The Department of Environment and Conservation claims on their website that dieback (Phytophthora cinnamomi) is one of the major threats to the biodiversity of Western Australia's ecosystems, yet virtually nothing is being done to prevent dieback spreading in areas of state forest set aside for logging.
The Global Warming Forest Group has shown clear evidence to both the DEC and the Forest Products Commission of logging operations where contractors totally ignore dieback prevention regulations; however, it soon becomes apparent that they are already well aware of the situation and have no intention of doing anything about it.
More recently GWFG has had meetings with the Conservation Commission who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that such regulations are adhered to, only to meet with the same lack of interest and action. As a result, GWFG has approached the Ombudsman, but as yet have not heard if they are prepared to investigate the failings of these three Government agencies.
What we have learnt from our investigations is that the Government’s reluctance to enforce the regulations regarding dieback prevention in logging coupe is purely financial. The FPC runs at a multi million dollar loss to the State every year and the logging industry is barely scraping out a profit.
There are two known ways to prevent the spread of dieback when entering threatened forest regions. The first is for expensive washdown stations to be setup at all entrances and exits to these areas and for the stations to be permanently monitored to ensure they are used. This is the situation at various mining sites; however, such infrastructures would be economically unviable with logging operations considering the abundance of logging coupes.
The second method is to forbid access to threatened forest regions in wet soil conditions where dieback is easily spread in mud sticking to vehicle tyres and on shoes. DEC website “The pathogen (dieback) is spread through the movement of infested soil and mud, especially by vehicles and footwear”. For obvious reasons the logging industry wants access to the forest at all times and the DEC/FPC and the Conservation Commission appear happy to facilitate their demands. By doing so, they are exacerbating an already devastating ecological situation.
One of many photos shown to the DEC, FPC and the Conservation Commission showing how vehicles have been driving through thick mud in a dieback infected area (Jolly forest coupe – western entrance). The vehicles have then driven straight through a gate and past a sign saying vehicles must be clean on entry, and then into a dieback free area without making any attempt to clean mud off their vehicles. As the photo shows, vehicles need only have driven two meters to the right to avoid the mud, but such is their complacency that they haven’t bothered and the authorities couldn’t care less.
Adding to the problem, the DEC has conveniently classified large areas of state forest as ‘unprotectable’. What this means is that when the DEC finds small patches of dieback infection in a section of forest, they declared the entire area unprotectable. Under this classification multi tonne logging machines are allowed to move about freely in the area no matter how wet and muddy the conditions. Clearly this will mean that the small infected areas will soon become large infected areas. Of course the DEC knows this and yet, for the purpose of looking after the financial interests of the logging industry, is facilitating the spread of dieback through this cunning legal loophole.
The Government is not only aware of the regulatory authorities inactivity in preventing the spread of dieback, but is so concerned the information be suppressed that the Minister for the Environment, Bill Marmion, has refused permission for the Opposition Environment Minister Sally Talbot and members of the GWFG to jointly meet with the Conservation Commission to discuss the issue. Minister Marmion ignored questions in both Parliament and in private correspondence asking why he would not allow this joint meeting. Clearly his Government has something to hide.
