Upper Bunyip Action Group
'U B A G'
Recently clear-felled and burnt coupe adjacent to Bunyip Road between Mount Beenak and Seven Acre Rock in the '350 Upper Bunyip' Forestry Block.
[Photo: Heather Morrison]
What's Happening to your Forests?
In the Central Highlands this coming summer, thousands of hectares of native forest are scheduled to be clear-felled for wood-chipping, and the residue will be burnt. The creation of new access roads for enormous logging trucks will compound the problems caused by widespread clear-felling of our forests.
There are many detrimental effects of this type of wood harvesting. Some of these will last for centuries! In general, these effects fall into four main categories:
- ecological disturbance;
- reductions in quality and yield of water from catchments;
- destruction of opportunity to realise better economic outcomes; and
- loss of amenity for recreational use of our forests.
Asignificant impact of clear-fell logging that is well researched and documented is the lowering of water yields in catchment areas that are subjected to clear-fell harvesting. Higher uptake and transpiration of water by the regeneration 'forest' that follows a logging and re-seeding cycle is the cause of this effect. Research commissioned by Melbourne Water indicates that the loss of water yield from clear-felled areas can be as much as 50% of the previous yields - and it takes 150 years to restore pre-logged levels!
Let's put this in the context of the 350 Block, the boundaries of which coincide with those of the 'Bunyip River Water Supply Catchment' that was proclaimed in 1963 to supply drinking water to the Mornington Peninsula. Clear-felling in this self-contained catchment area will result in big losses in future flows in the Bunyip River, downstream of the Bunyip Weir, and potential losses in availability of drinking water to help meet Melbourne's future needs. And clear-felling will result also in a marked reduction in the very high quality of the water flowing into the Bunyip Weir, because of the high level of sedimentation that accompanies this method of logging.
Members of the UBAG insist that there is absolutely no justification for logging this 'forestry block' that is a proclaimed drinking-water catchment area for the residents of Melbourne!
JOIN THE UPPER BUNYIP ACTION GROUP, and begin writing letters NOW to your local papers and MPs to protect the 350 Upper Bunyip Forestry Block from any further devastation.