Bioregion

From ACT GreenGuide

Bigger than just the ACT is the bioregion that we are embedded in. The bioboffins at Environment Australia consider most of the ACT to lie within the South Eastern Highlands bioregion of Australia. This region spans ranges from southeastern Victoria through southern NSW, containing a fairly diverse selection of ecosystems: The areas as a whole is dominated by wet and dry sclerophyll forests, woodland, minor cool temperate rainforest and minor grassland communities. Huge sections have been cleared to graze cattle, or for fuel during the gold rushes, and smaller sections have been cleared to build houses and towns - such as Canberra. This is where we live, where we bury our waste, where our water comes from and goes to, and where a little bit of our food is grown.

Forests

Half of Australia’s forests have been cleared, and over 90% of Australia’s old growth forests have already been logged. Even though more than half of Australia’s terrestrial biodiversity lives in forests, and many of these species find their best or only suitable habitat in old growth forests, old growth forests now cover just one third of one percent of Australia’s land area. At the same time, Australia is now exporting an almost unbelievable 7.2 million tonnes of woodchips from our native forests to Japan for paper production each year – a record level – from the 2,000 square kilometres of public native forest logged annually. Logging destroys ecosystems, stuffs up water catchments, threatens biodiversity and contributes to salinity. Yet it doesn’t even make much money – it has been subsidised by taxpayers by over $5 billion to date just to keep it going.

Local Forest Update

In case you weren’t around last year the South East forests and the South Coast Community scored a massive victory when the charcoal plant proposed for Mogo was withdrawn. However, as the hangovers subsided, the threats to our local area’s ecosystems remain. Australian Silicon Inc. (the company seeking to build the plant) still has a valid contract with NSW State Forests for 200,000 tonnes of wood a year and the NSW government and opposition just want to move it out of view. What’s more the existing logging of Old Growth and other high conservation forests is still occurring.

While Canberra sits in a patch of woodland surrounded by burnt out pineplantations there are several beautiful forests within easy reach. Monga, Badja, Deua, and Tallaganda are all within one or two hour’s drive. Following the massive bushfires, other threatening processes such as habitat destruction and logging will have an even greater effect on endangered and threatened plant and animal communities. Disgustingly enough, several of these forests are currently being, or are planned to be, destroyed by the actions of State Forests NSW.

So what’s being done about it? Operating out of the south coast “Forest Watch” tours the areas of future, current and past logging operations, doing scouting as well as recording breaches of the Forestry Act by logging contractors. If you are interested in touring the South Coast forests with knowledgeable, fun, and interesting people contact Tony at turtlepoet@planet-save.com or Kris at forestfelix@yahoo.co.uk. Chipstop are devoted to stopping the wholesale export of woodchips from South-East Australia. They regularly campaign and blockade in the Southern region. To hook up with this mob email chipstop@green.net.au and in the title bar state “I want to lock on”. The ANU Environment Collective is also involved in advocating better forest management in Australia. As well as other mischief, day/overnight trips to forests in the region will be occurring throughout 2003. If you are interested in leaving Canberra for a weekend in the cool green contact Christal on christal@gmx.li or Anton at avikstrom@apex.net.au.

While outside of our immediate area the forests of the Brigalow Belt or Western Woodlands of northern NSW are incredibly diverse and under unprecedented threat. The Pilliga and Goonoo forests contain 58 threatened species including the Pilliga mouse, barking owls and koalas. Currently the Regional Forest Assessment for this area is being undertaken which will determine the forestry regime in this area for the next twenty years. As I write this article the Carr government is delaying a decision till after the March election so it is an imperative to write a letter to the government insisting they create new National Parks and Nature Reserves over most of the Pilliga, all of Goonoo and Bebo State Forests, and all remaining high conservation value smaller State Forests in Brigalow Belt South to adequately protect our woodland biodiversity, including the 58 threatened species.

Send your email/fax to Bob Carr, Premier NSW fax 92283935 bob.carr@www.nsw.gov.au

For more information check the Western Conservation Alliance website: http:// www.npansw.org.au/wca-bbs/

So that’s it my forest friends. Have fun - climb a tree, sing some songs, or just sit still and listen to the sounds around you. Who knows what you might hear.

Our Rural Communities

Just to get started, our rural communities suffer from land degradation, salinity, soil acidity, erosion, polluted waterways, droughts, economic hardship, and loss of basic services. But that hasn’t got anything to do with us living in Canberra right? Well I guess not, that is until you go and buy your food for the week, get yourself that oh so natural cotton shirt or pour that oil down the drain.

Canberra is a part of the Murray Darling Basin Catchment, and as the largest town in the catchment, the effect we as Canberrans have in the region is quite substantial. We are consider it normal to buy out-of-season foods in large quantities all year round and have a ready supply of meat whenever we want and all at a good price. These assumptions set up a difficult situation for farming communities. To produce foods that are often not ecologically suitable for their local area, at a price that people are currently willing to pay, farmers engage in environmentally detrimental farming practices. This isn’t just bad for farmers, who despite popular belief, are not generally out to run the land into desert. The fertility of the soil is the basis of their enterprises and everyone’s survival, and it’s slowly dying. The problem is that everything which saps the soil’s fertility is encouraged by the economic climate, and also government, large agricultural businesses and the weight of tradition: the indiscriminate addition of fertilisers and pesticides, intensive earthworks, high stocking rates, and monocultural practices.

There are plenty of different conservation techniques and farming practices that farmers could use to improve the sustainability of their environments but as sustainability is not a narrow concept, changing farming habits must also be economically and socially sustainable. Many farmers have little extra cash around to fence off an area effected by salinity and plant trees, or can afford to leave a field fallow or with a green manure crop which might improve fertility but that means no income from that paddock. But it can also take a strong disposition to be that kooky farmer of the district doing that ‘weird greenie farming’, that is until it works and it becomes standard practice. Back to us urbanites again and our cities where the majority of rural exports resources are directed, and a majority of the waste comes from. What can we do to remedy the situation? Well, to begin with it is important that we educate ourselves about the issues involved and our relationship to them. Where does our food come from? Where does our water go to? What do we put into it? Who has to use it downstream (or do without it, if we use more than we need)? What does it takes to produce a cotton garment or a head of lettuce? What food is in season, and how much water does it take to grow? Then there are the questions that touch closer to the bone. Would I be happy to eat a simpler diet if it meant healthy land? Would I pay more for food grown with sustainable farming techniques? Am I prepared to support the farming community who feed and clothe me and everyone I know?

If you’re super keen you could go and spend some time in rural areas remembering to be humble and open to hearing other, different points of view. You could volunteer with Landcare or another like organisation that is trying to address the problems faced in rural communities at many different levels. You could write letters to state or local government advocating support of environmentally- sound farming practice. Finally, you can support those businesses that already use sustainable methods by buying their products.