Warning to check Alliance to protect koalas firewood sources Liz Bell liz@baysidenews.com.au
FIREWOOD buyers and providers on the Mornington Peninsula are being reminded to source responsibly sourced wood, understand the rules of firewood collection and stay out of parks and reserves. As the cool weather approaches and residents stock up on firewood, the Conservation Regulator is urging people to help save wildlife habitat and protect Aboriginal scarred trees. The illegal removal and sale of firewood from parks and reserves causes lasting impacts, and can decimate the homes of the many birds, reptiles as native mammals that rely on hollows in standing and dead and fallen trees. Chief Conservation Regulator Kate Gavens said everyone could play a part in protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage, wildlife habitat and biodiversity by knowing where, when and what firewood can be collected. “It can take hundreds of years for nature to create tree hollows and habitat loss from illegal firewood collection has a serious impact on the future of our iconic native species,” she said. The Conservation Regulator said each year Victorians were caught out unintentionally buying illegally sourced firewood, with 625 charges and 85 infringement notices for firewood offences in Victoria issued
in 2022. Buyers who use social media sites, roadside stalls and word of mouth are also being advised to check where the wood they buy wood comes from by asking for a receipt with an ABN and being wary of social media sites selling cheap firewood. Domestic firewood collection from public land is only available in designated areas during the autumn and spring firewood collection seasons. Illegal wood collection or tree cutting can be reported to 13 1963 or info@parks.vic.gov.au or DEECA on 13 6186. Offenders found guilty of cutting or taking away more than two cubic metres of fallen or felled trees from Crown land face a maximum penalty of $9087 and/or one year imprisonment. Individuals may also face an additional fine of up to $9087 for destruction of wildlife habitat, while vehicles and equipment such as chainsaws and trailers may also be seized and forfeited upon conviction. For details of where, when and what firewood can be collected, visit ffm.vic.gov.au/firewood/firewood-collection-in-your-region
THE Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation group has teamed with other volunteer organisations across Victoria to ramp up protection and advocacy for dwindling koala populations. The new Koala Alliance Victoria is made up of organisations and individuals involved with koala welfare, including groups on the peninsula, Gippsland and western Victoria. Belinda Eden from MPKC said koalas on the peninsula faced many threats, including starvation due to tree loss. “On the Mornington Peninsula, a koala is likely to die from starvation as her trees are cut down due to lax planning laws. As a direct result, she then experiences stress-induced illness, often resulting in unnecessary suffering and death,” Eden said. Jessica Robertson from Ballarat Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation said the alliance rejected state government claims that koalas in Victoria were “thriving and abundant” using a new, computer-based modelling technique, not actual counts. “We’d like to know how the government knows that koalas are ‘abundant’ - where is this data coming from,” she said. “It puzzles me why more do not question this claim of abundance, when everyone I speak to says the same thing, where have all the koalas gone.”
Picture: Keith Platt Founding member of the alliance Janine Duffy said Victoria’s koalas were either “deliberately killed” or were ignored “as they slip into local extinction in another area”. “A koala living in the south-west is likely to have all her habitat cut down around her, or she might have her tree cut down while she’s still in it, and have her body bulldozed,” she said. “A koala living in the You Yangs is likely to die from drought or a heatwave, or of starvation as her trees die due to climate change,” she said. “A koala living in Mallacoota is lucky to have survived the 20192020 megafires, and is likely to face another one in her lifetime.” Duffy said the alliance was formed to investigate and “rebut” state government “misinformation” about koalas.
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“For example, there’s the Victorian Koala Management Strategy – 19 years late, and we’re still waiting,” she said. “The draft Victorian Koala Management Strategy is indefensible – it’s weak, bitter, defensive, stingy about costs, and obsessed with koala overpopulation, but still manages to fail to offer any solutions. “If we don’t act, koalas in Victoria will disappear without even getting onto the endangered list.” Koala Alliance Victoria was launched on Wednesday 3 May, Wild Koala Day. The alliance’s first investigation into the Victorian Koala Management Strategy can be found at koalaclancyfoundation.org.au/analysis-of-thevictorian-koala-management-strategy/
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