Frustrated with the many laws and regulations in Australia that now make it difficult for farmers to manage trees, including woody weed regrowth, on their land a TREE CHOP CAMPAIGN kicked off on 1st July.
The NSW Farmers Association has failed to condemn the campaign that encourages farmers to cut down trees. The Australian Beef Association is actively supporting it.
Jeff Angel, Director of Total Environment Centre, said farmers were misled if they believed these actions would affect politicians in their favour. According to the Wilderness Society website: “Environment groups are calling for a criminal investigation into the activities of all individuals and groups who have publicly incited illegal land clearing, and for action to be taken against the ringleaders."
Not so many years ago environmental activists rather than farmers would have been more inclined to break the law. Now it is once law abiding farmers who feel so aggrieved they have resorted to civil disobedience.
Graziers wanted to clear trees to make a few bucks from a paddock and now want to make money from Carbon credits, fair enough.
Land managers will be made accountable for the carbon produced from clearing the vegetation. Once Kyoto is ratified (or when we enter an international carbon trade system) Australia must account for its carbon output. It will cost this country when vegetation is cleared.
The economics of large scale vegetation clearing no longer add up. Earning carbon credits for improved land management practices will become a reality, but to expect payment not being a 21st century carbon vandal is ridiculous.
You got adequately compensated, and I'm sure you'll remain able privatise the profits and socialise the losses of the agricultural sector.We do need producers and we will support them, but I will not support short sighted vandalism.
And your "virtual farmers" appear to spend all of their time, breakdowns aside, on the tractor. Are you blond, by any chance?
The facts are that it will only take a small portion of total farmers to prevent sufficient further expansion of native vegetation to negate the so-called gains under the vegetation legislation. And the more that take up the task of ripping out saplings the easier it will get and the harder it will be to detect. And it is entirely lawful.
Most farmers already do so. They have been betrayed once and will not allow it to happen again. They don't actually have to chop down established trees to meet the target but this activity, again, makes each farmer's share of the target that much smaller and easier to exceed.
It can even be done by letting saplings keep on growing. Many farms have strategic gaps that have prevented wildfires from spreading in the past. And the farmers have carefully kept these gaps open by clearing the saplings on a regular basis. And all they need to do to achieve some serious vegetation adjustment is to let the saplings grow so the next fire can bowl through a much larger patch of "enemy territory".
I actually thought I had a pretty good handle on the many ways one can help nature get rid of threatening vegetation but I keep hearing of new ones all the time. Thanks to metrotyranny there are some very clever heads giving this some very serious thought.
And as I have said before, you guys have made your bed, now you can lay in it.
Ian M.,
I was, of course, referring to artificial permanent/semi permanent water sources, which includes the various rivers and creeks that are dribbling water for much longer than natural in dry periods due to river regulation and clearing in the catchments.
Eris clearly has a thing about tractors.
I like the one about removing permanent water sources to control domestic and native grazing stock. Has it dawned on you yet that most "permanent water sources" on Australian farms are creeks and small dams?
I gather the Minister has a problem with people moving creeks and an even bigger problem with blocking their water. And fencing them off usually deprives the stock of 90% of the available shade. Not to mention the cost of a 'Roo proof fence.
And as for your opinion on virgin ground, tell that to shonk central. We were trying to explain that to the blockheads 20 years ago. All they did was nod their heads and then ignored it like everything else.
So tell us all, Eris, exactly how many farmers have you actually spoken with over the past decade? How many farms have you actually visited and walked over in the past decade?