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Valuable bushfire timber left to rotThe State Government’s over-zealous restrictions on access to Victoria’s bushfire areas is preventing the recovery of a vast amount of timber for fence posts and firewood, the Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, has told Parliament. By Kevin Balshaw - 8th May 2009 - Back to News The State Government’s over-zealous restrictions on access to Victoria’s bushfire areas is preventing the recovery of a vast amount of timber for fence posts and firewood, the Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, said in Parliament last night [May 6].
Mr Davis said millions of tonnes of timber in the area burnt in the Churchill Black Saturday fire was deteriorating beyond use because the Government was maintaining a lockout of professional contractors.
He has insisted the Government immediately revoke protection zones in the Churchill and Traralgon South to Yarram fire area and other Victorian bushfire areas and authorise access for contractors to cut posts and firewood from timber felled for fire breaks and recoverable standing timber.
Mr Davis said the Government had made only minor concessions to give landowners access to limited quantities of timber.
Landowners in the Churchill fire area are being advised they can obtain permits from the Department of Sustainability and Environment for timber from a 300 tonne stockpile that has been established on a private property on the Carrajung-Woodside Road.
"But there are thousands of kilometres of farm fences that need replacing," Mr Davis said, "and farmers do not have the equipment or time to collect the timber and cut it into posts.
"Many are having to accept the use of pine posts that are more expensive and less durable than hardwood posts cut from the bush.
"Farmers could obtain permits and engage professional contractors to get the timber and cut it for them, but the contractors are not allowed near it on their own account. And no one is being permitted access to the vast quantities of timber along the many kilometres of fire breaks or to timber that remains that remains standing in the bushfire areas because it is covered by forest special protection zones.
"Any suggestion that contractors might get involved also raises the spectre of VicForests and its commercial monopoly on wood harvesting in the east of the state."
Mr Davis said that in a statement at the beginning of April, Environment and Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings promised his department would make timber available to replace firewood and fence posts burnt during the Black Saturday fires.
The minister said where practical the wood was to be sourced from trees felled during fire suppression activities, and the department would waive royalties on this material for fire affected property owners until the winter.
Mr Davis said the minister’s undertaking sounded promising. "But in practice virtually nothing is happening because of the Government’s constraint on access to public land for timber harvesting and its commercial stranglehold of the contractors," he said.
"The salvage of timber from fire areas could meet a large part of the urgent demand for farm fence posts, help avert a looming shortage of firewood and enable the clearing of timber that in time may pose a renewed fire risk.
"There are contractors readily available in Gippsland to meet the need but they face a continuing lockout because of this ridiculous situation. Some, in fact, are without work and relying on social security benefits.
"It is a time we really need commonsense to prevail."
Responding in Parliament, Minister Gavin Jennings said he would endeavour to remedy the situation and would see if other government agencies not within his portfolio, in particular VicForests, were amenable to assist.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: kevin.balshaw@parliament.vic.gov.au
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