Logging Tanja
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Open Letter to Forests NSW regional manager Daniel Tuan.
You have approved logging of Tanja State Forest to commence within a couple of weeks.
The destruction of the forest is intended to yield 6000 tonnes of woodchips.
May I remind you that Forests NSW has not yet responded to a resolution passed at a public meeting in Tathra on October 11, 2011.
In part, that resolution was: That Forests NSW immediately halt all logging in Tanja State Forest until independent scientific surveys establish beyond doubt that no harm was done to the forest, the wildlife, the topsoil and the surrounding waterways by the previous round of logging in the Tanja State Forest.
Until we have an honest, independent answer to that question there is no justification for further logging, especially at a time when there is not a market for native forest woodchips.
Forests NSW, politicians and the logging industry repeatedly defend woodchip logging as “sustainable”.
I challenge you to prove it.
Compulsory fauna surveys are routinely carried out before logging, but no research is ever done afterwards to find out whether the measures applied to protect wildlife, soils and water actually work.
Forests NSW has a moral obligation to ensure this research is done before it permits further logging in Tanja Forest.
The “harvest plan” that you have signed, giving formal approval to log Tanja includes results of fauna surveys.
These allegedly found just two threatened species, the sooty owl and the yellow-bellied glider.
This is scarcely credible to local residents (including myself) who are very familiar with the local wildlife and previous records of over 20 threatened species, including the koala.
Your surveys, for example, could not even find the powerful owl, which is heard almost every night by neighbours on all sides of the logging compartments, including me.
However, supposing the surveys were accurate, what would that they tell us about the impacts of past logging?
It would confirm to me that logging kills animals, and that if the 20-plus threatened species previously recorded in Tanja Forest are no longer present, there is one obvious culprit - logging.
If the fauna surveys are wrong, Forests NSW has a lot of explaining to do.
If they are right, Forests NSW has even more explaining to do.
Either way, you owe it to the local community and the forest wildlife to halt the logging now until you can prove it truly is “sustainable”.
Harriett Swift
Tanja
Koala home delivery?
I’m struggling with Prue Acton’s statement (BDN, 13/7) that the Bermagui State Forest is koala habitat.
According to the Department of Environment and Climate Change’s 2008 report “Recovery Plan for the Koala, (www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/08450krp.pdf) Appendix 2: Koala Food Tree Species in Each Koala Management Area”, spotted gum does not feature as their primary, secondary or even supplementary food source.
Do the koalas have their preferred food source - cabbage gum, apple gum and forest red gum, according to the Recovery Plan - delivered to them there?
Or isn’t it just true that there are no koalas in the spotted gum forest that Ms Acton points to?
It’s a shame these iconic Australian animals are being kicked around as political footballs by those seeking to shut down legitimate industry that’s helping keep towns on the Far South Coast alive.
Justin Law
Communications officer, South East Fibre Exports
Campaign of
misinformation
Wouldn’t it be great if the exam was an “easy solution” (BDN, 13/7).
This is just a further example of the misinformation campaign being waged against our community’s devoted surgeon Christoph Ahrens by the Australia Orthopaedic Association and the Royal Australian College of Surgeons.
They seem determined to get rid of him despite his excellent qualifications and experience and his successful oversight by peers over almost seven years in our community.
However, the issue is not so much about what happens to Dr Ahrens, who could walk away if he was not so devoted to our community.
The issue is about what would happen to the community when he is de-registered and no longer allowed to practice.
What both of these bureaucratic bodies ignore is that our community will suffer.
According to the AOA, Dr Nott is operating at Bega Hospital.
I understand he has closed his books to new patients at the hospital and is operating at a private hospital in Canberra as well as at Cooma, but has ceased operating at Batemans Bay.
Please correct me Dr Nott if this is not true.
Last week, with Dr Rajesh absent for six weeks in India and Dr Nott on holiday, Dr Ahrens was the only orthopaedic surgeon left to deal with any trauma patients coming to these hospitals.
The absence of his colleagues means waiting lists are growing longer and longer.
Who will be available to handle the increasing workload of orthopaedic surgery if Dr Ahrens is de-registered in December?
And with the busy Christmas-New Year period coming up, how will the other surgeons cope with additional trauma patients in our regional hospitals?
Don’t blame NSW Health as it is keen to retain Dr Ahrens. The culprits who care nothing about our community are the College and the AOA.
The community will suffer hugely if Dr Ahrens is de-registered in December.
He is the busiest of all the orthopaedic surgeons in our public hospitals and has no desire to go private or to leave Bega.
Dr Ahrens is fighting for his patients by continuing to battle the College and AOA.
We, his patients and potential patients, need to continue to fight for him.
Last year a public meeting was held in Bega and petitions signed.
Since then, Federal Parliament has issued a report with its recommendation number eight basically written in support of Dr Ahrens continuing his work unimpeded.
It is time again for the community to take action.
Rob Owen
Tathra
Critical issue
The issue of homelessness, particularly among our young people, resonates as a stark omission from the long list of “mission-critical” economic and infrastructure issues that Cr Michael Britten suggested should be considered in evaluating the suitability of candidates for the upcoming council elections (BDN, 20/7).
We’re not for a moment suggesting that Cr Britten or Bega Valley Shire Council don’t care about social issues.
Indeed, we think their efforts should be acknowledged and congratulated, but most importantly encouraged, just as we also believe that the attitude of prospective councillors in respect of relevant social issues should also be considered as a vital factor in judging their suitability for office - not just their views on economic and infrastructure issues.
On that note, right now there is a wonderful opportunity for Cr Britten, his fellow councillors and all prospective councillors, along with religious, business, political and community leaders, to come together and demonstrate in a real practical way the leadership required to respond to the social crisis in our community that is homelessness.
As Mayor Tony Allen stated last week, Bega Valley Shire ratepayers will benefit from an unbudgeted saving of around $200,000 annually, for the next 10 years, arising from the granting of a generous interest subsidy by the State Government.
Cr Allen has already speculated the council might be tempted to use this financial benefit to “borrow more or do more work on our roads”.
While no-one would argue that Cr Allen’s suggestions aren’t worthy of consideration, there is obviously a myriad of other worthwhile projects that could also benefit in some way from this windfall, including a community response to the needs of the homeless.
Building on the valuable work already undertaken by Ross Williams, champion of Ricky’s Place at St John’s in Bega, we believe a community taskforce should be set up as a matter of urgency, to examine using these funds to underwrite the provision of additional facilities for the homeless in the Bega Valley.
Such an initiative would not only further evidence our determination to build a genuinely inclusive community, but it could potentially provide a legacy of which we could all be justifiably proud.
Annie and John Richardson
Wallagoot