09 The Great Eastern Mail MARCH 2018 Abundancehasastrongpsychologicaleffectonthehumanmind: Whatwe seeplentyof,westruggletoseeasinlimitedsupply,writesKittyGiroud IN COMMUNITIES like ours, a history of logging is as much liability as legacy. It gave us the lasting illusion of permanent plenty. However, if a resource seems inexhaustible, sustainability is likely to be overlooked. When this region’s natural riches were first being exploited, the immediate challenge of the new timber industry was efficient extraction on a commercial scale. The only possible result of taking resources at a faster rate than they regenerate is permanently reducing supply. The short term approach to harvesting mature timber inevitably failed us all in the long term. Ancient trees taken in that first orgy of commercial extraction had been standing for hundreds of years. Big trees we see transported today are still several human lifetimes old. They are irreplaceable. If you grew up with this, it may seem normal and unobjectionable. Logging may have been your family’s income; lost logging jobs, a source of long term unemployment and hardship. Trees are wood. But before that, they are living things that whole ecosystems depend on. From fungi, to ground cover to canopy, an intact forest is a complex web of interdependent life forms. Trees are the sheltering giants that make this abundance possible. Old growth forests are now a tiny proportion of the total forest cover of the East Gippsland region: a tiny proportion of what remains in this state; on the mainland; nationwide; worldwide. Inevitably there are people concerned enough about this diminishing natural asset to push hard for protection and better management of what remains. Historically, our region has seen ugly conflict over forestry practices that destroyed diverse, biologically complex environments before they could even be surveyed and studied. There are no winners when positions taken are polar opposites, but change came. Orbost is no longer a timber town, though logging continues. It can never be a logging town again: the seemingly endless supply of big logs never was limitless. Tourism and hospitality now have a far greater collective economic value to us: more jobs and more profit. The most intact forests are a big part of what drives that prosperity: they are a natural wonder. Moisture retention, soil integrity, habitat, carbon sequestration, recreation and aesthetic enjoyment all make the oldest, lushest forest worth more to us unlogged than logged. Their continued destruction can only increase the rarity and the heritage value, of those that remain. After more than a century of clearfelling; of ancient trees logged; of even sawlogs chipped and milled for paper, self induced scarcity afflicts the industry. Moreofthesamecanonlylead to a more passionate defence of conservation values. Tension over this issue has sometimes generated hostility and overt conflict in the community. While growing goodwill and a more civil exchange of ideas now prevail, the status of mature plant communities is of increasing concern; as the area and quality of what remains, declines. Here in East Gippsland, and around the world, healthy, complex, mature forests are now rare and especially precious. You may see no shortage of trees here, but the difference between an old growth forest with diverse species, and the scrappy regrowth that follows clearfelling, is vast. Seeing so many trees around us, knowing of local jobs that depend on logging, renewed environmental activism may seem irritating and inexplicable. It’s important to remember that even in this region, timber now offers very little employment, at significant cost. Current practices can’t last. As I write this, a log truck roars by carrying a load of few logs, but mighty girth: they were already trees when my grandparents were born, and I have a seniors’ card. As I write this, forest guardians are debriefing after direct action that delayed logging of a biologically valuable forest remnant in the nearby hills. AsIwritethis,someonewillbe contemplating their precarious employment, in an industry that has not been run either sustainably or accountably. My heart goes out to all of them; the dead trees deemed worth more as wood than living miracles; the activists; the timber getters and log truck drivers. I hope we can move forward. I hope we can make good decisions that don’t impact disproportionately on individuals. I hope we can consider all we should, and work our way towards better practices, without the old cycle of spiralling blame and reactivity. I hope we can be wise and kind. VOLUNTEER Fire Brigades Victoria’s leadership training program, which has assisted East Gippsland volunteers from Mallacoota to Mount Taylor, has been cancelled due to funding cuts by the Andrews Government in its latest stoush with CFA volunteers. Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria’s funding bid to enable its Volunteer Leadership Program to continue for 2018 and to be offered to CFA volunteers and other volunteers across the Victorian emergency services sector, has not been supported by the Minister for Emergency Services. Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria initiated this volunteer leadership opportunity in 2010 with 327 volunteers graduating over the eight years since it commenced. Nationals MP for Gippsland East Tim Bull has described the withdrawal of ongoing state government funding this long-running and successful volunteer leadership program as a “short sighted and disrespectful way to treat our emergency services volunteers.” “Volunteers from Mallacoota with Ambulance Victoria, Paynesville Coast Guard and from six Country Fire Authority brigades across East Gippsland have obtained a Certificate IV in Leadership & Management under this program.” “At a time when we need to be doing all we can to strengthen emergency services volunteer leadership skills and enhance volunteerism, it is disheartening that a proven and respected program like this has not been supported. “The course was run in conjunction with Chisholm Institute with participants working on a project relevant to their community to develop realistic and practical solutions. “At the end of last year’s course the participants presented to the group on their project. “The senior emergency services personnel who attended were highly impressed with the standard of these presentations, with one in particular about the issue of bullying resonating strongly. “The Andrews Government has allowed the rug to be pulled out from under our emergency services volunteers and I will be requesting the Minister to reconsider his decision not to support this program,” said Mr Bull. Funding costsseesCFA leadership trainingaxed