By KATH GANNAWAY
BUXTON resident Ray Donkin is calling for trees felled as part of a $7million risk mitigation program to be milled.
Mr Donkin, who has worked in milling and logging, is questioning why many of the trees around Marysville needed to be cut down in the first place, and why, in the wake of the operation, large, straight trees are being left to rot.
The two-year program was brought in by the former Labor Government in the 2013-’14 budget to improve safety on public land that has been burnt in bushfires across the state.
Announcing the program, then Environment Minister Ryan Smith said the fire-killed trees over time weaken and fall, creating safety hazards for anyone nearby and potentially blocking important roads and access tracks.
He said the majority of the felled timber would remain on the forest floor to provide fauna habitat and nutrients to the soil as the trees decomposed.
In a response to Mr Donkin’s query in June last year, Lucas Russell, Murrindindi District Planning manager for the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (now Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DEWLP) said local roads were selected following an objective planning process.
“Local planning staff assessed each of the roads to be treated and prescriptions were outlined to protect special values where necessary,” he said.
While Mr Donkin conceded a number of the trees had internal rot, he pointed out that many of them were, in his view, millable.
“Some of these have cracking, due to being left on the ground, but that wouldn’t rule them out of being used,” he said.
“That these have been left to rot is a public disgrace, this taxpayer-owned asset should have been offered in a business arrangement with a local sawmill, which I understand were prepared to purchase the logs.”
He said it was illogical to spend millions of dollars removing trees in the bush.
“Where on the forest roads can one stand and declare they are safe?
“For this to be achieved, you would have to clear at least a 60-metre strip each side of the road.
“As you can see,” he said pointing out tree after tree on bush roads between Buxton and Marysville, a great number of these trees are very solid and sound.
“How they could be declared dangerous is beyond me.”
He said it would have been more logical to spend some of the $7million dollars making the Maroondah Highway through the Black Spur safer, in view of the greater number of vehicles using the road, compared to forest roads.
The Mail contacted the offices of the Opposition Environment Minister, Brad Battin, and the current Environment Minister, Lisa Neville, for comment, but did not receive replies by deadline.
