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Leave Goolengook As Is, Say NationalsThe Nationals want no further part of the Goolengook Forest Block added to the Errinundra National Park, unless there are "proven and compelling" environmental reasons. By Peter Hall - 13th July 2006 - Back to News And in a submission to the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, the Nationals say should those compelling reasons be proved, any change should occur only after an equivalent area of resource has been re-reserved and made available for timber harvesting.
The submission was prepared by Nationals spokesman on the Environment, Gippsland MP Peter Hall, and he and East Gippsland Nationals’ candidate Chris Nixon discussed the submission with VEAC representatives in Orbost today (13 July 2006). The State Government has ordered the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council to investigate whether all or part of the Goolengook Forest should be locked up as part of the Errinundra National Park.
The Nationals say Goolengook should not be added to Errinundra because of the amount of land already locked away in national parks, the economic impact on East Gippsland, the inability of the State to manage national parks and the need to reduce, not increase, importation of timber products.
The submission to VEAC says: "The Goolengook Forest Management Block is not used for any significant level of recreation or tourism and we are unaware of any compelling environmental reason why it should become National Park.
"It is the source of important timber sawlogs, a resource that the East Gippsland economy relies upon. It is the strong view of The Nationals that Goolengook should not be added to the Errinundra National Park."
Mr Hall points out in the submission that more than one sixth of Victoria’s land mass is already classified as National Park, with a significant quantity of the remaining public land given "environmental protection" as parks, reserves, special protection zones and code of forest practice exclusions.
"There needs to be a balance between the area of land set aside as reservation and that retained for sustainable resource utilization. The Nationals believe the current mix provides more than sufficient areas of reservation to protect ecological classes," his submission says.
"The ability for Governments to manage public land should be taken into account when VEAC deliberates on this investigation. It is no longer possible to ignore management capabilities in making recommendations.
"The Nationals believe that no Government in recent times has allocated sufficient resource to responsibly manage Victoria’s public land. The fact that DSE only achieved 38% of its planned fuel reduction burning program in 2005/06 is clear demonstration of this fact.
"We believe the use of public land for purposes such as timber harvesting, grazing, hunting and recreational driving can achieve positive management outcomes."
The Nationals have welcomed the terms of reference for the inquiry, which requires there be "no net deterioration of timber production capacity".
"With a very significant trade deficit of more than $2 billion p.a. in timber and timber products, as a nation we should be increasing our timber harvesting output, not reducing it," Mr Hall’s submission says.
"The economic impact on East Gippsland brought about by land use change needs to be considered as part of this investigation. The timber industry in East Gippsland has suffered severe restructure with major changes in the last 20 years. The industry and the East Gippsland economy cannot afford a further set back."
The submission adds that if there is a compelling case on environmental grounds to add further to the national park, The Nationals would support such a change only if a comparable land swap was negotiated.
"By comparable we mean equivalent in terms of timber produce and within a geographic area that does not disadvantage the industry in East Gippsland. By land swap we mean an area currently reserved making it unavailable for timber harvesting to be made available."
VEAC is now taking submissions and will return its findings later this year or early in 2007.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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