WESTERN FORESTS TO BURN FOR CHARCOAL
MALLEE FOWL REFUGE TARGETED
The National Parks Association of NSW has sounded the alarm over a proposal to fell and burn as much as 150,000 tonnes a year of already threatened western NSW woodlands to make charcoal. The targeted ironbark woodlands of the Central West include key habitat of the endangered Mallee Fowl.
The proposal comes from a Western Australian mining company, with a Japanese partner, which wants to burn NSW's woodlands in a plant at Dubbo to supply charcoal for a new silicon smelter at Lithgow. The end product - silicone sealer or gasket goo!
"This proposal is third world stuff. " said Noel Plumb, Executive Officer of the NPA. " Given the importance of these woodlands to western NSW biodiversity, it is equal to felling and burning Brazil's rainforests to make charcoal. The proposal would burn up all the known hardwood resources of the western woodlands in less than five years, judging from current State Forests' Management Plans."
"Incredibly, the proposal is being treated seriously by the NSW Government. State Forests is carrying out a "fast track" assessment of the available timber resources. The proposal is aimed squarely at the remnant western woodlands because their ironbark timber is highly preferred as the charcoal feedstock."
"If this gets entrenched we will have an industry just as bad as the Eden woodchip mill, consuming the last bits of our ironbark woodlands not already cleared for farming and grazing. NPA has called on the Government to stop the proposal gaining any further momentum as it is patently unsustainable and a huge threat to nature conservation in western NSW."
State Forests has advised that a "trial" operation would be conducted in Goonoo State Forest, only thirty kilometres from Dubbo and the proposed charcoal plant. The proposal fits the view of State Forests since the mid eighties that it saw potential to exploit the ironbark forests for charcoal
The immediate and heaviest impact will clearly fall on the Goonoo State Forest just outside Dubbo, effectively one of the jewels of biodiversity in the central west. The forest is one of the few refuges of the endangered Mallee Fowl; no Mallee Fowl are found east of this area. Goonoo is also an important habitat for the threatened Glossy Black Cockatoo and conservationists are already concerned at pressures on the cockatoos from firewood operations in the forest.
For more information and comment: Noel Plumb 02 9233 4660 or 0412 975 575
2 July 1999