Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. Recent clearfelling of 35 year old radiata pine. Retained 'habitat' tree near Upper Tudor Road. For more information about this plantation click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. Appalling snig track/logging road that connects up with Fairview Road. This operation is in breach of the Code of Forest Practices which states "Roads must be properly formed, consolidated and drained to ensure that the impact of run-off on stream water quality is minimised". Note the huge amount of dislodged soil. What will the impact be of heavy rain at this site? For more information about this plantation click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. Eroding road batters - possibly Montgomery Road. Hancock inherited these roads from the Victorian Plantation Corporation. What onus is on Hancock to 'fix' the obvious roading problems at this site? Pine plantations established in 1969 were located here. For more information about this plantation click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. Eroding road batters - possibly Montgomery Road. For more information about this plantation click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. Widepread plantation logging has taken place here in the past 2 years. For more information about this plantation click here. Plantations likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. Appalling log road batters, which will continue to suffer from the impacts of erosion well after the new plantation has been established. For more information about this plantation click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. Logging of pine plantations established in 1969. For more information about this plantation click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Albert River Catchment - Southern Strzeleckis. This area was logged a couple of years ago. It was 'apparently' a Mountain Ash 'plantation'. This site has been replanted with Shining Gum, a species not endemic to the Strzelecki Ranges (tree with bluer leaves). This location also sees a proliferation of understorey species and some indigenous eucalypt species emerging with the Shining Gum. What is the impact of converting indigenous plantations to non-indigenous plantations? For more information about this plantation click here.
Dec 03: Merrimans Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. Massive clearfelling operation in the headwaters of the water supply of the town of Seaspray. This plantation has been cable logged and the impact of heavy rainfall on this site would most likely be disastrous. Soils here are the highly erodable Cretaceous Sediments. For more information about this plantation click here. For more information about Merrimans Creek Water Supply Catchment click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Merrimans Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. Cable logging over rock faces on Merrimans Creek which provides drinking water to the town of Seaspray. Soils here are the highly erodable Cretaceous Sediments. For more information about this plantation click here. For more information about Merrimans Creek Water Supply Catchment click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Merrimans Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. This photo was taken facing east into a tributary of Morrison Creek, which flows into Merrimans Creek about 1km downstream. This plantation is located in the Parish of Willung and includes 5 land allotments stretching over 2km's. All of the plantation has been logged and was formerly owned by PaperlinX and is now owned by Hancock and mortgaged with Westpac Bank. For more information about Merrimans Creek Water Supply Catchment click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future. Click here for more maps on Gippsland groundwater.
Dec 03: Merrimans Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. Recent pine clearance near western flowing tributary of Morrison Creek inside the Merrimans Creek water supply catchment. Much of the soil base at this location is sandy. Herbicides likely to be applied to this plantation include Hexazinone and Clopyralid. Both are known to be water soluble and both are known as groundwater pollutants - especially if used on sandy soils. For more information about Merrimans Creek Water Supply Catchment click here. Click here for more maps on Gippsland groundwater.
Dec 03: Merrimans Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. Road cut into slope located very close to waterway which is a tributary of Morrison Creek. For more information about Merrimans Creek Water Supply Catchment click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Merrimans Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. Morrison Creek facing north. Numerous roading breaches were observed at this location which includes 3 allotments in the Parish of Willung. For more information about Merrimans Creek Water Supply Catchment click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Traralgon Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. This location was taken from the Traralgon Balook Road and shows a recently logged plantation with no protection for drainage lines. Heavy rainfall at this location will most likely seriously contribute to the sedimentation of the Traralgon Creek and eventually the Latrobe River. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
Dec 03: Morwell River East Branch Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. A very large amount of logging has recently taken place in this catchment on land leased to the Crown in the Parish of Budgeree. This photo was taken from Campbells Road and is facing north. Logging has probably occurred over 300 hectares in the past year or so. The long term impact of water yield impacts could amount to 2700 million litres of water required for plantations in this location every year until logging occurs again in 25-30 years time (unless thinning is carried out). Morwell River eventually flows into the Latrobe River. Note that pine cleared from this site is being replanted with Shining Gum, a hardwood eucalypt. Plantations likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
December 03: Flynns Creek Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. Widespread clearflling of pine recently occurring in these plantation located in the Parish of Tong Bong. Sandy soils are widespread throughout this land, meaning that herbicides such as Hexazinone and Clopyralid if applied could end up polluting groundwater. A large portion of this plantation area is currently under Exploratory Mining Licence EL 4681. The licence is currently held by Australian Power and Energy Ltd (APEL). South African based mining congolmerate Anglo American has recently acquired interest in APEL's proposal of a coal gasification and gas to liquids project, which could see up to 125 square kilometres of land dug up for coal mining interests. This is likely to be Victoria's largest ever natural resources project. Hancock currently has approximately 6000 ha of plantations stretching over 17km by approximately 6km located on top of the Exploratory Licence area. If the the plantation areas are to be mined, Hancock, under Victorian law can do nothing to stop the mining from taking place. All of these plantations could possibly be sold, increasing greenhouse emissions and leaving more mining scars on the landscape of the Latrobe Valley. For background information on Anglo American click here. This land (above) is currently mortgaged with Westpac Bank. Click here for more information about Anglo America's Australian coal interests.
December 03: Merrimans Catchment - Northern Strzeleckis. Parish of Tong Bong. Native vegetation currently owned by Hancock. For more information about Merrimans Creek Water Supply Catchment click here.
December 03: King Parrot Creek catchment/Goulburn River catchment. Recent clearfelling in the Mount Robertson plantation has occurred over the past 2 years. In early December, heavy rain was recorded in the region. A result of this rainfall, is the above illustration of erosion occurring in a drainage line of Mathiesson Creek. Recent rain had forced the heaping of timber and debris along this drainage line by fast flowing water. Further erosion occurred just outside this photo with gully erosion about 1 metre deep occurring inside the plantation's drainage line. For more information about the Mount Robertson plantations click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
December 03: King Parrot Creek catchment/Goulburn River catchment. This photo shows prolific regeneration of Dogwood and Eucalypts in a recently established pine plantation. It will be very likely that the aerial application of Hexazinone will occur in the near future as a means of killing this naturally regenerating forest - so that the pines can continue to grow without being shaded out by native species. For more information about the Mount Robertson plantations click here.
December 03: King Parrot Creek catchment/Goulburn River catchment. This is a roading blowout on a drainage line that feeds into Stony Creek. Huge amounts of sediment can be generated by blowouts such as this. A relic population of Macquarie Perch still inhabit the King Parrot Creek and are extremely suscpetible to the impacts of sediment. For more information about the Mount Robertson plantations click here.
December 03: King Parrot Creek catchment/Goulburn River catchment. Dodgy road drainage causing banked up water to channel through the plantation (at top of photo). For more information about the Mount Robertson plantations click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.
December 03: King Parrot Creek catchment/Goulburn River catchment. Logging Debris and sediment at this location has caused a re-routing of the drainage from this plantation. The rerouting caused a diversion of water and sediment across this logging road and down an embankment in the Mathiesson Creek catchment. For more information about the Mount Robertson plantations click here. Plantation likely to be aerially bombarded with the herbicide Hexazinone in the near future.