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Fax or Email the Minister Now!
The UBAG has been informed by DSE's Senior Forester at Powelltown that the department proposes to definitely log two coupes in the Upper Bunyip block this coming 03/04 season. The season commences on 1 December. The coupes are: 'Southern Bunyip' - where
we stopped the logging in March this year. Please! Ask for a moratorium on logging for this season while proper independent surveys are done. We still don’t know the results of an archaeological survey done in the Southern Bunyip coupe and none has been done in the rest of the 350 Block. Put pressure
on the Minister before logging starts.
He CAN call for a moratorium on those coupes, or throughout the block.
Please get emailing or faxing! STEP 1 1. Send a fax/email to the Minister - John Thwaites Fax:
9637 8789 Simply copy the following text - or put it in your own words - and send to The Honourable John Thwaites
Dear Minister, I am very concerned about proposals to continue logging this summer in the 350 Upper Bunyip forestry block, for the following reasons: I am concerned that little respect is being paid to the resolution of the Cardinia Shire Council of 19 August last year that "Timber harvesting should not occur in the Upper Bunyip 350 block due to impact on - native vegetation; tourism; Westernport catchment; recreational needs of South East Melbourne". Why is it that the opinion of this sphere of government that is closest to the people counts for nothing? Secondly, there has been insufficient research into the impacts of logging on threatened species of flora and fauna in the 350 Block that have been recorded in the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife and DSE's Flora Information System. These include flora such as Tall Astelia and Tree Geebung, and fauna such as Leadbeaters Possum, Sooty Owl and Powerful Owl. It is possible that Tiger Quolls might still exist in this block, and I want you to commission an adequate survey that will find out if this is so. I write with great urgency, to ask you to put a moratorium on logging any of the coupes in this block in this coming season and especially the Southern Bunyip coupe and the small Walker Track coupe which shares a boundary with a Special Protection Zone protecting rainforest and the rare Tall Astelia (the former is registered under the FFG Act 1988 as a Threatened Community, while the latter is registered under the FFG as a Threatened Species.) In the meantime, please commission
comprehensive flora, fauna and cultural-heritage surveys throughout
the whole of the 350 block - by fully independent agencies. Yours sincerely, (Your name and address)
STEP 2 Pass on alerts about this campaign to as many people as you can that you think would be committed to faxing or emailing the Minister. Aim for at least five and try to follow up with a phone call. Please impress upon them its urgency! If your contacts want more information, ask them to visit this website at www.nex.net.au/users/ubag/ or email Bob Thompson.
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is the UBAG? |