National parks are killing red gum forests

The NSW Department of Environment and the National Parks Service have made it very clear that local communities and jobs do not count. Their interest is only a national green agenda where country towns and small businesses are not relevant. In their view, the people have no importance and should have no say in the Forest Assessment currently being conducted by the Natural Resources Commission. Bob Carr said don’t worry about the job losses. Don’t worry about the businesses or the future of the community. And the greens aren’t worried about watching all the trees die!

But the dead and dying trees on Yanga National Park disproves any genuine interest in looking after red gum environments. The privately-managed forest across the river is managed as a healthy, sustainable, productive business that can boast credible environmental outcomes.

Forest industries produce important and valuable timber products, capture and store carbon from the atmosphere and reduce demand for high energy products that rely on burning fossil fuels. They provide jobs and an economic basis for rural and regional communities. They sustain healthy forest environments. They provide an economy that can afford sound environmental management without imposing on taxpayer funds. They ensure conservation!

Red gum forests need active management and multiple-use forestry on a sustainable basis to ensure good outcomes for industry, communities and the environment - all delivered as an economic activity rather than a welfare burden on taxpayers.

In the current drought, forests need to be thinned; dead or dying trees need to be removed. Management by Forests NSW over many decades and through previous droughts has proven that the forest health depends on active management. Silvicultural thinning needs to be implemented across the whole of the Riverina, including on private forests; environmental flows of water without thinning is futile. The thinning need is huge, the water need is small but they remain the only tools available to save the red gum forests.

Benign neglect by the Department of Environment and the National Parks Service has proven simply that they are not capable of looking after these forests. Yanga National Park must be returned to active management before it all dies.

We do not need any more national parks in our red gum forests.