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Environment Forest Ecosystems Forest Industries Forest Management Forest Products Greenhouse Gases NAFI Submissions Policy and Politics Renewable Energy Sustainability |
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Native Forests, Scientifically Correct – Politically IncorrectThe direction that I am coming from is based on my political experience which includes the House of Representatives Committee on the Environment 1972 -75 and Minister for Primary Industry 1983 – 91. I congratulate BRS for sponsoring this seminar.I have moved on a fair bit and my comments mainly concern my New South Wales experience with plantations as I have been looking at one in the Nadgee State Forest for over thirty-two years. As chairman of the CRC for sustainable Production Forestry and as NSW State Forestry Commissioner and Chairman of the board, I am cognizant of all the research being carried out in both organizations. I can now tell you that it has been scientifically proven that trees grow, that forests can be sustainably renewed, that wood is recyclable and that timber is (ten times) more greenhouse friendly to the environment than almost all other building materials. It has also been demonstrated to me, that a well-managed native production forest can conserve and preserve biodiversity better than plantations or agricultural, grazing and housing development In the past, I have been asking for a list of species, flora or fauna that have been destroyed by managed forestry in NSW – no one has provided such a list. I do know that settlement and land clearing has destroyed forest communities and ecosystems and that some types of forestry processes do surely interfere with natural age profiles of plants and animals compared to no disturbance. Flora and fauna can be and are being used to preserve icon areas. All forest types are not the same. More native forest types can be endangered nearly as plantations e.g. white cypress pine, (E.comaldulomies and E.siberii with E.cypellocarpa – nearly a win win. However, if one is concerned with production forestry per se, and not only concerned with environmental issues, then plantation is the way to go. They are tall wheatfields but only profitable where rainfall is relatively high. NSW State Forests is having some success with species in commercial terms in drier areas eg Pinus pinasta Delegations can be used to restore degraded landscapes eg salinity - $100 million. State Forest research into disturbances and isolation has shown that nature constantly rebalances – even in plantations – radiata plantations are being alienated by some species. Farm plantations need to have some rise in returns in order to be economical, but they can be very much part of agriculture as the sector moves to being defined on multi-functional terms. Eucalypt plantations are enjoyed by browsing marsupials and a host of insects. Growing rice, cotton and most crops have the same characteristics. Plantations at least resist environmental needs. Plantations are seen to be nicer than (managed native forest by) environmental groups if they are planted on already cleared land and if the rotations are fast, as against the economics of long term logs being used for pulp. Socially, plantations have the great advantage of being predictable and thereby provide more secure local employment. Because of the certainty and the fact that trees grow, means that plantations are enjoyed by pension funds as much as they are by possums and other creatures. Some people like looking at them as part of the landscape. In the 1970s, the environmental groups, or some of them, saw plantations as environmental deserts. Later they seem preferable to the (perceived) exploitation of old growth and rainforest systems. Plantation eucalypts are just as `huggable’ as native species of the same type, such as flooded gum and if you photograph them from the correct angle, they are just as able to gain membership of environmental groups. When I was a parliamentarian and a Minister, I rarely got a complaint about plantations. Forever and a day, I was being attacked, abused and lied to be concerned members of the public about native forest operations. I even set up the Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) process and tried to get both resource security and environmental outcomes, but failed - so plantations must be good. I still believe we can have both (native and plantation) and as long as we don’t make a commodity of every human activity we deal with, we can have plantations and an environment which affects our individual, social, economic and spiritual values to the good. |
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