RE-WEAVERS AWARDS - A WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY CELEBRATION

Clarence environment groups will be celebrating World Environment Day on 5^th June by holding the eighth Re-Weavers’ Awards Dinner in Grafton.

The Re-Weavers’ Awards recognise individual Australians who have made a significant environmental contribution.  These Re-Weavers have “greatly enhanced the tapestry of our Earth Community by re-weaving green threads of sustainability back into its living fabric”.

Those honoured this year are Roslyn Woodward of Wooloweyah and Nan and Hugh Nicholson of The Channon.

Roslyn Woodward is the President of Valley Watch, the environment group based in the Lower Clarence.  She has been active in various important local campaigns including those against the West Yamba development and clearing at Gulmarrad.  She has also been a strong advocate for effective action on climate change.

Nan and Hugh Nicholson were very active in the battle to save Terania Creek Rainforest in the late 1970s and early 1980s – a battle which became an important catalyst for other forest issues.   Following their establishment of a nursery specialising in rainforest plants, the Nicholsons published six books on Australian rainforest plants.  In recent years they have become involved in campaigning against moves to establish gasfields in the Northern Rivers.

The Re-Weavers’ evening, which is being held at the Masonic Centre, is being hosted by the Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition, Clarence Environment Centre and the Clarence Branch of the National Parks Association of NSW.

HOLLOW LOGS ARE VALUABLE

Photo: J Edwards

“The ecological roles of logs in Australian forests and the potential impacts of harvesting intensification on log-using biota”, is the rather complex title of a 2002 report by scientists based at the Australian National University which, to put it simply, is a review of the ecological values of logs in Australian eucalypt forests. While more than 10 years old the report still has relevance with on-going timber industry lobbying to allow the burning of wood to generate electricity.

The ecological value of hollow logs, and standing dead trees is recognised in law, with the destruction of both deemed Key Threatening Processes under the Threatened Species Conservation (TSC) Act , and their destruction is identified as a threat to many high profile species such as Quoll, Glossy-black Cockatoo, Regent Parrot, Brush-tailed Phascogale, Large Forest Owls, and Squirrel and Yellow-bellied Gliders.

While this knowledge is generally well-known, it is just the tip of the ecological role provided by logs. The study identifies that they provide crucial functions throughout their life which could last many decades, even centuries, with those functions changing with mind-boggling complexity as they decompose over time.

Logs have critical functions for forest biodiversity, providing places for key social behaviour for an astonishing range of living creatures from reptiles to rodents, birds to bacteria; snails, beetles, borers, millipedes, worms, weevils and roaches.  The list is endless. In fact the report lists 57 reptile species alone in south eastern Australia that utilise logs for shelter, safe passage, foraging, hibernation, and even basking.

As they decompose, logs provide plant germination sites, providing substrates to promote growth of fungi, and refuge for living organisms during drought and fire, while also contributing to heterogeneity in the litter layer, and playing a significant role in nutrient cycling.

However, many see logs, particularly residue from logging operations, as unsightly waste needing to be removed or burned. While often claiming otherwise, usual forestry practice is to burn residues seeing them as obstacles to future operations, giving little thought to the crucial role they play in maintaining the amazing biodiversity which provides us humans with everything we need to survive.

-John Edwards

This post was originally published (without the photos) in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on 4 May 2015.

Photo: J Edwards

 

NORTH COAST CONSERVATIONISTS CONDEMN RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGET AGREEMENT

The North Coast Environment Council (NCEC) and the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) have condemned the agreement on the Renewable Energy Target (RET) reached by the Liberal-National Party Federal Government and the Federal Opposition Labor Party because of the inclusion of biomass (timber) as an electricity source in the target.

The timber to be burnt for power is claimed to be forest "waste". However, the two conservation organisations believe that this decision will lead to further unsustainable logging and decimation of native forests.

"We know from nearly 50 years experience of woodchipping that the logging industry views everything except A Grade sawlogs as 'waste'.  So the likelihood of intensive damaging logging has just got worse," said NCEC spokesperson Susie Russell.

"The renewable industry didn't want this. They know that not only will it damage their brand, but that it steals from the limited funds available to kickstart renewable energy projects, as well as cheating and effectively lowering the Renewable Energy Target as energy created from this dirty, high emission and unsustainable source will be counted in our fight to decrease greenhouse gas pollution."

She  added that consumers would be likely to be reluctant to pay more for renewable energy "if they have a reasonable suspicion that it is koala homes that are going up in smoke."

NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said, "Burning trees is not carbon neutral."

"Feeding trees into furnaces for power is just as polluting and environmentally damaging as coal.  This needs to be clearly ruled out as a substitute for genuinely renewable power such as solar and wind."

He also pointed out that as well as the increased carbon emissions the increased logging would result in damage to biodiversity, soil and water catchments.