environmental Assessment on 16 October 2010. The proponent is preparing the Environmental Assessment. Once finalised, this will be released for public comment.  The project, prior to the election of the NSW Coalition Government, was to be assessed by an accredited process under Part 3A, which on 7th April 2011 was scrapped by the incoming O’Farrell Liberal Government of New South Wales.  [read article below]

The very yellow Pagoda Daisy (at risk)
©Photo by Ian Brown
(click to enlarge, then click again to enlarge further)
 
 

.

Environment groups take action to protect Gardens of Stone

 

The uniquely scenic and biodiverse Gardens of Stone is under imminent threat due to a consolidation proposal by Coalpac Pty Ltd. If approved, wildlife habitat and natural heritage will be lost forever, water systems will be stressed and there would be direct impacts for local residents. On Saturday 14th May, 2011 environment groups and their supporters will be taking action to help protect this iconic landscape from irredeemable destruction.

“Coalpac Pty Ltd seeks to extend open-cut and highwall mining into a large area of the publicly-owned Ben Bullen State Forest, NSW. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has acknowledged its wish to add this forest to the conservation reserve system as a matter of priority” says Tara Cameron, Vice President of Blue Mountains Conservation Society.

“Many of the highwall scarps will abut strata directly below the ‘pagoda’ rock formations, their features and stability may be threatened by collapse. Environment groups are outraged at this proposal” says Tara Cameron.

“This forest is a publicly-owned area of conservation and recreational importance. The community expects state forests to be protected from destruction in perpetuity. If the NSW Government’s Strategic Regional Landuse Policy is to mean anything for sensitive, natural lands, then the Gardens of Stone must be protected from destructive mining operations, ” says Keith Muir, Director of Colong Foundation for Wilderness.

“This landscape is biodiversity hotspot, characterised by rich old-growth forests. Our iconic Lyrebirds use the sides of pagodas to nest and raise their young.  Mining will completely remove their food habitats as well as the habitats of at least 32 threatened native animals” says Belinda Fairbrother, Campaigns Manager for The Wilderness Society NSW.

“Water management and impacts over such a large, exposed open-cut area are of great concern. The large open cut will also create significant dust and air quality issues which will impact directly on local residents” says Caroline Graham, Vice President of Rivers SoS.

“Environment groups are calling on the government to reject this mining proposal and act to protect the region within a State Conservation Area. We are coming together at this event to send a clear message that ‘We say No to open cut mining!’ in this iconic area of our state” says Kevin Evans, EO of National Parks Association of NSW.

“Across NSW, areas of high conservation value and great beauty are under threat from the rapid expansion of the coal and coal seam gas industries. During this time of transitional arrangements on the regulation of coal mining, the State government has an opportunity to deliver on its promise of better protection of water resources and the environment by rejecting further mining at the iconic Gardens of Stone,” says Pepe Clarke, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.’

[Source:  National Pars Association of NSW, http://www.npansw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=718:environment-groups-take-action-to-protect-gardens-of-stone&catid=172:2011&Itemid=564]

.


.

‘Part 3A scrapped’

[8 Apr 11, by Tyron Butson, Southern Courier newspaper, http://southern-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/part-3a-scrapped/]

PREMIER Barry O’Farrell has given increased planning powers back to local councils after scrapping the controversial Part 3A amendment.

He announced the decision to drop Part 3A of the 1979 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act at yesterday’s first State Cabinet meeting.

Local councils will now have final say on many outstanding applications, while others will be referred to the NSW Planning Assessment Commission.

No new Part 3A application for residential, commercial, retail or coastal development will be accepted and the State Government hope to push through legislation that will see the amendment repealed from the Statute books when Parliament resumes.

“This means a return of planning powers to councils and local communities,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“The days of giving the Planning Minister sweeping powers to approve developments at the stroke of a pen with virtually no consultation with local communities are over.

“That extreme power only leads to the sort of suspicion and shady deals we have seen in NSW over the past 16 years.”

The scrapping of Part 3A was a core election promise of the Liberal party, but the government will still have to push legislation through the Upper House.

Mr O’Farrell said he had not attempted to convince opposition members but had directed the Minister for Planning Brad Hazzard to draw up plans.

Until then transitional arrangements will be put into place to deal with more than 500 Part 3A applications already in the system.

About half of the applications will now face the Planning Assessment Commission for assessment, while the rest will either be sent to local councils to vote on or allowed to lapse.

Part 3A was introduced in 2005 and gave planning ministers the ability to overrule local councils and communities on any project the minister deemed to be of state or regional importance.’

.


.

‘Cliffs crumbled due to coal mining, says new report’

(by Ben Cubby, Environment Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, April 27, 2010)

‘DOZENS of cliffs have crumbled or collapsed, Aboriginal rock art has been destroyed and metre-wide cracks opened in the earth as a result of coalmining in the Gardens of Stone wilderness area near Lithgow, an independent report has found.

The damage, inflicted over three decades by five coal mines and continuing today, is caused by subsidence from longwall mining, which now almost surrounds the Gardens of Stone National Park, part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Site. It is likely to be extended further if a new mine plan is approved by the NSW government.

The report, to be launched today by the former premier Bob Carr, documents wide-scale, unpublicised damage, including the destruction of some of the area’s unique sandstone pagodas and rock arches.

”In its monitoring reports to government, the coal industry regularly understates the damage caused,” said Keith Muir, the executive officer of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness, which produced the report. ”Mine operations do not work to minimise environmental damage and have been largely unresponsive to environmental concerns.”

The study based this conclusion on visual observation in the remote bushland and examination of the the environmental assessments used to justify the expansion of mining. In some cases, the assessments predicted that cliffs could crumble but no remedial action was taken.

The report looks at the six coalmines around the national park: the Angus Place, Springvale and Airly mines operated by Centennial Coal, Baal Bone and Clarence collieries operated by Coalex, and Invincible mine, operated by Coalpac. All the mining companies have met the requirements of their environmental assessment processes and have continued to monitor the impact of subsidence.

Reports produced by consultants employed by the companies showed more than 100 recorded cliff falls in the past three decades. Some led to changes in sites and techniques, but in the majority of cases the warnings were not heeded.

The damage was significantly worse above longwall mines, which cut out long, broad panels of coal, leaving the surface above to crack and subside. The Clarence and Airly mines use the bord and pillar technique, which involves leaving more coal in the ground to support the rock above, resulting in less surface damage.

Aboriginal rock art sites were also photographed with major fractures running through them and, in some cases, entire rock faces destroyed by the effects of subsidence.

”Crevasses, cliff falls and rock fractures are spoiling the sandstone beauty of the Gardens of Stone,” Mr Muir said.

The organisation is calling for a state-sanctioned conservation area that would provide a buffer zone around the park. It would cover part of the Baal Bone mine area, where a further expansion is planned, and the Newnes Plateau, where many swamps have been drained when the rock beneath them cracked open.

”The Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water has been considering proposals for additions to the Gardens of Stone National Park and an evaluation process is under way,” a spokeswoman said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/cliffs-crumbled-due-to-coalmining-says-new-report-20100426-tnbk.html#ixzz1MGS62mRx

.


.

Previously in 2007…


.


.

Further Reading:

.

[1]  Previous article on this website:  ‘Gardens of Stone at Risk from Coal Mining’, >https://www.habitatadvocate.com.au/?p=4021

[2]  Blue Mountains Conservation Society, ^http://www.bluemountains.org.au/gos2.shtml

[3]  Gardens of Stone National Park, ^http://www.worldheritage.org.au/resources/national-parks/gardens-of-stone-national-park/

[4]  The Colong Foundation for Wilderness, ^http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/Gardens_of_Stone/GoS2_home.htm

[5]  Lithgow Environment Group, Inc. ^http://www.lithgowenvironment.org/mine_watch.html

[6]  Lithgow Tourism,  ^http://www.lithgow-tourism.com/gardenstone.htm

[7]  Rivers SOS, ^http://riverssos.org.au/2011/04/27/help-us-protect-the-gardens-of-stone/

[8]  National Parks Association of NSW, ^http://www.npansw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=718:environment-groups-take-action-to-protect-gardens-of-stone&catid=172:2011&Itemid=564

[9]Cliffs crumbled due to coalmining, says new report’,  by Ben Cubby, Sydney Moring Herald, April 27, 2010, ^http://www.smh.com.au/environment/cliffs-crumbled-due-to-coalmining-says-new-report-20100426-tnbk.html

– end of article –

Environment groups take action to protect Gardens of Stone

The uniquely scenic and biodiverse Gardens of Stone is under imminent threat due to a consolidation proposal by Coalpac Pty Ltd. If approved, wildlife habitat and natural heritage will be lost forever, water systems will be stressed and there would be direct impacts for local residents. On Saturday 14th May, 2011 environment groups and their supporters will be taking action to help protect this iconic landscape from irredeemable destruction.

“Coalpac Pty Ltd seeks to extend open-cut and highwall mining into a large area of the publicly-owned Ben Bullen State Forest, NSW. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has acknowledged its wish to add this forest to the conservation reserve system as a matter of priority” says Tara Cameron, Vice President of Blue Mountains Conservation Society.

“Many of the highwall scarps will abut strata directly below the ‘pagoda’ rock formations, their features and stability may be threatened by collapse. Environment groups are outraged at this proposal” says Tara Cameron.

“This forest is a publicly-owned area of conservation and recreational importance. The community expects state forests to be protected from destruction in perpetuity. If the NSW Government’s Strategic Regional Landuse Policy is to mean anything for sensitive, natural lands, then the Gardens of Stone must be protected from destructive mining operations, ” says Keith Muir, Director of Colong Foundation for Wilderness.

“This landscape is biodiversity hotspot, characterised by rich old-growth forests. Our iconic Lyrebirds use the sides of pagodas to nest and raise their young.  Mining will completely remove their food habitats as well as the habitats of at least 32 threatened native animals” says Belinda Fairbrother, Campaigns Manager for The Wilderness Society NSW.

“Water management and impacts over such a large, exposed open-cut area are of great concern. The large open cut will also create significant dust and air quality issues which will impact directly on local residents” says Caroline Graham, Vice President of Rivers SoS.

“Environment groups are calling on the government to reject this mining proposal and act to protect the region within a State Conservation Area. We are coming together at this event to send a clear message that ‘We say No to open cut mining!’ in this iconic area of our state” says Kevin Evans, EO of National Parks Association of NSW.

“Across NSW, areas of high conservation value and great beauty are under threat from the rapid expansion of the coal and coal seam gas industries. During this time of transitional arrangements on the regulation of coal mining, the State government has an opportunity to deliver on its promise of better protection of water resources and the environment by rejecting further mining at the iconic Gardens of Stone,” says Pepe Clarke, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.

error: Content is copyright protected !!