Since
the 1930s, 400 farms have been repurchased by the State and incorporated back
into the State Forest. These farms amount to 28,000 hectares.
A further 9,000 hectares was land briefly leased out to hopeful farmers in
the 1890s. This land reverted back to the Crown after proving to be
unsuitable for farming and was abandoned, often before any clearing took place.
The remaining 26,000 hectares has always been Crown Land. So, in fact,
less than half the Strzelecki State Forest is repurchased ex-farmland.
As
far as VPC land is concerned several sources quote 13,000 hectares of pine
and 7,000 hectares of eucalypt reforestation and regrowth. The remaining
20,000 hectares is bush. The land leased to Amcor has a similar proportion
of "plantation" and bush.
The
total amount of public land protected in parks and reserves in the Strzelecki
is around 5,000 hectares. This amounts to about 8% of the public land.
Statewide, the proportion of public land protected in reserves and parks is
around 50%. The Strzelecki State Forest deserves a similar proportion protected
to ensure the long term survival of the local environment and wildlife.
Linking together and enlarging the area protected in reserves to 30,000 ha.
would at least bring the Strzeleckis in line with the rest of the state.
Strzelecki
figures and clues:
1.
F.R.Moulds "The Dynamic Forest" p.106:
"The
original 'Great Forest of Gippsland' began near Westernport bay and extended
for 100 - 120 km. to the east, with a width of some 50 - 70 km. The trees
were mostly blue gum, mountain ash, and messmate, with other eucalypts in
lesser quantities, together with blackwood, sassafrass and many other understorey
species, especially in the gullies."
The
Strzelecki Ranges formed the main core of the Great Forest, taking up at least
half of the area.
2.
B. Collett "Wednesdays Closest to the Full Moon - a history of South
Gippsland"
1994:
page 128, describing the opening up of this region to selectors:
"virtually
the only country not selected was the 40,000 acre timber reserve in the hill
country near Mt Fatigue." This provides some insight into the size
of the area retained by the state, but is a rather vague description of the
location of this area. It is safe to say that a great deal of the remaining
Crown land was to be found toward the western end of the Eastern ranges. Collett
states in his footnotes that this timber reserve(sometimes called Gunyah,
sometimes called Mt Fatigue) was debated in state parliament in 1884 and 1887
and gazetted in the 1890s.
3.
W.S.Noble "Strzelecki - A New Future for the Heartbreak Hills"
(1978 CF&L) provides this information:
in
1978, of the Forested land in the Strzeleckis:
48,700
hectares was State owned and
33,617
hectares was owned and leased by APM
Other
privately owned forest was not included in the calculation
As
to the extent of the public land, the table provided by Noble shows the 8617
ha. as separate from the 48,700 ha.
leading
to the conclusion that the Strzelecki State Forest was 57,317 hectares in
total
of
this:
22,300
hectares was purchased (300 ex-farms)
9,000 hectares reverted to Crown, after briefly being leased to hopeful farmers
in the 1890's; it was never 'alienated'
strongly
suggesting that the remaining.....
26,017
hectares must always have been state owned.
After
30 years of planting,the State was credited with:
3995 hectares of hardwood reforestation
and 6117 hectares of pine plantation.
4.
LCC "South Gippsland Area District 2" 1980:
estimates
the total amount of public land in the Eastern Strzeleckis to be 47000 ha.
of which 44000 ha. was Reserved Forest. The report stated that this included
the APM leased land.
Inconsistencies
begin to appear as to the size of the Strzelecki State Forest. Perhaps Noble
had counted the 8617 ha. leased to APM twice, or perhaps the LCC had failed
to count the 8617 ha. at all.
"Plantation"
estimates were quoted at
5.
LCC "Proposed Recommendations South Gippsland Area District 2" 1982:
This
document used more up to date data, and identified larger areas of public
land which would have been purchased by the state during the 70's and early
80's.
The
LCC clearly sought to have planted eucalypt classed and treated in the same
way as any other stand of native hardwood. The Eastern Strzeleckis pine plantation
estimates were at 9920 ha. net. This included 1250 ha on state forest
leased to Amcor, and another 100 ha. of Amcor leased land earmarked for pine.
This leaves 8570 ha.net. of pine on state managed Strzelecki State Forest.
If the references so far mentioned are reliable, the period between 1978 and
1982 must have been the period of most rapid pine establishment - from 6117
ha. to 8570 ha. - achieving in four years what previously, on average, would
have taken 12 years. A further 3460 ha. was earmarked for softwood, of which
2130 ha.net was to go under pine and the remaining 1330 ha. left as bush.
The
original timber reserve from the turn of the century had become a hazy memory.Special
reserved areas such as the Gunyah timber reserve ( discussed in state parliament
in 1884 and 1887) and the never-to-be-built agricultural college reserve had
also been largely forgotten.
The
LCC re-defined the land use somewhat by dividing the entire area into a number
of zones
Everything
(both state managed and leased) apart from the Reserves and the unoccupied
crown land (totalling approx 3000 ha. at the time)
was
classed as either :
F1
- Softwood production zone or ( gross area not stated, net. area
pine: 9920 ha.)
F2
- future softwood production zone (3460 ha. gross, 2130 ha. net. pine)
or
E1
- Hardwood production zone (30,000 ha.)
No
areas were given a dual softwood / hardwood purpose
This
included all State managed and Amcor leased land.
LCC
Softwood zones are generally easily defined as they form large, cohesive areas.
Within these areas are native gullies, native remnant patches, native
corridors etc. Further land purchases made since 1982 have probably enlarged
these zones It is understandable- even desirable- that native bush can
be found in softwood zones. Some smaller areas of pine plantations appear
LCC
Hardwood zones While it is fair to state that the softwood
zone is plantation containing up to one-third bush, quite the reverse was
true for the hardwood zone, which was bush containing one-fifth reforestation
or "plantation".
It
can be roughly estimated that of the 30,000 ha. hardwood zone, 25,000 ha.
was on state managed land and 5000 ha. was on land leased to Amcor.
In
1980, the State managed portion of the Strzelecki State Forest hardwood zone
(around 25000 ha.) was said to contain 4,600 ha of hardwood "plantation".
The
LCC clearly stress the need for multiple use in all hardwood zones. It made
no distinction between the treatment of planted hardwood and non-planted
hardwood.While recognising its timber harvesting potential, it stresses the
need to balance this with a host of other environmental, soil conservation,
water production and recreational considerations, which is the essence of
'multiple use'.
Outlying
Hardwood Zones In addition to E1 is E2, 580 hectares of hardwood zone
in the Western Strzeleckis. E4 - 1840 hectares of hardwood at Alberton
West and E5 - 253 hectares of hardwood at Mays Bush and Jack River.
These areas are all within the Eastern Strzelecki's sector bringing the total
hardwood zones for this sector up to 32,673 hectares.
The
Amcor leased land (8617 ha.) is also zoned either Hardwood or softwood production,
but the map accompanying this document does not separate the two zones.
The earlier 1980 LCC map showing vegetation shows the pines to be largely
in the northern section closer to Morwell National Park. As mentioned,
this area had 1250 ha. net. of pine and only a further 100 ha. extra pine
plantings were planned.
6.
"Strzelecki Forest Drive" DCNR, (undated, but circa mid 1990s) contains
a range of statistics, as well as some confusing omissions.
It
shows that the last 20 years led to the re-purchase of 100 more farms
(now 400 farms totalling 28000 ha. ) adding an extra 5,700 hectares to the
size of the State Forest since Noble's 1978 estimates.
SIZE
of the Strzelecki State Forest - mid 1990s
assuming
that the information from 1978 was correct, the extra 5,700 ha.bought since
1978 brings the amount of Public land to 63,017 ha. by the mid 1990s
7.
A Pollock "Issues Magazine" 1995 refers to 7000 ha. of state owned
eucalypt "plantations" in the Strzelecki State Forest.
8.
The "Report of Panel Hearing on Applications by Amcor Plantations, September
1996" states that it became State policy in 1987 not to clear native
bush in order to establish plantations.
This
means that post 1987 it would be unlikely that any hardwood zone could
legally be converted to "plantation".
Regenerated
native bush logging coupes have never been allowed to be classed as plantation,
although in the Strzeleckis evidence suggests that this has happened.
9.
Regional Forest Agreements - "Deferred Forest Areas" 1995
identified
around 24,000 ha. of deferred forest and around 5000 ha. of permanent reserves
in the Strzelecki State Forest. Deferred Forest Areas(DFA) are areas set aside
as interim reserves pending the outcome of the Regional Forest Agreements.
The
Strzelecki DFA is virtually identical to the 30,000 ha. E1 - Hardwood
production zone as identified by the LCC in 1980, with two omissions: The
hardwood area leased to Amcor (around 5000 ha.) and areas of hardwood zone
that have since been made into reserves (around 1000 ha.)
10.
Correspondence we received from Marie Tehan, Minister for Conservation 1998,
states that due to an agreement between Mr Kennett and Mr Keating in Feb 1996,
the Strzelecki Deferred Forest Area was specifically excluded from the interim
forest agreements and lost its deferred forest status because it was identified
as plantation, and that it was identified as plantation because it was vested
in the Victorian Plantations Corporation.
|
PUBLIC LAND IN VICTORIA 8.4 million hectares.. Victorian figures from V.A.F.I, late 1990s |
PUBLIC LAND IN THE Strzeleckis bioregion~ |
| 47.3% Parks and Reserves | 8% approx Parks and Reserves |
| 2% Pine Plantations | 22% approx pine Plantations |
|
|
16% approx Native Forest mis-classified as plantation-leased |
| 15.4% Native Bush Available for "Multiple Use" including logging | 46% approx Native Forest - leased |
| 11 % Other Public Land | 8% of GMZs, SMZs and SPZs - non-leased |
It becomes evident how over-utilised the Strzelecki State Forest is,
It
needs to be remembered that the establishment of such a high proportion of
plantation in this area of significant mountain ash and rainforest has had
an enormous impact on the environment. Plantations often rely on an
arsenal of herbicides, insecticides and poisonous baits, especially when they
are planted in the middle of the bush. Newly planted seedlings look
like food to many animals.
The
Strzeleckis have a one hundred year history of abuse and calamity. About
a half of the public land was at one stage either sold off or leased out to
settlers and then either reverted back to the Crown or was bought back.
The area underwent widespread ringbarking, burning, grazing, the climate altered,
then large areas were converted to plantations. Native bush continues
to be regularly logged.
In
a society working towards sustainability and environmental reconciliation,
the treatment of the Strzelecki State Forest has consistently run contrary
to this trend, receiving ever more intensive hammerings.After clearfelling
the native mountain ash, non-endemic eucalypts are being planted with a plan
to harvest them every 27 years.
Reserves
need to fulfil our obligation to protect the native environment and therefore
must be large and form coherent shapes. Of the remaining unreserved
forest, the proportions of bush available or unavailable for harvesting must
also be brought in line with the State average. In addition to this,
areas for logging must be given much longer rotation rates and harvested areas
must be regenerated with native mountain ash (eucalyptus regnans) and other
trees endemic to the area.