Main source of native forest woodchips for Reflex Copy Paper 1995-2003 (Map Below).
Battle for Baw Baw frog: log it and see, says memo Peter Weekes Sunday Age 17/8/06 p5
Large sections of untouched forests on the Baw Baw plateau may be logged to determine if clearfelling will threaten the critically endangered Baw Baw frog.
A leaked PaperlinX memo says VicForests has recommended the logging of the 10 Baw Baw frog environmental coupes on the plataeu's southern escarpment. It expects to receive the go-ahead from the State Government within weeks.
Logging of the coupes was suspended in December 2004 after ferderal intervention and a spokesman for Environment Minister John Thwaites denied there were plans to resume harvesting.
It is believed the suspension will be reviewed next week.
The frog, found only in Victoria, has all but disappeared, with the population falling from a few hundred from up to 15,000 in 1984.
The proposal to log the 200 hectares is part of the habitat experimental harvesting program to determine if clearing would harm the frog, which is on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature red list, and is protected under state and national laws.
Environmental groups want the Fderal Government to use the same powers it did to protect the orange-bellied parrot. "To log a forest to demonstrate if it is detrimental to Baw Baw frogs is like throwing a baby into a swimming pool to demonstrate it can't swim," said Professor Jean-Marc Hero, of the IUCN.
Green areas indicate native forest logging coupes logged for PaperlinX 1995-2003.
April 2004: Recent logging and burning just west of Thomson Dam in Melbournes' drinking water supply.
April 2004: Recent logging and burning just west of Thomson Dam in Melbournes' drinking water supply.
April 2004: Ditto
April 2004: South Face Road - South of Mt Baw Baw in Tyers River catchment. Road built through Rainforest Regional Site of Significance. Note rainforest gully. Road built to satisfy PaperlinX's insatiable appetite for Reflex Copy Paper.
April 2004: South Face Road. Badly eroding batter.
April 2004: South Face Road - South of Mt Baw Baw in Tyers River catchment. Road built through Rainforest Regional Site of Significance and forests containing old growth. Road built to satisfy PaperlinX's insatiable appetite for Reflex Copy Paper.
April 2004: South Face Road - South of Mt Baw Baw in Tyers River catchment.
April 2004: South Face Road - South of Mt Baw Baw in Tyers River catchment. This site was probably logged about one year earlier.
Logging in Baw Baw catchment 2002
