Ending Native Forest Logging in the Otways:
Chronology of Key Events 1995 - 2008
by Trevor Poulton
http://www.teamlaw.net.au/uploads/1/7/4/9/17498055/saving_the_otways_campaign_chronology_-_alp_otway_ranges_interest_group.pdf
UPLOAD CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (note links in chronology to be restored)
UPLOAD CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (note links in chronology to be restored)
Ending Native Forest Logging in the Otways: Chronology of Key Events 1995 - 2008
Compiled by Co-convenor -Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG) September 2008
[email protected]
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY MEMBERS
READ MORE ALP OTWAY RANGES INTEREST GROUP
Contacts for the Otway Ranges Interest Group
(formed statewide as a non-constituent unit of the ALP - 2000)
Trevor Poulton (Central Branch): 0402 987 181
by email to [email protected]
Nick Adams (Fitzroy Branch): (03) 9417 4774
Lindsay Hesketh (Upper Yarra Branch): 0418 655 551
Carol Wilmink (Apollo Bay Branch)
Sandra Skene (Apollo Bay Branch)
Trevor Poulton (Central Branch): 0402 987 181
by email to [email protected]
ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN GOALS MET!
How the ALP can End Clearfell Logging of the Otway Ranges
Clearfell logging involves the broad scale clearing of forest areas and has a dramatic impact on the landscape. According to the September 2001 Saulwick poll A Quantitative Study of Corangamite Voter Attitudes (commissioned by ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group), 69% of all electors in Corangamite oppose the clearfelling of native forests in the Otways.
The State (ADD BUT not in bold) ALP can shift the voting patterns of a significant proportion of swinging voters by ending clearfell logging in the Otways. This can be achieved under the terms of the Federal-State (ADD but not in bold)West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement and the Forest Act 1958 (Vic) (ADD but not in bold)
3 POLITICAL STEPS
(1) The Victorian State Government commits to ending clearfell logging in the Otways as at 30 June 2002.
Otway Ranges State Forest
(2) The Victorian State Government: (a) ends the annual renewal of Residual log allocations, which allow for the exploitation of the Otways for woodchips, as at 30 June 2002; and (b) immediately ceases the granting of Residual Log Licences.
(3) The Victorian State Government and the Federal Government assist with structural adjustment through employment creation programs in private plantation forestry and tourism industries in the Otway-Colac region.
PIC
Mt Sabine Falls -temporarily reprieved from logging
through work of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group
and Community Groups
Callahans Logging Coupe - Geelong Water Catchment
"The ALP is in power -
we are not asking the Premier to lead the Party out of the wilderness
- we are asking the Premier to save the wilderness."
LINKS TO SOME RELATED ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE AGE
29 Jan 2001 Sabine Falls Wins Reprieve
14 Mar 2001 Internal Feud Hits ALP Over Otways
21 Apr 2001 Dissent Grows in ALP Over Otways
27 Apr 2001 Sparks Threaten to Ignite Victorias Forestry Tinderbox
28 Oct 2001 Pain in Lumber Region as MP Jumps the Gun
30 Oct 2001 Logging Pressure on Labor
See: How to make a stand within the ALP http://www.alporig.green.net.au/downloads/ALP_ORIG_documents/ALP_ORIG_campaign_methodology.pdf
ENDING NATIVE FOREST LOGGING IN THE OTWAYS:
CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS 1995 – 2008
Compiled by Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG)
September 2008
Compiled by Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG) October 2008
In fulfillment of the state Labor government’s election policy, Forests and National Parks (2002), parliament passed legislation on 15 September, 2005 establishing the Great Otway National Park (102,000 ha) and the Otway Forest Park (40,000 ha). The legislation also heralded the end to all native forest logging on public land in the Otway Forest Management Area.
The policy provided for a timeframe for ending logging outside of the new national park, not based on a transition to plantations which would have taken decades, but on the expiry of hardwood timber logging licences by June 2008.
The Otways forest policy represented a wonderful win for the public and for the environment movement. The time was historically ripe for the forest policy statement which not only addressed the Otways, but also promised an end to wood chipping in Wombat State Forest, and a VEAC Investigation into the future of Goolengook Forest Management Block.
Since the commencement in 1995 of the Commonwealth-State Regional Forest Agreement process, the Otways had become a logical flash point for the environment movement to challenge the state government’s ecological forest management credentials - the Otways is close to Melbourne, the area is internationally recognised for its natural assets, it brings in over a billion dollars per annum through tourism, and its water supply catchments service over a quarter of a million people.
Ending native forest logging in the Otways: Chronology of Key Events 1995-2008 is intended to capture key events of the campaign.
Geelong Environment Council Inc boosted community passion for saving the Otway forests with its Proposal for the Extension of the Otway National Park (1995) to increase protection for the region’s cool temperate rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest and a whole range of habitat for the Tiger Quoll, Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo, Powerful Owl, Australian King Parrot, River Blackfish and the list goes on. The Otway Ranges Walking Track Association encapsulated tourism potential of the Otway Ranges beyond the Great Ocean Road with its proposed Trans-Otway Walk leading to ten waterfalls, and weaving its way through rainforest and magnificent valley forest in the Mid-Cumberland, Kennett, Carisbrook, Upper Smythes and Wild Dog Valleys, connecting Lorne to Apollo Bay by foot.
Politically inspired groups such as the Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN) and Geelong Community Forum (GCF) mobilised to highlight deficiencies in the Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s (DNRE, now DSE) forest management practices and policies that put the interests of the timber industry above that of many other stakeholders including conservation groups, tourism operators and water catchment authorities. They impressed local government with presentations at council meetings leading to several councils in the Geelong-Colac region passing motions reflecting concern over clearfell logging, particularly in the proclaimed water catchments.
Direct action groups such as Future Rescue bravely confronted the machinery of the timber industry, drawing media attention to the devastating impacts of industrial logging. The Department was continually being frustrated by aerial forest blockades using ropes, platforms, pulleys, and climbing equipment, sometimes creating tree villages in the canopy.
Doctors for Native Forests contributed with picnic tours of forest areas, as well as constructing walking tracks and obstinately re-constructing them after they had been undone by the Department.
Small business in towns and hamlets along the Surf Coast later joined the movement to assert a long term vision for the Otways centred on tourism that would guarantee greater employment opportunities and economic growth for the region.
Political groups such as the Australian Democracts and the Greens Party mobilised with regular media releases and election policies to protect the Otways. Liberals for Forests stood candidates at State and Federal elections to give prominence to the issue amongst conservative voters.
The Labor Party, which took government from the Liberals in 1999, also found itself under intense internal pressure from grassroots members, with the establishment of the ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG). The group’s stated objective was to end logging of the Otways by 2002. ALP ORIG garnered support for the campaign by getting up motions at 30 ALP Branches calling for an end to clearfell logging of the Otways, participated on ALP policy committees, courted factions within the party, and consulted with affiliated unions such as the Electrical Trades Union, politicians and ministerial advisers. It drafted the Otways Hydrology Study policy which was embraced during the 1999 state election by a victorious Labor Party. It commissioned the Saulwick & Associates Poll which pointed out to the government that 69% of people in south-west Victoria opposed clearfell logging. It engaged in strategic dialogue with the Minister for Environment’s office right up to the 2002 election.
ALP ORIG worked closely with environment groups and in the process developed a Common Base Position Statement in February 2002 which provided a framework for ending logging in the Otways. Importantly, the framework clarified for the government how logging could be brought to an end in the Otways without negating the West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) (to be distinguished from the Greens campaign of ‘RFA No Way’).
The chronology brings to light contributions of professional journalists such as Claire Miller, the then Environment Reporter for The Age, whose articles provided to the public of Victoria a dramatic narrative of the battles down on the south-west coast and the reactions of the government and the timber industry. The series of articles now stand as an invaluable testament as to what happened back then.
Whilst the chronology does acknowledge support leant to the campaign by some Labor Members of Parliament, in reality MPs tended to be relatively missing in action, having failed to bind together in any form within the parliamentary wing to amplify community concerns. Predictably, it was Labor MPs, a number of whom actually opposed ending logging of the Otways, who became electoral beneficiaries.
There were notable differences in strategies and objectives that characterised the conduct of various groups, and in that regard, there may be lessons for future campaigns. In particular, in the opinion of the writer, OREN changed its course after Premier Steve Bracks signed the West Victoria RFA in 2000. OREN had been a local brand name for the movement to end logging in the Otways and was particularly respected for it research and series of reports critiquing DSE’s policies and operations. However, OREN became progressively negotiable with the Minister for Environment and Conservation’s Office and made several offers to not endorse Direct Action by protesters in exchange for the Department not logging contentious coupes that OREN had identified. These dealings could have alienated the movement, and were particularly controversial since they did not procure any substantive commitments by the state government to end logging. Further, the Department continued to chainsaw its way through OREN’s list of contentious coupes.
In February 2002, the state election year, Minister Garbutt publically claimed that her office had entered into a ‘peace deal’ with OREN, as if the war was over. However, the Minister’s claim of a ‘peace deal’ during the election year was illusory. Community groups, environment groups, the Democrats and Greens Party, ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group and residents persisted with direct action in coupes such as Dunse Track, endorsed the Common Base Position Statement, joined the Rally For Our Forests outside the May 2002 ALP State Conference and lobbied on all political levels in the lead up to the election to maximise pressure on the government for immediate reform.
The Bracks government’s Otways announcement was a political response to an accumulation of efforts by a broad range of stakeholders. In that regard, it also ought not to be forgotten that OREN’s agitation, regular reporting of events through its website, and persistent dialogue with the government remained extremely important for helping to keep the issue on the political and public agenda.
The specific political trigger for the Otways announcement related to the fact that the Labor Party was a minority government and needed to secure its inner Melbourne seats from a strengthening and ‘predatory’ environmental Greens Party at the 30 November 2002 state election. The seeds had been planted by the public and several weeks before the election the Labor Party machine finally bought the argument and decided that, despite an intransigent Environment Minister and lobbying from the Timber Workers Division (CFMEU) and the timber industry, saving the Otways could neutralise the Greens’ environmental vote. The ALP went on to win the 2002 election in a landslide, which included winning two new seats in the south-west of Victoria as well as securing Geelong which Labor had previously held by only 16 votes.
The policy proved, after many exhausting and sometimes bloody battles, to be an electoral gift from the public to the incumbent Labor government.
Status of the West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement:
The Otways legislation was passed despite terms contained in the West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement that, for example, provide that with any changes in the timber harvesting area there must not be a net deterioration in the timber capacity of the forest.
Whilst the Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN) maintains on its website that the Otways/OREN campaign ‘destroyed the Regional Forest Agreement process’ and that ‘former Premier Bracks is the only State Premier to ever have cancelled a Regional Forest Agreement in its entirety anywhere in Australia!!', the reality is that the West Victoria RFA remains intact.
Regional Forest Agreements were structured to abrogate the Federal government from its obligations to regulate native timber forestry under Commonwealth acts such the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwth), Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974, Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (Cwth) and the Export Control Act, and regulations such as the Export Control (Unprocessed Wood) Regulations (Cwth) and Export Control (Hardwood Wood Chips) Regulations (Cwth). If the West Victoria RFA has been cancelled then these Commonwealth acts and regulations would once again apply to the West Victoria region, in particular in relation to the burgeoning hardwood plantation estate (including leased crown land), and management of continued hardwood logging in the Midlands Forest Management Area.
The Otways election announcement constituted a possible breach of the West Victoria RFA by the state government. However, the Federal government has not, and would not have any interest in using that breach to terminate the agreement under the termination clauses in the RFA.
Further, the writer suggests that the state government could perhaps argue that whilst it may have breached some terms of the RFA agreement, it had merely adopted recommendation 16 of the report, Evaluation of Data and Methods for Estimating the Sustainable Yield of Sawlogs in Victoria (Expert Data Reference Group, 2001) by ‘applying the optimal harvesting rate that delivers the greatest benefit to stakeholders’, which in the case of the Otways Forest Management Area had been deemed to be a sustainable logging yield of 0%.
Rather than dismissing the RFA as an irrelevancy, a challenge for environment groups is to ascertain the remaining obligations that the State government is yet to and/or must still comply with under the West Victoria RFA for ecologically sustainable management of its native forests, as well as for regulating plantation forestry operations.
Key events:
The chronology is intended to capture key events to give the reader an insight into the dynamics of the campaign. It has largely avoided delving into the forest politics of other regions but does make some references to conduct of organisations such as the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and The Wilderness Society (TWS) with regards strategies that impacted on all the forest campaigns - in particular, their support of the State government to corporatise VicForests as a state-owned business for public forestry (a form of privatisation), and TWS’s initiating of a Writ in the Supreme Court against the CFMEU that virtually destroyed the opportunity for environment groups to develop an alliance with green unions through Earthworker.
The chronology has been drafted by the writer from his extensive cabinet of documents and computer files as well as through some Googling. However, the writer is more than happy to amend any factual errors or misinterpretations, and include other key events which may be brought to his attention by the reader, and which can only add to the document’s usefulness.
The chronology includes hyperlinks for readers who might want a more in depth understanding of the issues or confirm the accuracy of the writer’s entries. The links can also be accessed in the box on the home page of the website www.alporig.green.net.au
Trevor Poulton
6 October 2008
ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG)
[email protected]
Mobile: 0402 987 181
Campaign Websites to be re-uploaded
www.alporig.green.net.au
www.goolengook.green.net.au
www.alpmods.green.net.au
See: How to make a stand within the ALP http://www.alporig.green.net.au/downloads/ALP_ORIG_documents/ALP_ORIG_campaign_methodology.pdf
ENDING NATIVE FOREST LOGGING IN THE OTWAYS:
CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS 1995 – 2008
Compiled by Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG)
October 2008
[NOTE - TO BE RESTORED TO TABLE FORMAT INCLUDING LINKS]
[COLUMNS]
UPLOAD TABLE
DATE
EVENT
ELABORATION
150
tp
2/6/ 2008
Logging of native forests in the Otways ends with the expiry of the last hardwood timber licence
APPENDIX ‘A’
DRAFTED by ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG) - February 2002
Memorandum of Common Base Position for the Otways
Framework for ending logging within the Otway State Forest
12 February, 2002
Summary:
A. Framework for ending logging within the Otway State Forest (7 points)
1. End all logging of Otway State Forest & establish new National Park
2. Include vision for Otway State Forest in Great Ocean Road Region strategy plan
Interim provisions:
3. End clearfell logging by 1/7/2002
4. End all Residual Log Allocations and the granting of Residual Log Licences - per para (3)
5. Immediately schedule all proclaimed Water Supply Catchments as non-logging Reserves
6. Immediately expand rainforest buffer zones from 40 meters to 350 metres
7. Provide structural adjustment for workers and industry
Addendum:
Not permit any form of logging in contentious coupes during interim period
B. Explanatory Table of Powers and Processes
ENDORSED BY FOLLOWING ORGANISATIONS: -
Community/Environmental Groups
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)
The Wilderness Society (TWS)
Environment Victoria (EV)
Wye River Residents’ Action Group
Doctors for Native Forests
Otway Ranges Walking Track Association Inc
Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA)
Geelong Community Forum
Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN)
Political Parties
Australian Democrats
Liberals for Forests
ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (a non-
constituent unit of ALP) (ALP ORIG)
Letters of Encouragement: -
Greens Party
Disclaimer: Endorsement of the Memorandum of Common Base Position by each of the organisations does not mean support by Community/Environmental Groups of any of the Political Parties, nor does the Memorandum in any way reflect political party preferencing.
FRAMEWORK for ending logging WITHIN the Otway State Forest
1. That the Victorian State Government ends logging of native vegetation within the Otway State Forest; and schedules the Otway State Forest and adjoining Reserves as National Park.
(National Parks Act)
2. That the Victorian State Government ensures that its proposed 20 year regional strategy plan Great Ocean Road Region (currently in draft form) highlights the need to preserve and protect the unique natural assets of the Otway Ranges for the benefit of the public and future generations through the ending of logging within the Otway State Forest and through the creation of the new National Park.
Interim Provisions:
3. That the Victorian State Government ends clearfell logging of native vegetation in the Otway State Forest by 1 July 2002. (Code of Forest Practices for Timber Production)
4. That, in accordance with clause 3, the Victorian State Government:
a) ceases the annual renewal of Residual Log Allocations, which allow for the exploitation of the Otway State Forest for woodchips, as from 1 July 2002. (Forest Act); and
b) immediately ceases the granting of future Residual Log Licences under which residual logs are supplied for processing into woodchips. (Forest Act)
5. That the Victorian State Government immediately ceases logging within all proclaimed water supply catchments in the Otway State Forest, and schedules the catchments as non-logging Reserves to improve water quality and achieve maximum water yield potential. (Crown Land (Reserves) Act)
6. That the Victorian State Government immediately expands rainforest buffer zones from 40 metres to 350 metres to protect rainforest from Myrtle Wilt. (Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act)
7. That the Victorian State Government and the Federal Government assist with
structural adjustment through employment creation programs in private plantation forestry and tourism industries in the Otway-Colac region, and acknowledge the experience of current forest workers for employment in future native State Forest management strategies.
Addendum:
Further, during the interim period, in order to ensure a constructive, sensible and orderly transition for ending logging of native vegetation within the Otway State Forest, the Victorian State Government is called upon to not permit any form of logging in coupes, identified from the Wood Utilization Plans (WUPs) by stakeholders as ‘contentious’.
This Memorandum represents the Common Base Position held by the endorsing organisations listed on the cover page, on the substantial processes that need to be implemented by the Victorian State Government to end logging of native vegetation within the Otway State Forest. Each organisation, however, has its own views and ideas with regards to, time frames for ending logging entirely and establishment of a proposed National Park within the Otway State Forest, and determination of the boundaries of the National Park.
powers and processes TO end logging WITHIN the Otway STATE FOREST
Framework
Powers and Political Processes
1.
End of logging native vegetation; and
Scheduling of National Park
Powers under National Parks Act
Any accepted proposal for a National Park would need to be scheduled, through legislation, as reserved under the National Parks Act. Proposals will most likely first require assessment by the Victorian Environment Assessment Council. Boundaries and time frames would need to be determined and involve public consultation.
2.
Government’s proposed
20 year strategy plan Great Ocean Road Region
Powers under National Parks Act
Inclusion of National Park and consideration of Trans Otway Walk
3.
End clearfell logging by 1/7/02
(Saulwick Poll Sept 2001 -
69% of Corangamite electors oppose cleafell logging in the Otways)
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
Amend Otway FMP (Forests Act) to specifically prohibit clearfelling and to prescribe environmentally sustainable alternative extractive methods (if any). Powers under Code of Forest Practices for Timber Production See - ALP ORIG’s Legal Analysis (www.alporig.green.net.au); Also, OREN’s Are Sawlogs a by-product of the woodchip industry in the Otway State Forest (2000)
4.
End Residual Log Allocations as at 1/7/02;
End issuing of Residual Log Licences immediately.
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
Otways FMP - Forests Act, Conservation, Forests and Lands Act and RFA. See - ALP ORIG’s Legal Analysis (www.orig.green.net.au)
5.
Immediate exclusion of all logging in Proclaimed Water Supply Catchments and schedule as non-logging Reserves
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
Water catchments can be scheduled as non-logging Reserves under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act. The logging prescriptions in the Otway FMP would then need to be amended accordingly. Powers also under RFA (see Sinclair Knight Mertz Hydrology Study 2000 which provides, amongst other reports, scientific justification).
6.
Immediate expansion of rainforest buffers zones from 40 to 350 metres to protect from Myrtle Wilt
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
See DNRE Technical Reports of 1996 recommending expansion of buffers under the management prescriptions for potentially threatening processes criteria. (Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act)
7.
Contentious Coupes -
Prohibition of logging of highly sensitive environmental areas and potential tourism tracks during interim period
The Bracks’ Government claims that all areas with National Estate value have been already recognised within the RFA process. In fact, there are large tracts of non-protected areas that have been identified as highly contentious by community/environmental groups which must not be logged in order for the Government to ensure the transition for ending logging is constructive and orderly.
8.
Restructure DNRE -
Not included as a resolution, as is mandatory on the Government and is currently in process
Mandatory under National Competition Principles (NCP)
Mandatory on State Government under obligations of the NCP Agreement (Clauses 3 - Competitive Neutrality, and Clause 4 - Structural Reform of Monopolies) and the West Victoria RFA (Competition Principles, Clause 88).
http://www.alporig.green.net.au/downloads/Common_Base_Position_Statement/Common_Position_Statement_for_the_Otways_12_2_2002.pdf
APPENDIX ‘B’
Version No. 120
National Parks Act 1975
No. 8702 of 1975
Version incorporating amendments as at 14 February 2008
PART 31—GREAT OTWAY NATIONAL PARK
All those pieces or parcels of land containing 103 190 hectares, more or less, situate in the Counties of Colac, Heytesbury, Otway, Polwarth and Winchelsea, being the land delineated and coloured pink or coloured yellow or coloured blue in plans lodged in the Central Plan Office and numbered N.P. 111A/1, N.P. 111B/1, N.P. 111C/1, N.P. 111D/1, N.P. 111E/1, N.P. 111F/1, N.P. 111G/1, N.P. 111H/1, N.P. 111J/1 and N.P. 111K/1, excepting the Great Ocean Road, Beech Forest Road, Carlisle–Colac Road, Colac–Lavers Hill Road, Deans Marsh–Lorne Road, Forrest–Apollo Bay Road, Gellibrand River Road, Lavers Hill–Cobden Road, Otway Lighthouse Road, Princetown Road and Skenes Creek Road. Also excepted is any land between high water mark and low water mark forming part of the park described in Part 8 and in Part 11 of Schedule Seven.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/npa1975159.txt
Version No. 084
Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978
No. 9212 of 1978
Version incorporating amendments as at 24 April 2008
42 Otway Forest Park
(1) The Minister may recommend to the Governor in Council that any part of the land shown coloured pink on the plan lodged in the Central Plan Office and numbered LEGL./05–342 be a forest park on--
(a) receiving a plan of the land signed by the Surveyor-General; and
(b) being satisfied that the land shown on the plan represents land that is to be a forest park.
(2) On receiving a recommendation of the Minister under subsection (1), the Governor in Council may, by Order published in the Government Gazette, declare the land to be a forest park to be known as the Otway Forest Park.
(3) On the publication of an Order under subsection (2)--
(a) any reservation, under this or any other Act, of an area of land described in the plan referred to in the Order that was in force immediately before the publication of the Order is revoked; and
(b) any regulations made under section 13 of this Act that applied to any such area of land, immediately before the publication of the Order, are revoked in so far as they apply to the land; and
(c) any part of the land delineated and coloured yellow on the plan referred to in the Order that was a road or part of a road or road reserve ceases to be a road or part of a road or road reserve and all rights easements and privileges existing or claimed, either by the public or any body or person as incident to any express or implied grant, or past dedication or supposed dedication or any past user or operation of law or otherwise, cease; and
(d) subject to section 101 of the Forests Act 1958, the land described on the plan referred to in the Order is deemed to be freed and discharged from all trusts, limitations, reservations, restrictions, encumbrances, estates and interests; and
(e) the land described on the plan referred to in the Order is deemed to be permanently reserved under this Act for the purposes of--
(i) providing opportunities for informal recreation associated with the enjoyment of natural surroundings;
(ii) protecting and conserving biodiversity, natural and cultural features and water supply catchments;
(iii) supplying a limited range of natural resource products.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/cla1978219.txt
VICTORIA
Time timbers down on
these philosophers of ranges.
Trunks lie stacked in sawmill yards
bark sheared from their backs.
Leaves download light in coupes
where money grows on trees.
In the canopy country
crowns turn grey and forlorn.
These are no longer kingdoms
that renovate and furnish gullies
or reshape horizons.
This is the fallen country.
by Trevor Poulton
Compiled by Co-convenor -Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG) September 2008
[email protected]
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY MEMBERS
READ MORE ALP OTWAY RANGES INTEREST GROUP
Contacts for the Otway Ranges Interest Group
(formed statewide as a non-constituent unit of the ALP - 2000)
Trevor Poulton (Central Branch): 0402 987 181
by email to [email protected]
Nick Adams (Fitzroy Branch): (03) 9417 4774
Lindsay Hesketh (Upper Yarra Branch): 0418 655 551
Carol Wilmink (Apollo Bay Branch)
Sandra Skene (Apollo Bay Branch)
Trevor Poulton (Central Branch): 0402 987 181
by email to [email protected]
ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN GOALS MET!
How the ALP can End Clearfell Logging of the Otway Ranges
Clearfell logging involves the broad scale clearing of forest areas and has a dramatic impact on the landscape. According to the September 2001 Saulwick poll A Quantitative Study of Corangamite Voter Attitudes (commissioned by ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group), 69% of all electors in Corangamite oppose the clearfelling of native forests in the Otways.
The State (ADD BUT not in bold) ALP can shift the voting patterns of a significant proportion of swinging voters by ending clearfell logging in the Otways. This can be achieved under the terms of the Federal-State (ADD but not in bold)West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement and the Forest Act 1958 (Vic) (ADD but not in bold)
3 POLITICAL STEPS
(1) The Victorian State Government commits to ending clearfell logging in the Otways as at 30 June 2002.
Otway Ranges State Forest
(2) The Victorian State Government: (a) ends the annual renewal of Residual log allocations, which allow for the exploitation of the Otways for woodchips, as at 30 June 2002; and (b) immediately ceases the granting of Residual Log Licences.
(3) The Victorian State Government and the Federal Government assist with structural adjustment through employment creation programs in private plantation forestry and tourism industries in the Otway-Colac region.
PIC
Mt Sabine Falls -temporarily reprieved from logging
through work of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group
and Community Groups
Callahans Logging Coupe - Geelong Water Catchment
"The ALP is in power -
we are not asking the Premier to lead the Party out of the wilderness
- we are asking the Premier to save the wilderness."
LINKS TO SOME RELATED ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE AGE
29 Jan 2001 Sabine Falls Wins Reprieve
14 Mar 2001 Internal Feud Hits ALP Over Otways
21 Apr 2001 Dissent Grows in ALP Over Otways
27 Apr 2001 Sparks Threaten to Ignite Victorias Forestry Tinderbox
28 Oct 2001 Pain in Lumber Region as MP Jumps the Gun
30 Oct 2001 Logging Pressure on Labor
See: How to make a stand within the ALP http://www.alporig.green.net.au/downloads/ALP_ORIG_documents/ALP_ORIG_campaign_methodology.pdf
ENDING NATIVE FOREST LOGGING IN THE OTWAYS:
CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS 1995 – 2008
Compiled by Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG)
September 2008
Compiled by Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG) October 2008
In fulfillment of the state Labor government’s election policy, Forests and National Parks (2002), parliament passed legislation on 15 September, 2005 establishing the Great Otway National Park (102,000 ha) and the Otway Forest Park (40,000 ha). The legislation also heralded the end to all native forest logging on public land in the Otway Forest Management Area.
The policy provided for a timeframe for ending logging outside of the new national park, not based on a transition to plantations which would have taken decades, but on the expiry of hardwood timber logging licences by June 2008.
The Otways forest policy represented a wonderful win for the public and for the environment movement. The time was historically ripe for the forest policy statement which not only addressed the Otways, but also promised an end to wood chipping in Wombat State Forest, and a VEAC Investigation into the future of Goolengook Forest Management Block.
Since the commencement in 1995 of the Commonwealth-State Regional Forest Agreement process, the Otways had become a logical flash point for the environment movement to challenge the state government’s ecological forest management credentials - the Otways is close to Melbourne, the area is internationally recognised for its natural assets, it brings in over a billion dollars per annum through tourism, and its water supply catchments service over a quarter of a million people.
Ending native forest logging in the Otways: Chronology of Key Events 1995-2008 is intended to capture key events of the campaign.
Geelong Environment Council Inc boosted community passion for saving the Otway forests with its Proposal for the Extension of the Otway National Park (1995) to increase protection for the region’s cool temperate rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest and a whole range of habitat for the Tiger Quoll, Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo, Powerful Owl, Australian King Parrot, River Blackfish and the list goes on. The Otway Ranges Walking Track Association encapsulated tourism potential of the Otway Ranges beyond the Great Ocean Road with its proposed Trans-Otway Walk leading to ten waterfalls, and weaving its way through rainforest and magnificent valley forest in the Mid-Cumberland, Kennett, Carisbrook, Upper Smythes and Wild Dog Valleys, connecting Lorne to Apollo Bay by foot.
Politically inspired groups such as the Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN) and Geelong Community Forum (GCF) mobilised to highlight deficiencies in the Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s (DNRE, now DSE) forest management practices and policies that put the interests of the timber industry above that of many other stakeholders including conservation groups, tourism operators and water catchment authorities. They impressed local government with presentations at council meetings leading to several councils in the Geelong-Colac region passing motions reflecting concern over clearfell logging, particularly in the proclaimed water catchments.
Direct action groups such as Future Rescue bravely confronted the machinery of the timber industry, drawing media attention to the devastating impacts of industrial logging. The Department was continually being frustrated by aerial forest blockades using ropes, platforms, pulleys, and climbing equipment, sometimes creating tree villages in the canopy.
Doctors for Native Forests contributed with picnic tours of forest areas, as well as constructing walking tracks and obstinately re-constructing them after they had been undone by the Department.
Small business in towns and hamlets along the Surf Coast later joined the movement to assert a long term vision for the Otways centred on tourism that would guarantee greater employment opportunities and economic growth for the region.
Political groups such as the Australian Democracts and the Greens Party mobilised with regular media releases and election policies to protect the Otways. Liberals for Forests stood candidates at State and Federal elections to give prominence to the issue amongst conservative voters.
The Labor Party, which took government from the Liberals in 1999, also found itself under intense internal pressure from grassroots members, with the establishment of the ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG). The group’s stated objective was to end logging of the Otways by 2002. ALP ORIG garnered support for the campaign by getting up motions at 30 ALP Branches calling for an end to clearfell logging of the Otways, participated on ALP policy committees, courted factions within the party, and consulted with affiliated unions such as the Electrical Trades Union, politicians and ministerial advisers. It drafted the Otways Hydrology Study policy which was embraced during the 1999 state election by a victorious Labor Party. It commissioned the Saulwick & Associates Poll which pointed out to the government that 69% of people in south-west Victoria opposed clearfell logging. It engaged in strategic dialogue with the Minister for Environment’s office right up to the 2002 election.
ALP ORIG worked closely with environment groups and in the process developed a Common Base Position Statement in February 2002 which provided a framework for ending logging in the Otways. Importantly, the framework clarified for the government how logging could be brought to an end in the Otways without negating the West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) (to be distinguished from the Greens campaign of ‘RFA No Way’).
The chronology brings to light contributions of professional journalists such as Claire Miller, the then Environment Reporter for The Age, whose articles provided to the public of Victoria a dramatic narrative of the battles down on the south-west coast and the reactions of the government and the timber industry. The series of articles now stand as an invaluable testament as to what happened back then.
Whilst the chronology does acknowledge support leant to the campaign by some Labor Members of Parliament, in reality MPs tended to be relatively missing in action, having failed to bind together in any form within the parliamentary wing to amplify community concerns. Predictably, it was Labor MPs, a number of whom actually opposed ending logging of the Otways, who became electoral beneficiaries.
There were notable differences in strategies and objectives that characterised the conduct of various groups, and in that regard, there may be lessons for future campaigns. In particular, in the opinion of the writer, OREN changed its course after Premier Steve Bracks signed the West Victoria RFA in 2000. OREN had been a local brand name for the movement to end logging in the Otways and was particularly respected for it research and series of reports critiquing DSE’s policies and operations. However, OREN became progressively negotiable with the Minister for Environment and Conservation’s Office and made several offers to not endorse Direct Action by protesters in exchange for the Department not logging contentious coupes that OREN had identified. These dealings could have alienated the movement, and were particularly controversial since they did not procure any substantive commitments by the state government to end logging. Further, the Department continued to chainsaw its way through OREN’s list of contentious coupes.
In February 2002, the state election year, Minister Garbutt publically claimed that her office had entered into a ‘peace deal’ with OREN, as if the war was over. However, the Minister’s claim of a ‘peace deal’ during the election year was illusory. Community groups, environment groups, the Democrats and Greens Party, ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group and residents persisted with direct action in coupes such as Dunse Track, endorsed the Common Base Position Statement, joined the Rally For Our Forests outside the May 2002 ALP State Conference and lobbied on all political levels in the lead up to the election to maximise pressure on the government for immediate reform.
The Bracks government’s Otways announcement was a political response to an accumulation of efforts by a broad range of stakeholders. In that regard, it also ought not to be forgotten that OREN’s agitation, regular reporting of events through its website, and persistent dialogue with the government remained extremely important for helping to keep the issue on the political and public agenda.
The specific political trigger for the Otways announcement related to the fact that the Labor Party was a minority government and needed to secure its inner Melbourne seats from a strengthening and ‘predatory’ environmental Greens Party at the 30 November 2002 state election. The seeds had been planted by the public and several weeks before the election the Labor Party machine finally bought the argument and decided that, despite an intransigent Environment Minister and lobbying from the Timber Workers Division (CFMEU) and the timber industry, saving the Otways could neutralise the Greens’ environmental vote. The ALP went on to win the 2002 election in a landslide, which included winning two new seats in the south-west of Victoria as well as securing Geelong which Labor had previously held by only 16 votes.
The policy proved, after many exhausting and sometimes bloody battles, to be an electoral gift from the public to the incumbent Labor government.
Status of the West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement:
The Otways legislation was passed despite terms contained in the West Victoria Regional Forest Agreement that, for example, provide that with any changes in the timber harvesting area there must not be a net deterioration in the timber capacity of the forest.
Whilst the Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN) maintains on its website that the Otways/OREN campaign ‘destroyed the Regional Forest Agreement process’ and that ‘former Premier Bracks is the only State Premier to ever have cancelled a Regional Forest Agreement in its entirety anywhere in Australia!!', the reality is that the West Victoria RFA remains intact.
Regional Forest Agreements were structured to abrogate the Federal government from its obligations to regulate native timber forestry under Commonwealth acts such the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwth), Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974, Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (Cwth) and the Export Control Act, and regulations such as the Export Control (Unprocessed Wood) Regulations (Cwth) and Export Control (Hardwood Wood Chips) Regulations (Cwth). If the West Victoria RFA has been cancelled then these Commonwealth acts and regulations would once again apply to the West Victoria region, in particular in relation to the burgeoning hardwood plantation estate (including leased crown land), and management of continued hardwood logging in the Midlands Forest Management Area.
The Otways election announcement constituted a possible breach of the West Victoria RFA by the state government. However, the Federal government has not, and would not have any interest in using that breach to terminate the agreement under the termination clauses in the RFA.
Further, the writer suggests that the state government could perhaps argue that whilst it may have breached some terms of the RFA agreement, it had merely adopted recommendation 16 of the report, Evaluation of Data and Methods for Estimating the Sustainable Yield of Sawlogs in Victoria (Expert Data Reference Group, 2001) by ‘applying the optimal harvesting rate that delivers the greatest benefit to stakeholders’, which in the case of the Otways Forest Management Area had been deemed to be a sustainable logging yield of 0%.
Rather than dismissing the RFA as an irrelevancy, a challenge for environment groups is to ascertain the remaining obligations that the State government is yet to and/or must still comply with under the West Victoria RFA for ecologically sustainable management of its native forests, as well as for regulating plantation forestry operations.
Key events:
The chronology is intended to capture key events to give the reader an insight into the dynamics of the campaign. It has largely avoided delving into the forest politics of other regions but does make some references to conduct of organisations such as the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and The Wilderness Society (TWS) with regards strategies that impacted on all the forest campaigns - in particular, their support of the State government to corporatise VicForests as a state-owned business for public forestry (a form of privatisation), and TWS’s initiating of a Writ in the Supreme Court against the CFMEU that virtually destroyed the opportunity for environment groups to develop an alliance with green unions through Earthworker.
The chronology has been drafted by the writer from his extensive cabinet of documents and computer files as well as through some Googling. However, the writer is more than happy to amend any factual errors or misinterpretations, and include other key events which may be brought to his attention by the reader, and which can only add to the document’s usefulness.
The chronology includes hyperlinks for readers who might want a more in depth understanding of the issues or confirm the accuracy of the writer’s entries. The links can also be accessed in the box on the home page of the website www.alporig.green.net.au
Trevor Poulton
6 October 2008
ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG)
[email protected]
Mobile: 0402 987 181
Campaign Websites to be re-uploaded
www.alporig.green.net.au
www.goolengook.green.net.au
www.alpmods.green.net.au
See: How to make a stand within the ALP http://www.alporig.green.net.au/downloads/ALP_ORIG_documents/ALP_ORIG_campaign_methodology.pdf
ENDING NATIVE FOREST LOGGING IN THE OTWAYS:
CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS 1995 – 2008
Compiled by Trevor Poulton of ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG)
October 2008
[NOTE - TO BE RESTORED TO TABLE FORMAT INCLUDING LINKS]
[COLUMNS]
UPLOAD TABLE
DATE
EVENT
ELABORATION
150
tp
2/6/ 2008
Logging of native forests in the Otways ends with the expiry of the last hardwood timber licence
APPENDIX ‘A’
DRAFTED by ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (ALP ORIG) - February 2002
Memorandum of Common Base Position for the Otways
Framework for ending logging within the Otway State Forest
12 February, 2002
Summary:
A. Framework for ending logging within the Otway State Forest (7 points)
1. End all logging of Otway State Forest & establish new National Park
2. Include vision for Otway State Forest in Great Ocean Road Region strategy plan
Interim provisions:
3. End clearfell logging by 1/7/2002
4. End all Residual Log Allocations and the granting of Residual Log Licences - per para (3)
5. Immediately schedule all proclaimed Water Supply Catchments as non-logging Reserves
6. Immediately expand rainforest buffer zones from 40 meters to 350 metres
7. Provide structural adjustment for workers and industry
Addendum:
Not permit any form of logging in contentious coupes during interim period
B. Explanatory Table of Powers and Processes
ENDORSED BY FOLLOWING ORGANISATIONS: -
Community/Environmental Groups
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)
The Wilderness Society (TWS)
Environment Victoria (EV)
Wye River Residents’ Action Group
Doctors for Native Forests
Otway Ranges Walking Track Association Inc
Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA)
Geelong Community Forum
Otway Ranges Environment Network (OREN)
Political Parties
Australian Democrats
Liberals for Forests
ALP Otway Ranges Interest Group (a non-
constituent unit of ALP) (ALP ORIG)
Letters of Encouragement: -
Greens Party
Disclaimer: Endorsement of the Memorandum of Common Base Position by each of the organisations does not mean support by Community/Environmental Groups of any of the Political Parties, nor does the Memorandum in any way reflect political party preferencing.
FRAMEWORK for ending logging WITHIN the Otway State Forest
1. That the Victorian State Government ends logging of native vegetation within the Otway State Forest; and schedules the Otway State Forest and adjoining Reserves as National Park.
(National Parks Act)
2. That the Victorian State Government ensures that its proposed 20 year regional strategy plan Great Ocean Road Region (currently in draft form) highlights the need to preserve and protect the unique natural assets of the Otway Ranges for the benefit of the public and future generations through the ending of logging within the Otway State Forest and through the creation of the new National Park.
Interim Provisions:
3. That the Victorian State Government ends clearfell logging of native vegetation in the Otway State Forest by 1 July 2002. (Code of Forest Practices for Timber Production)
4. That, in accordance with clause 3, the Victorian State Government:
a) ceases the annual renewal of Residual Log Allocations, which allow for the exploitation of the Otway State Forest for woodchips, as from 1 July 2002. (Forest Act); and
b) immediately ceases the granting of future Residual Log Licences under which residual logs are supplied for processing into woodchips. (Forest Act)
5. That the Victorian State Government immediately ceases logging within all proclaimed water supply catchments in the Otway State Forest, and schedules the catchments as non-logging Reserves to improve water quality and achieve maximum water yield potential. (Crown Land (Reserves) Act)
6. That the Victorian State Government immediately expands rainforest buffer zones from 40 metres to 350 metres to protect rainforest from Myrtle Wilt. (Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act)
7. That the Victorian State Government and the Federal Government assist with
structural adjustment through employment creation programs in private plantation forestry and tourism industries in the Otway-Colac region, and acknowledge the experience of current forest workers for employment in future native State Forest management strategies.
Addendum:
Further, during the interim period, in order to ensure a constructive, sensible and orderly transition for ending logging of native vegetation within the Otway State Forest, the Victorian State Government is called upon to not permit any form of logging in coupes, identified from the Wood Utilization Plans (WUPs) by stakeholders as ‘contentious’.
This Memorandum represents the Common Base Position held by the endorsing organisations listed on the cover page, on the substantial processes that need to be implemented by the Victorian State Government to end logging of native vegetation within the Otway State Forest. Each organisation, however, has its own views and ideas with regards to, time frames for ending logging entirely and establishment of a proposed National Park within the Otway State Forest, and determination of the boundaries of the National Park.
powers and processes TO end logging WITHIN the Otway STATE FOREST
Framework
Powers and Political Processes
1.
End of logging native vegetation; and
Scheduling of National Park
Powers under National Parks Act
Any accepted proposal for a National Park would need to be scheduled, through legislation, as reserved under the National Parks Act. Proposals will most likely first require assessment by the Victorian Environment Assessment Council. Boundaries and time frames would need to be determined and involve public consultation.
2.
Government’s proposed
20 year strategy plan Great Ocean Road Region
Powers under National Parks Act
Inclusion of National Park and consideration of Trans Otway Walk
3.
End clearfell logging by 1/7/02
(Saulwick Poll Sept 2001 -
69% of Corangamite electors oppose cleafell logging in the Otways)
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
Amend Otway FMP (Forests Act) to specifically prohibit clearfelling and to prescribe environmentally sustainable alternative extractive methods (if any). Powers under Code of Forest Practices for Timber Production See - ALP ORIG’s Legal Analysis (www.alporig.green.net.au); Also, OREN’s Are Sawlogs a by-product of the woodchip industry in the Otway State Forest (2000)
4.
End Residual Log Allocations as at 1/7/02;
End issuing of Residual Log Licences immediately.
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
Otways FMP - Forests Act, Conservation, Forests and Lands Act and RFA. See - ALP ORIG’s Legal Analysis (www.orig.green.net.au)
5.
Immediate exclusion of all logging in Proclaimed Water Supply Catchments and schedule as non-logging Reserves
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
Water catchments can be scheduled as non-logging Reserves under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act. The logging prescriptions in the Otway FMP would then need to be amended accordingly. Powers also under RFA (see Sinclair Knight Mertz Hydrology Study 2000 which provides, amongst other reports, scientific justification).
6.
Immediate expansion of rainforest buffers zones from 40 to 350 metres to protect from Myrtle Wilt
Consistent with West Victoria RFA
See DNRE Technical Reports of 1996 recommending expansion of buffers under the management prescriptions for potentially threatening processes criteria. (Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act)
7.
Contentious Coupes -
Prohibition of logging of highly sensitive environmental areas and potential tourism tracks during interim period
The Bracks’ Government claims that all areas with National Estate value have been already recognised within the RFA process. In fact, there are large tracts of non-protected areas that have been identified as highly contentious by community/environmental groups which must not be logged in order for the Government to ensure the transition for ending logging is constructive and orderly.
8.
Restructure DNRE -
Not included as a resolution, as is mandatory on the Government and is currently in process
Mandatory under National Competition Principles (NCP)
Mandatory on State Government under obligations of the NCP Agreement (Clauses 3 - Competitive Neutrality, and Clause 4 - Structural Reform of Monopolies) and the West Victoria RFA (Competition Principles, Clause 88).
http://www.alporig.green.net.au/downloads/Common_Base_Position_Statement/Common_Position_Statement_for_the_Otways_12_2_2002.pdf
APPENDIX ‘B’
Version No. 120
National Parks Act 1975
No. 8702 of 1975
Version incorporating amendments as at 14 February 2008
PART 31—GREAT OTWAY NATIONAL PARK
All those pieces or parcels of land containing 103 190 hectares, more or less, situate in the Counties of Colac, Heytesbury, Otway, Polwarth and Winchelsea, being the land delineated and coloured pink or coloured yellow or coloured blue in plans lodged in the Central Plan Office and numbered N.P. 111A/1, N.P. 111B/1, N.P. 111C/1, N.P. 111D/1, N.P. 111E/1, N.P. 111F/1, N.P. 111G/1, N.P. 111H/1, N.P. 111J/1 and N.P. 111K/1, excepting the Great Ocean Road, Beech Forest Road, Carlisle–Colac Road, Colac–Lavers Hill Road, Deans Marsh–Lorne Road, Forrest–Apollo Bay Road, Gellibrand River Road, Lavers Hill–Cobden Road, Otway Lighthouse Road, Princetown Road and Skenes Creek Road. Also excepted is any land between high water mark and low water mark forming part of the park described in Part 8 and in Part 11 of Schedule Seven.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/npa1975159.txt
Version No. 084
Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978
No. 9212 of 1978
Version incorporating amendments as at 24 April 2008
42 Otway Forest Park
(1) The Minister may recommend to the Governor in Council that any part of the land shown coloured pink on the plan lodged in the Central Plan Office and numbered LEGL./05–342 be a forest park on--
(a) receiving a plan of the land signed by the Surveyor-General; and
(b) being satisfied that the land shown on the plan represents land that is to be a forest park.
(2) On receiving a recommendation of the Minister under subsection (1), the Governor in Council may, by Order published in the Government Gazette, declare the land to be a forest park to be known as the Otway Forest Park.
(3) On the publication of an Order under subsection (2)--
(a) any reservation, under this or any other Act, of an area of land described in the plan referred to in the Order that was in force immediately before the publication of the Order is revoked; and
(b) any regulations made under section 13 of this Act that applied to any such area of land, immediately before the publication of the Order, are revoked in so far as they apply to the land; and
(c) any part of the land delineated and coloured yellow on the plan referred to in the Order that was a road or part of a road or road reserve ceases to be a road or part of a road or road reserve and all rights easements and privileges existing or claimed, either by the public or any body or person as incident to any express or implied grant, or past dedication or supposed dedication or any past user or operation of law or otherwise, cease; and
(d) subject to section 101 of the Forests Act 1958, the land described on the plan referred to in the Order is deemed to be freed and discharged from all trusts, limitations, reservations, restrictions, encumbrances, estates and interests; and
(e) the land described on the plan referred to in the Order is deemed to be permanently reserved under this Act for the purposes of--
(i) providing opportunities for informal recreation associated with the enjoyment of natural surroundings;
(ii) protecting and conserving biodiversity, natural and cultural features and water supply catchments;
(iii) supplying a limited range of natural resource products.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/cla1978219.txt
VICTORIA
Time timbers down on
these philosophers of ranges.
Trunks lie stacked in sawmill yards
bark sheared from their backs.
Leaves download light in coupes
where money grows on trees.
In the canopy country
crowns turn grey and forlorn.
These are no longer kingdoms
that renovate and furnish gullies
or reshape horizons.
This is the fallen country.
by Trevor Poulton
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