User:Peter Campbell/Brown Mountain links

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Unprotected old growth Shining Gum at Brown Mountain

These are recent links on the Brown Mountain old growth forest (from Delicious) that I have bookmarked:

Environment Minister moves to protect East Gippsland forest

ENVIRONMENT Minister Gavin Jennings moved to protect significant areas of old-growth forest in East Gippsland at the same time as releasing some of it for logging, a court has heard.

Ian Waller, SC, for the state government's commercial timber agency VicForests, said the minister announced new parks and reserves in the vicinity of Brown Mountain last year along with other measures to protect threatened species in the area.

They included a 100-metre buffer zone around Brown Mountain Creek and the retention per hectare of at least five hollow-bearing trees, which are important for habitat and breeding, where they were present in sufficient numbers. [?]

Logging | East Gippsland | VicForests

STATE-SANCTIONED logging of old-growth forest in East Gippsland poses a risk to threatened and endangered species and is at odds with the government's own legislation, an environment group has said.

Environment East Gippsland is suing VicForests, the government agency responsible for logging in state forests, over plans to log about 60 hectares at Brown Mountain, which greens and the timber industry see as a symbolic battleground.

The group won an injunction last year preventing logging in the area before the trial, which began in the Supreme Court sitting at Sale yesterday. [?]

Victorian Parliamentary Hansard - Parliament of Victoria

Environmentalists Win Injunction Over Logging At Brown Mountain | Long-footed Potoroo| East Gippsland | Logging

A Supreme Court judge has compared images of a felled forest with a World War I battlefield before ordering a temporary ban on logging in a hotly contested part of East Gippsland.

Environmentalists claimed a historic victory after winning an injunction over logging of two zones of old-growth forest at Brown Mountain, seen as a symbolic battleground by greens and the timber industry.

The injunction will stand until a trial to test whether the logging would pose a threat to endangered species, particularly the long-footed potoroo. [?]

Landmark injunction halts old-growth logging

Environmentalists have won a landmark court injunction to halt logging in old-growth forest in far east Gippsland.

The temporary injunction brings into doubt a State Government decision to allow logging in two areas at Brown Mountain, north of Orbost.

Victorian Environment Minister Gavin Jennings last month lifted a seven-month moratorium on logging at the mountain, reasoning government surveys had found no direct evidence of threatened species. [?]

VEXNEWS // news for patriots | TWO-FACED TWIT: Victorian minister publicly disagrees with his own policy… on Twitter

A Brumby government minister has used Twitter to make clear his opposition to a Cabinet endorsed government policy on forestry he personally announced last week.

VEXNEWS understands from government sources the policy had been formally approved by the Brumby Cabinet some time ago but was not what the minister had pushed for originally.

On this occasion, the browns, including an exalted alumni of Forestry union cadres operating under deep cover in adviser circles, prevailed over the government greens faction in order to protect Victorian jobs from the navel-gazing avarice of inner-city Greens and doctors’ wives who all use timber products but don’t want logging. [?]

Endangered species &squo;in logging zone&squo; | Herald Sun

AUSTRALIAN Greens Leader Bob Brown and environment groups have called for a halt to logging in Victoria's East Gippsland area after the discovery of several endangered species.

Threatened species of crayfish, owls and gliders were discovered on the Australia Day weekend at Brown Mountain in East Gippsland, where a logging operation has been interrupted by protesters in the past two weeks.

Environment East Gippsland spokeswoman Jill Redwood said the Orbost spiny crayfish, endangered sooty and powerful owls and a large population of greater gliders were discovered at the weekend. [?]

Long-footed potoroo puts pressure on Brown Mountain logging | Herald Sun

A RARE long-footed potoroo has made an 11th-hour appearance for surveillance cameras at Brown Mountain that could win the area a reprieve from logging.

The Victorian Government announced on Friday it would allow bulldozers back into the region because research had not found any endangered animals in the area. [?]

Battle lines drawn as logging moratorium ends

CONSERVATIONISTS will seek a court injunction to stop logging in a hotly contested slice of Gippsland old-growth forest after the State Government declared it did not warrant protection.

Environment Minister Gavin Jennings yesterday lifted a seven-month moratorium on logging at Brown Mountain in far east Gippsland, a long-time battleground between environmentalists and timber workers. [?]

PERMANENT PROTECTION FOR BROWN MOUNTAIN AREA - Premier of Victoria, Australia

The Brumby Labor Government will protect a further 400ha of the Brown Mountain area, including the mountain summit, as part of the establishment of old growth and icon reserves in East Gippsland, Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said today.
Mr Jennings said that the inclusion of the large area around Brown Mountain would form part of a significant, unbroken link between the Errinundra and Snowy River national parks.

“This area of Brown Mountain contains significant natural values, including old growth forests, that will now be protected forever,” Mr Jennings said. [?]

Forests - the essential climate fix - On Line Opinion - 1/7/2009

Wandering among the majestic, centuries-old trees still standing on Brown Mountain in East Gippsland, there is little to evidence to suggest that this is one of the most embattled parts of Victoria. This region has long been at the centre of bitter disputes between government, logging companies and those who wish to protect its grandeur and unparalleled biodiversity. [?]

Victorian National Parks Association / Hidden Section / Investigation finds Brumby Government protecting paddocks instead of 500-year-old forests

An investigative report released today reveals that the Brumby Government is breaking a 2006 election promise by protecting paddocks and previously logged areas instead of Victoria's ancient old growth forests.

The investigation into the Victorian Government's commitment to protect 41,000 hectares of old growth forest, carried out by the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA), The Wilderness Society (TWS) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), found 40 per cent of the areas identified for protection were a mix of cleared, logged or dry regrowth forests, not old growth forest. [?]

AM - Campaign to save old-growth forest turns to radiocarbon testing

TONY EASTLEY: A Victorian environment group has taken an unusual step in its campaign to save a stand of old-growth forest. They've had the age of a felled eucalypt radiocarbon tested. They believe it's one of the first tests of its kind on an Australian tree. And the result suggests the giant gum was at least 500 years old. [?]

Felled old-growth tree '500 years old' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A Victorian environment group has radiocarbon-tested a felled old-growth eucalypt and the result suggests the giant gum was at least 500 years old.

The battle to save the old-growth forests of Brown Mountain in Victoria's far east has been waged by environmentalists since 1989.

When another coupe was cut down early this year, logging opponents decided to send a sample of a felled tree to the University of Waikato in New Zealand for radiocarbon dating tests. [?]

Bob Brown on Brown Mountain and Greens Population Policy Wednesday 28 Jan - Report | (We) can do better