The Beagle Editor,
I’ve had enough. I have written lots of polite letters and emails to politicians outlining the reasons they should stop logging our native forests.
Yesterday I saw images of the logging near one of our iconic tourist spots, near the Shallow Crossing Campground. If that didn’t reduce me to tears then reading the newly released and confronting IPCC report on Climate Change did.
The jury is undeniably out..humans are accelerating global warming at a rapid rate. (Of course we’ve all known this for a long time!).
CO2 emissions and land clearing are cited as two of the top causes of global warming. Meanwhile in la la land… our forests are being logged as if we hadn’t lost 80% of them in the Black Summer Bushfires, less than 2 years ago!!
Compartments are being logged in Mogo Forest where ESC are planning to invest millions in the Mogo Adventure Trail Hub…promoted as a world class destination for mountain biking.
I’m not a mountain biker, but riding through decimated forests and past piles of sawlogs isn’t my idea of a wilderness adventure. Another slap in the face for another major tourism venture.
Add this to the rampant residential development that’s occurring throughout our Shire (Low cost housing for young families??…I don’t think so!!)
Are we becoming the sprawling suburbia with denuded forests that people are moving away from in droves??
Research scientists have told us, “Logging takes away big trees and allows wind and sunlight into the system.”
“As a consequence these areas become far drier, and because you have removed the tall trees, lots of young saplings have come up and they're very flammable.”
At ground level, logging leaves debris (up to 450 tonnes per hectare) which increases the fuel load and changes the forest composition.
As a consequence of logging in south-eastern Australia, large areas of logged and regenerated forest have burned repeatedly in the past 25 years. (Nature Ecology & Evolution from the Australian National University, Macquarie University and the University of Queensland)
Welcome to the Charcoal Coast!!
Giovanna Hounsell
