Biobanking
The NSW Department of Environment and Conservation’s (DEC) Environment Protection and Regulatory Division (EPRD) is currently engaged in a process to implement a biodiversity offset scheme – termed “Biodiversity Banking” — that seeks to address the impacts of “our expanding urban footprint on biodiversity values” by creating “new opportunities for private sector conservation management of land”. The scheme forms part of the Government’s recent Threatened Species Amendment package and is set to be trialled in the Lower Hunter. These amendments, introduced late 2004, opened the way for a carrot and stick approach to threatened species protection in NSW.
By george at 2006-05-19 11:59 | Campaigns | Forests and Native Vegetation | Regional Conservation | read more
Leard State Forest
This was, until recently, Leard State Forest. Soon it will be a hole in the ground. We continue to lose huge tracts of native vegetation and wildlife habitat to the mining industry, as well as to the Pacific Highway upgrades and the development industry.
This photo was taken by Ron and Joyce Webster.
By george at 2006-06-27 13:39 | Bear witness | Forests and Native Vegetation | News
Biobanking bill introduced
******* IMPORTANT NEWS *******
The biodiversity Banking Bill has been introduced into NSW parliament, with the promise that we will have the Winter recess to read and respond to its content.
Already there are some worrying developments, such as the intimiation, in the 2nd reading speech, that through this Bill “Conservation effort is shifted from small pockets of expensive land which is more suited to development onto lower priced land, where the pressure of weeds, pests species and degradation is lower” — If land value forms any part of the biobanking equation, it will not deliver on its promises.
By george at 2006-06-09 11:29 | Forests and Native Vegetation | News | Regional Conservation | read more
But not all public forests are well-regulated
The community is still waiting for real protection to be provided to the outstanding River Red Gum forests that line the Murray and Murrumbidgee. The State Government abandoned plans to conduct a Western Regional Assessment in the Riverina two years ago, and veery little has happened since.
In the forests of the Riverina, few controls are exercised on logging operations in public forests, and a recent communioty audit of operations there discovered clearfells right along the river.
A loophole in NSW legislation has allowed loggers to exploit River Red Gums along the Murray River and sell them in Victoria for cheap products such as garden woodchips, firewood and railway sleepers. Trees with up to 1.5 metre diametres, that mighyt be more than a hundred years old, are felled for low-value products and sometimes not even milled in NSW.
By george at 2006-05-28 15:24 | Forests and Native Vegetation | read more
Forests being flattened on private land
Unlike publicly-owned forests, where environmental regulation has been in operation for years, forests on private land are being logged in NSW with little or no control.
The State Governemtn has so far failed to implement a Code of conduct for provate land logging, and while they dither, rainforest and oldgrowth are being felled, creek banks eroded, and environmental vandalism is carrying on out of the public gaze.
The Nature Conservation Council and North East Forest Alliance are leading the charge to get some controls put on provtae logging operations in this State.
You can pick up and sign a post-card at HCEC, or at the Newcastle Branch of the Wilderness Society, or go to the NCC website for more details: www.nccnsw.org.au
By george at 2006-05-28 15:15 | Forests and Native Vegetation | read more
Crown lease sell-off
The State Government has offered up our Crown perpetual lease estate – totalling 3 million ha – for conversion to freehold at a fraction of its financial value. Crown leases harbor high quality habitat wetlands, including the iconic Macquarie Marshes, identified wilderness and old-growth forests, as well as habitat for 182 threatened species, large forest and woodland remnants in fragmented landscapes, and 143 very poorly reserved ecosystems.
The conversion of these leases to freehold will seriously threaten these values. The National Parks Association (NPA) Crown Lands Project Officer is working from HCEC.
By george at 2006-05-17 16:25 | Forests and Native Vegetation | read more