February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: A stand of Muttonwood (Myrsine howittiana), a key Strzelecki warm temperate rainforest indicator species, has been destroyed within recently logged pine plantations. Strzelecki Warm Temperate Rainforest is regarded as the most depleted ecological vegetation class in the Strzelecki Ranges. It survives in only a handful of locations. At this site, it had grown inside the Hancock pine plantation and thus would have been regarded as "ingrowth" by the company and offered no protection. It is doubtful the logging contractors even knew of its existence at the site.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: Clearing of pines up to creek. No buffers in places. Pine debris lieing in creek.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: Clearing of pines up to creek. No buffers in places. Pine debris washed onto opposite side of creek.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: Creek crossing after heavy rainfall.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: Highly turbid water, with forestry contributing the bulk of sediment loads in this catchment.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: Small pine plantation, located on Middle Creek (northern Strzeleckis) recently clearfelled by Hancock
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: Remnant koala feed trees left at the site. But will these trees survive in the long term?
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Middle Creek catchment: View looking east into the Middle Creek catchment. Recently cleared pine coupes marked by yellow dots. Vagg Creek (left of screen) has a pine plantation of approximately 27ha and is due to be logged over 2012/13.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. Site of national conservation significance in a rainforest reserve. This track was located by Hancock Watch in October 2011. The site was/is a disgrace. Contractors had bulldozed access track through inappropriate location and after works had been completed, had pulled out culverts, leaving a badly eroding logging road and embarrassingly poor creek crossings. FSC certifier conducted a brief audit of the site in November and smacked Hancock over the wrists. The site has been 'repaired' but is this really satisfactory and why was the track constructed in such a way in the first place? To add insult to injury the State Government in October 2006 had agreed that the area should not be logged at all.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. Badly eroded road improved somewhat and drained, but how long will these changes last? How much money was spent on the repairs of a road that will supposedly never be used again?
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. 'Improved' logging road and creek crossing?
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. 'Improved' Creek crossing!!! Is this really the best that Hancock and FSC can do in a site of national conservation significance?
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. Another view of this 'High Tech' creek crossing. Road likely to be a target for off road vehicles who could significantly worsen this already sad situation.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. Log landing with slash left in piles and not spread over site.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. Collapsing road batters on recently constructed (and repaired) logging track.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek Catchment. FSC certified road batter.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment: Susie Zent from Friends of Gippsland Bush shows Wally Menne an international observer from Timberwatch South Africa, logging coupe maps of Craig Court in the Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve. The area behind Susie, was logged by Hancock in June 2007. The regeneration is almost 5 years old and is starting to recover from industrial logging practices. It is now supposedly in a long term conservation reserve, although information pertaining to its legal status remains in the hands of Hancock and the State Government. eg State and Corporate Secret! - Despite community pressure to lobby for the reserve in the first place.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment (Craig Court): The coupe map Susie Zent was holding in the previous image. Area 3 and 4 pertains to the cut over land in photos on this page. CTR represents recovering cool temperate rainforest (written in by Friends of Gippsland Bush), most not marked on Hancock's coupe plans. Hancock don't provide coupe maps to the community any more. Forest Stewardship Council has no teeth.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment (Craig Court): Recent spraying of roadside verges in Cores and Links Reserve by Hancock.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment (Craig Court): Fungi seen on old logging track inside coupe. Hancock and FSC, are only concerned about macro impacts of logging. No attention placed on the micro impacts.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment (Craig Court): Regeneration of logging coupe, almost 5 years of age.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment (Craig Court): Same location June 2007.
February 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment (Craig Court): Almost 5 year old regeneration in Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek catchment: Hancock have also been busy on Linkletters Road spraying regenerating bush in rainforest reserve.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek catchment: Hancock have also been busy on Linkletters Road spraying regenerating bush in rainforest reserve.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/College Creek catchment: Linkletters Road spraying revealing an old growth tree cut by Hancock a few years ago.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Traralgon creek catchment: Headwaters showing remant of plantations burnt 3 years earlier in February 2009 fires that killed 19 people in the Strzeleckis. It will take Hancock a decade to replant burnt out plantations.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment: Patchy regeneration, 54 months after being logged in conservation reserve in Cores and Links Rainforest Reserve. Note exceedingly poor regeneration at old log dump near centre of photo.
September 2007 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River Catchment: Same location as above almost 5 years earlier.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Morwell River catchment: Hancock has been busy spraying roadsides and log landings in conservation reserve. Why?
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Macks Creek catchment: FSC certified collapsing log landing.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Macks Creek catchment: Log landing and recent clearfells of pine plantations in background.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Macks Creek catchment: Eroding log landing.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Macks Creek catchment: Another scenic vista. Approximately 30 people rely on Macks Creek for drinking water.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Macks Creek catchment: Recent herbicide spraying in headwaters of catchment. Who tests the water for herbicide residues? Why aren't the results made public? What are local residents drinking?
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Turtons Creek catchment: This log dump was torched perhaps one year ago and appears to have burnt a couple of hectares of the coupe located off Central Road. Note burn marks on trunk of tree indicating a flames extended beyond logging debris piles.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Turtons Creek catchment: Shining Gum planted in this ex Mountain Ash site. FSC certification of conversion from Mt Ash reforestation to Shining gum plantations.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Turtons Creek catchment: Headwaters of the water supply for Dumbalk and Meeniyan. Logging these days provides only a few jobs. At this site trees are dragged up the slope by red cable logging machine and then have their branches removed, trimmed and sawn into logs by yellow machine. Probably a three man operation - excluding drivers of log trucks.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Turtons Creek catchment: The joys of clearfelling hundreds of hectares of plantations in a domestic water supply. Does this scene really represent the future of Australian forestry. FSC certified ecological nonsense, with serious ecological impacts.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Turtons Creek catchment: Log landing off Boolara Foster Road.
March 2012 - Strzelecki Ranges/Franklin River catchment: Tree fern gully surrounded by Shining gum plantations. Note habitat trees remaining. What other species could survive at this location?