Bundarrah Days

HERE are a few extracts about wildfire that have appeared in Bundarrah Days and on the Andrew Bolt blog.
23/2/2006

Reserving land for conservation purposes and public enjoyment is a fine ideal. But this is Australia and we need to develop a process appropriate for Australian conditions. Lock it up and leave it doesn't work here.

There seems to be an impression in the minds of the urban dwelling public that a magical transformation takes place when bushland is incorporated into a national park. Suddenly it ceases being the bush and becomes part of a fragile eco-system with countless communities of diabolically threatened flora and fauna.

The stark truth is that once it is declared a national park and subjected to green management guidelines it becomes more threatened than it ever was before.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and national parks and foreign management has not benefited public land in the least but has worked to its detriment. Enough has been destroyed.

Judge Stretton, back in 1939, recognised the struggle between bush people and imported land managers. He came down on the side of the bush and made recommendations which should have been followed uniformly.

Instead we now find that the mistakes of the past are being repeated over and over again.


3/5/2006 If anyone should think that the danger in Wonnangatta is being overstated they should consider that one of Victoria's oldest horse tour families who have been visiting Wonnangatta for decades will no longer take tours into the valley during February. They describe it as a death trap.

Perhaps there is a hidden green agenda at work. Maybe they would like to see a few tragedies to drum into people the dangers unmanaged bushland presents to the unwary and the inexperienced. Perhaps they think such tragedies might dissuade people from going there.

It's got to a point now where we really have to consider the possibility of such a hidden agenda or otherwise we have to admit that our land managers and those who formulate the policies are incredibly, almost unbelievably incompetent.


15/6/2006 Less than half the control burning schedule for Victorian public land before this winter has been carried out.

Only 49,293 hectares has been set alight by the Department of Sustainability and Environment under its fuel reduction program in contrast to the target of 130,000 hectares.

And to make matters worse it appears the Bracks Government has been trying to cover up its failure by lying. DSE's website was claiming yesterday that 110,000 hectares had been burnt so far this this year. The misleading figures were removed yesterday after the State Opposition exposed them.


6/6/2006 Now the chorus is "lock up the land." Forget about it, let it burn as it never burned before and leave the scarred landscape to be preyed upon by noxious weeds and feral animals.

The sheer hypocrisy of the Bracks Government in the management of National Parks is manifestly obvious. The tragedy is that the parks are the victim. Mr Bracks talks about a new start for the Alpine National Park. That new start is on indefinite hold until he and his government are held to account for the charred, neglected and tragic landscape of much of Victoria's parks.


Does anyone truly believe that "the science" used to justify these crazy policies is legitimate science?


26/7/2006 Thus we have a triple tragedy unfolding in Australia today. Firstly, the loss of a living bush heritage that helped keep us in touch with our national character which we are consequently in danger of losing; secondly a deterioration and loss of biodiversity on public land and thirdly the loss of renewable resources such as timber to mindless conservation policies and ultimately uncontrollable wildfire.


28-12/2006 THE Bracks government is considering a marketing and advertising campaign to bring tourists back to fire ravaged areas of Victoria.

Remembering their last big campaign for the region - A New Start For The Alpine National Park - we here at Bundarrah Days have a suggestion for a sequel.

A New Start For The Alpine National Park - Come See What We've Done!


01/16/2007 Bracks Takes Holidays While Victoria Burns

PREMIER Steve Bracks took holidays with Victoria in the midst of one of the greatest bushfire crises in its history.

The Australian reports that he rushed back to work yesterday after wildfires cut power transmissions.

Rushed is hardly the right word. He wasn't in any kind of hurry until the disaster hit home to Melbourne when up to 100,000 homes lost power, air conditioners shut down on one of the hottest days this summer and hundreds of people were stranded in sweltering conditions in city lifts.

That's how seriously Steve Bracks has been treating the disaster in the bush. If you were Premier would you have taken holidays while much of the state was burning around you?

What an inspirational leader! What an example he sets.

There are thousands of volunteer firefighters who have sacrificed their summer holidays for the good of the community, their holiday pay supporting their families while they risk their lives to divert the flames around homes and townships.

Meanwhile, Steve Bracks takes a holiday! Pity it wasn't permanent.


26/7/2007 Get the picture? The fires of the past four years were not simply a natural occurrence we have to learn to live with. They were an unprecedented environmental disaster from which we might never fully recover.

This is where green inspired land management has led us yet we have a Commissioner For Emergency Services assuring us that all is hunky dory, that feral wildfire is natural and doesn't do much harm and the bush will recover quickly.

Do you think a man who suffers from such delusions should occupy such a vital public position?


02/22/2007 Esplin Should Be Sacked

VICTORIA'S Commissioner for Emergency Services, Bruce Esplin, is a disaster waiting to happen and should be sacked.

His alliance with two of Australia's greenest scientists, Dick Williams and Ross Bradstock, demonstrates a clear lack of objectivity and an intention to align himself with a movement that supports the concept of wilderness and a subsequent regime of feral wildfire.

Far from supporting science that seeks to evaluate the damage caused by such fires to forests and catchments as well as changes to the albedo of the land that may lead to a decrease in rainfall, Esplin has told Victorians they need to "accept" wildfire as a fact of life and as a natural part of Victoria's ecology.

Eminent scientists and bushfire experts were appalled by an article co-written by Esplin, Williams and Bradstock which appeared in The Age last week.

In the article the three conspirators pointed to fire in mountain ash forests as evidence that wildfire was natural and necessary.

Mountain Ash regenerates through fire and forests need to be burnt about once a century.

However, to use fire in ash forests to justify the occurrence of the mega fires of recent years is no more than a deceptive ploy.

While there's no evidence that Aboriginals burnt mountain ash forests they regularly burnt the surrounding dry forests creating a mosaic of relatively clean forest floor. Their efforts were supported by lightning and fuel accumulation at levels seen in our forests today were unknown.

Therefore, the regenerative fires in mountain ash forests were unable to spread into mega blazes capable of destroying millions of hectares in the course of a single summer.


05/18/2007 Rural Fire Volunteers Rebel Over Cattle Evictions

EXCLUSIVE REPORT:

This is a copy of a letter to be sent to DSE Benalla, Region 22 Headquarters, local members of Parliament.

To Whom It May Concern:

We, the volunteer members of the Picola Rural Fire Brigade, have serious concerns in regards to the future management of the Barmah Forest, should the cattle be removed in the future.

Our concerns are as stated:

Lack of management of the undergrowth and fuel loading due to removal of cattle
Lack of consultation with local fire brigade members
Lack of access tracks and bridges
Future maintenance of these tracks and bridges
Reference areas


In regards to the management of the undergrowth and fuel loading should the cattle be removed, the Parks past history, for example the high country, shows us that they do not have a workable plan in action to reduce large fire risks.

Generally, the local volunteer CFA members are first called to incidents in the forest, however, our input into safety and time is not taken into consideration. As locals, our knowledge is invaluable in relation to this issue.

We feel that the tracks are not being maintained adequately to allow fire trucks safe access to and from incidences as CFA policy states that for safety purposes, we need at least two escape routes.

Bridges also are a concern in that they are not being replaced or maintained quickly enough to provide safe access for not only the fire trucks but also the safe exit of campers and tourists. The Bendy Bridge at Hut Lake has not been replaced; Top Island has only two other access points. Also the bridge at Tarmah has been out of action for many years, McDonalds Bridge over smiths creek is in dire need of replacement. This is just to name a few.

At a recent fire where a Reference area was involved, Parks Victoria would not allow DSE to put an access track/fire break in high ground as this was in the reference area, hence sending the trucks through low wet ground causing a truck to become bogged. The CFA need to have unrestricted access to all areas should they be expected to put their lives on the line and fight fires in the bush.

Our members have voiced their concerns that if the cattle are removed from the forest and fuel loadings increase, we will seriously consider not going out there due to increased risks to our safety and accessibility.

We hope these concerns are given high priority when decisions on the forest are made in the future.

Picola Rural Fire Brigade
Secretary Jack Corry




In the past, a chap from the mountains ( Phil McGuire I think ) predicted all of this due to the bush fires we have been having. He seems to know something that others don't and I will listen to him in future.
Suburbanite of Glen Waverley (Reply)
Sat 05 Jul 08 (11:16am)

Phil Maguire replied to Suburbanite
Sat 05 Jul 08 (12:17pm)

I have to say thanks for the vote of confidence.

I've tried to spread the word publicly but other than that my knowledge is no greater than that of any other mountain cattleman or bushman.

I think it's time that those of us with the required experience were listened to over and above those who feign knowledge and tell outright lies such as green academics national parks activists.

If people think that green scientists don't lie or fake studies they're sadly mistaken. I know of many who do and I'd name them here if it was allowed.