Felled giants at Brown Mountain
Vic Government destroying pre-Columbus trees
Date: 3-Apr-2009
In a state first, radiocarbon dating has confirmed that a tree logged by the Victorian Government began growing before Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americas.
“This a monumental find for Victoria. The carbon sample, taken from a logged shining gum tree at Brown Mountain in East Gippsland, shows there is a 68 per cent chance the tree started growing between 1435 and 1490 AD. The tree is well over 500 years old,” said Jill Redwood, coordinator for Environment East Gippsland, who commissioned the study.
“The Brumby government must now act to pull the bulldozers from East Gippsland’s forests and protect all our remaining ancient forests, not just as natural relics but as ancient carbon stores,” Ms Redwood said. “This finding is a key turning point in our understanding of the antiquity of forests. Two hundred years ago we had the excuse of ignorance – Premier Brumby can no longer rely on ignorance to justify logging these forests.”
“VicForests, the state government’s logging agency, is making climate change worse,” said Luke Chamberlain, forest campaigner for The Wilderness Society. “This significant discovery proves these forests have been storing carbon for over five centuries. VicForests takes only a few short weeks to log, burn and destroy them.”
“Victoria’s old growth forests are some of the most carbon dense on earth and their protection must be part of Premier Brumby’s plan to tackle climate change,” Mr Chamberlain said.
“This old growth forest logging in Victoria has global implications,” said Lindsay Hesketh of the Australian Conservation Foundation. “The carbon emitted when native forests are logged makes up approximately 20 per cent of the world’s CO2 emissions, yet Australia’s native forest emissions are not measured in our greenhouse accounting system
“Climate Change Minister Penny Wong’s announcement in New York this week that the Australian Government will actively advocate for the inclusion of measures to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries is encouraging. The Brumby government’s logging of ancient forests on Brown Mountain highlights the need to also recognise and reduce emissions from logging in Australia,” Mr Hesketh said.
“The Victorian government promised to protect old growth forests in the lead up to the state election in 2006,” Ms Redwood said. “Since then hundreds of hectares have been cut down. This unfulfilled election promise is being sabotaged by VicForests. What more evidence does Mr Brumby need?”