Kat,

You are right, it is our planet, and there needs to be compromise between the ideology of the greens and the needs and safety of those living in the bush. Presently city dwelling greens appear to have little regards for those actually living in the bush.

Perhaps Victoria needs an independent assessment of the claims of green groups like Redwoods. GECO and EEG.

Perhaps they need the same "Independent " Team that verified Tasmania's forests: Jonathan West (former Director of the Wilderness society), Brendan Mackey (founding member of the Wilderness society's Science panel) Peter Hitchcock (Consultant and lobbyist for the wilderness Society who wrote and presented their claim for additional World Heritage in 2008), Peter MacQuillan (the public face of advertising for ACF, ET and Wilderness Society calls for more forest reserves),Sean Cadman former National Forest Campaigner for the Wilderness Society and Virginia Young (National campaigner, wilderness Society.)
see https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Tasmanian-World-Heritage-Con-Job-the-truth-behind-the-2013-extension/325896320896192

Perhaps they could tells us that removing contractors, their machinery and their trained workforce all suited for and with a vested interest in fighting forest fires is a good idea.
We need a Royal Commission into how the greens!

Well said, Mark! Brilliant article....

Poor old Mark P. He doesn't know that Jill Redwood has nothing to do with the GECO website - never has - and i know because i know that group. So what else has he got wrong in his article?
He used selective quotes from that leaked DEPI report. It also shows that 70% of logging contractors on fire contract work are non-compliant with minimal OHS specifications.

It also says that the new 5% target (3x increase in burn area) is not funded by the government with more resources or people. So DEPI is having real trouble getting these burns done safely. Maybe Mark P it has more to do with the government than people who question it - which you also seem to be doing - questioning how these fires were handled. Your article was quite confusing this way.

Billio

As Jill Redwood is the regional mouthpiece of forest activism in East Gippsland, and the Gippsland Environment Centre (GECO) is located in her home 'town' of Goongerah, I have great trouble believing you about her supposed non-involvement in the GECO website, but I was warned that there would be denial of this so I'm not surprised.

GECO was the original website, and Environment East Gippsland came later, so I can imagine that she may be concentrating on the latter site now (she signs EEG submissions to various Govt projects calling for public comment), and may have little to do with GECO nowadays.

Your comment about the lack of resourcing to do more fuel reduction burning only supports my point about what has been lost as the timber industry has been closed down. There is less money generated from the forest and there is less imperative for people to plan and supervise the industry and maintain roads etc., these same people were also involved in fire management.

Not sure what you're alluding to with regards to me being part of the Govt - for the record I worked for the Forests Commission and Dept of Conservation Forests and Lands in East Gippsland (Orbost and Cann River) in 1978, and 1981 - 84.

Like everyone else who has worked in forestry we are interested in finding out what is going wrong with fire management. However, rather than just bag the current Dept of Env and Primary Industry, I think it is important to understand the societal and political changes that have led to this and which have created the operational climate within which DEPI must exist.

Even Fairfax media could see the folly of listening to the greens.

" Governments appeasing the green beast have ignored numerous state and federal bushfire inquiries over the past decade, almost all of which have recommended increasing the practice of "prescribed burning".

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/green-ideas-must-take-blame-for-deaths-20090211-84mk.html