Articles

We are delighted that Balangara have won a 2nd place award for best short film at the 2016 Tasmanian eco Film Festival. Looking After Our Food is a story about Tasmanian beekeepers Bob Davey & Hedley Hoskinson who are serious about protecting honey-producing leatherwood rainforests, which are essential to the island state's unique food industry.

This area has been harvested using high-lead cable harvesting between December 2003 and June 2004. WE008E is approximately 20km north of the intersection of Clear Hill Road and the Gordon Highway and overlooks Lake Gordon. When we visited in December 2003, the high-lead cable machine was in operation at a landing on the Southern side of this very leatherwood-rich coupe (almost every second tree was a leatherwood tree).

I refer readers to earlier reports which may have been read by many of you as they were produced for publication in the TBA Newsletter and the Southern Beekeepers Bee News. They cover the periods up to January 2019 and up to May 2019. Since May 2019 after receiving advice from the Government offering to fund both an emergency feeding program (to help bees survive the Winter), and also to carry out a survey of beekeepers to establish the extent of infrastructure damage which precludes access to the leatherwood resource the TBA appointed a 3 man committee to work with the relevant Government Department, DPIPWE, and assist the drawing of documents for the Department`s use.

As previously advised we have been assisting with the preparation and final agreement of the Planning Guidelines for Apiary Values (Guidelines) with STT. We also advised on a subsequent Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with STT where the parties agree to cooperate and in particular inform each other and negotiate any proposed action which would change the effect of the Guidelines.

The examination of the 3 Year Plan for wood harvesting has now commenced and there have at the outset been 2 coupes where the provisions of the Guidelines have not been adhered to. After discussing these with STT and inspecting same with the relevant beekeepers STT are in the process of amending their Forest Practises Plan (FPP`s) in an attempt to meet the requirements of the Guidelines. The amendments have yet to be finalised.

At the meeting which was held at Forestry Tasmania`s offices at Perth, it became evident that Forestry Tasmania had no firm evidence on which to base their claim. The officers representing Forestry Tasmania at the meeting admitted that the mapping on which they were relying was a computer based desk top production, based on indicative aerial photographic assumptions which by their own previous admission was not reliable and should not be relied on. No ground proofing had been carried out.

We have completed our examination of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Plan the final form of which was released to the public late last year. Notwithstanding a reassurance in writing by the Minister for State Growth Mathew Groom dated December 2016 that the access and flexibility required by the beekeepers would be addressed in the Plan, this has not occurred.

One of the 2 coupes remaining to be considered, WR003B , was settled with an enlargement of the retained leatherwood area and a statement in the Forest Practises Plan that in the remaining area of high leatherwood content (5 Ha), FT would re-sow leatherwood seedlings after a cool burn. The affected beekeeper has agreed that the result in leatherwood loss is minimal and a coupe inspection appears to confirm this.

As foreshadowed in the last report the FSC certification process and in particular the final setting of Australian FSC Standards, is now well under way. The first Draft has been open for public comment for 3 months and the submission period has now expired.Before researching and writing a submission to the Economic Chamber of FSC, as members of the Chamber, we prepared for, and attended an all day session in Melbourne with representatives from around the Commonwealth, discussing and negotiating the Standards.

As foreshadowed in the last report the FSC certification process and in particular the final setting of Australian FSC Standards, is now well under way. The first Draft has been open for public comment for 3 months and the submission period has now expired.

As previously advised we are in the process of involving more volunteers in sharing the work of the association`s administration and the revamping of our website. Parallel to this work we have continued to monitor Forestry Tasmania's 3 year timber harvesting plans for the Derwent and Huon districts.