Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.12:
Curl Snake. (Photo by Damian Michael)
Box 4.5.
Firewood and biodiversity
Considerable debate has been associated with native forest logging and the effects
of plantation forestry in Australia. There is a third industry, however, that has largely
escaped public attention - the firewood industry. More than 4.5 million tonnes of
firewood are cut annually for domestic consumption in Australia.
28, 38
In 2003, this
was approximately two-thirds of the volume of woodchips exported each year. The
2001 State of the Environment Report
39
noted that firewood is the third largest
source of energy in Australia after gas and coal.
The firewood industry is based on cutting living and dead standing and fallen
trees, particularly on private land and on roadside reserves. These trees and the
vegetation from which they are removed can have significant value for many ele-
ments of biodiversity - including some threatened ones such as the Superb Parrot.
40
Much of the timber is sourced from temperate woodlands that have been heavily
cleared and are subject to other threatening processes, such as overgrazing by
domestic livestock, rural dieback and salinity.
41
Indeed, in New South Wales, fire-
wood cutting is listed as a key threatening process in temperate woodlands and is
having an enormous impact on the many species strongly associated with dead
standing trees and fallen timber.
28
For example, Garnett and Crowley identified 21
species of birds at risk from firewood harvesting.
42
