DEAR News Of The Area,

BOWRAVILLE sawmill owner Matt Dyer’s recent reported comments (NOTA 24/11/23), as written by your correspondent Ned Cowie, regarding National Parks, fires and the Black Summer holocaust, demand a response.

Mr. Dyer is quoted as recommending that “National Parks change their policy” about hazard reduction burning and that the fires began on “the national parks territory” and implied that nothing was done to combat them for three weeks.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service annually undertakes more than 70 percent of the total acreage of hazard reduction burning in NSW.

The contribution of the forestry industry is somewhat smaller.

National Parks and Wildlife Service staff work closely with local Rural Fire Service brigades and Forestry Corporation crews to attack, suppress and extinguish forest wildfires throughout the local area.

After studying the fire footprint of the Black Summer fires, acclaimed Australian Ecologist, Professor David Lindenmayer, found that logging elevated the risk of these high-severity fires.

According to Professor Lindenmayer, logged forests always burn at greater severity than intact forests.

While Forest Corp does burn some forest slash after clear fall operations, the private native forestry jobs on private land holdings, favoured by some local sawmillers, rarely are burnt after the loggers move through and go.

Almost all Australians would strongly support the growth and development of a sustainable plantation-based hardwood timber industry.

It is time to acknowledge that the old way is broken.

Our public native forests are almost exhausted of large sawlogs because of over exploitation.

It is time for the timber industry to become farmers of wood.

We can, and should, grow our magnificent native timbers, not just pine trees, as a crop, and no longer take it from our native forests at the expense of our unique and precious wildlife.

We have the land, the climate, the tree species, the knowledge, and the skilled workforce to undertake this initiative on a grand, sustainable, and commercially rewarding scale.

Regards,
A FIZELLE,
Bonville.