Brown Mt

Hi Guys, i have been going along to the wilderness society meetings we they are currently desperately trying to protect Brown Mt.

How’s everyone’s holidays or holidays soon to be going?

Andrej

On Wed, 10/12/08, Amelia Young <amelia.young@wilderness.org.au> wrote:

From: Amelia Young <amelia.young@wilderness.org.au>
Subject: Help Protect East Gippsland's Forests
To: amelia.young@wilderness.org.au
Received: Wednesday, 10 December, 2008, 11:57 AM

Dear Friends,



I would be most appreciative if you could spend 20 minutes helping to protect some of the finest remaining old growth forest in East Gippsland .



Further to a telephone conservation or message you would have received from one of our volunteers last night, please find attached some information to help you covey your opposition to the logging of our old-growth forests.



I am hoping you will write a short letter or email to your local MP or Premier, using a few points from the attached Message.



If you are unsure who your local Member of Parliament is, please visit http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/handbook/menupage.cfm?menuId=2



The Government is considering the fate of these forests at the moment. We are hoping to create a deluge of letters and emails over the next week before loggers enter the next coupe in The Valley of the Giants.



Letters are effective and can be as short as 2 paragraphs. However, you should express your opinions strongly, and request/ demand an explanation for this senseless destruction.



Please speak to your friends, neighbours, etc., and forward this email to anyone who may be interested. I have attached a link to You Tube showing the current logging, which I hope works.



Please take a minute to view the footage on You Tube: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FS8p_ky_jsw read the attached Message, and view the photos.



Best wishes. All help is sincerely appreciated.



Sincerely,



Amelia.





Amelia Young

Victorian Forest Community Campaigner



The Wilderness Society

Level 2, 288 Brunswick Street Fitzroy 3065

Ph: (03) 9038 0814

Mob: 0404 074 577

Fax: (03) 9038 0800



www.wilderness.org.au



Protecting, promoting and restoring wilderness and natural processes across Australia for the survival and ongoing evolution of life on Earth.

Please help protect Victoria’s last significant stands of old growth forests!
Background:
The Valley of the Giants near Brown Mountain contains some of the finest remaining old growth forest left in Victoria. Prior to the 2006 election, the State Government promised to immediately protect the last significant stands of Victoria’s old growth forests currently available for logging. It also promised to invest in an Old Growth Walk near Goongerah.
Volunteers created a walk through the Valley of the Giants so that the community could appreciate the massive trees found in this multi-aged forest (multi-aged stands are rare and significant).
Since the Government’s promise in 2006, VicForests has logged many hundreds of hectares of prime old growth forest. It provocatively located 3 clearfelling coupes in the Valley of the Giants in July 2007. Logging started recently in the first of these coupes, cynically called “The Walk” by VicForests.
Please refer to photos attached (and following):
Photo 1: current clearfell logging in The Valley of the Giants, Brown Mountain
Photo 2: threatened giant Eucalypt, The Valley of the Giants, Brown Mountain
Photo 3: regeneration burn – diverse wet forests are destroyed, to be replaced by even aged tree farms
Significance:
East Gippsland’s forests are of world significance. English botanist David Bellamy described them as the best temperate forests in the world. They harbour giant trees up to 500 years old. They contain rainforests, pristine rivers, waterfalls, rare plants and animals. They are vitally important for wildlife conservation, and are the last stronghold for some of Victoria’s threatened and endangered species such as the Spotted-tailed Quoll and the Long-footed Potoroo. Above all, they are forests of incomparable inspiration, beauty and grandeur.
Export Woodchip Industry:
East Gippsland’s forests are being progressively destroyed by the unrelenting demands of the export woodchip industry. Eighty five per cent of our native forests end up as woodchips, sawdust and waste. This tax payer subsidized industry takes an enormous environmental toll; it
• Destroys rainforests
• Kills native animals and obliterates their habitats
• Causes siltation of streams
• Opens up and dries out forests, increasing their susceptibility to fire
• Accelerates the spread of feral animals and weeds
• Reduces the quality and quantity of water produced by forests
• Makes a major contribution to global warming, as close to three million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide are released throughout Victoria each year due to intensely hot regeneration burns.

Note: Australia is only 5% forested but it exports woodchips to Japan, which is 50% forested. Japan does not woodchip its own forests.
The hot regeneration burns which follow clearfelling effectively eliminate rainforest species.
The overall effect of woodchipping is to transform diverse wild forests into industrial tree farms for private profit. This is occurring on public land to publicly-owned forests. The regrowth crops are logged within 20 -30 years for woodchip exports. Every day, over 12 football fields of East Gippsland’s forests are destroyed.
The VicForests 2007/08 Annual Report shows a tiny profit. However, this result was only achieved after receiving a special grant from the State Treasury Department of over five million dollars, and after being given all its timber by the Department of Sustainability and Environment at nil value. This is clearly a nonsense and means, in effect, that Victorian taxpayers are subsidizing the destruction of their own forests!
The situation is critical. What remains must be protected. Please do your utmost to help by writing short letters or emails to:
1. Your local MP: to find out who your local politician is, please visit http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/handbook/menupage.cfm?menuId=2

2. The Premier John Brumby
Level 1, 1 Treasury Pl, Melbourne 3002
Tel: 9651 5000 Email: john.brumby@parliament.vic.gov.au
3. The Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Gavin Jennings
Level 22, 50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000
Tel: 9096-8830 Email: gavin.jennings@parliament.vic.gov.au

Remember:
Letters and emails don’t have to be long. Two or three short paragraphs are fine (short letters are preferable).
Introduce yourself and express your views strongly as to why it is important to you that these forests are protected.
These are your forests. They do not belong to the woodchip or logging companies.
Ask the Premier/ Minister/ local MP what they are doing to protect these unique forests, and to let you know. Ask questions, create a sense of urgency, and let them know that you expect a reply. Ask how they are able to justify this continuing destruction, as it doesn’t make environmental or economic sense.
Lastly, tell the Premier/Minister/ MP that you expect the Government to keep its promise to immediately protect the last significant stands of Victoria’s old growth forest currently available for logging.

Thank you for your interest and support. Please tell your friends and forward this email to them. Our remaining old growth forests are too valuable to be destroyed in this way – we need them to survive for the benefit of future generations.