Greenies get it wrong.....

[natamambo]

An interesting perspective on our efforts to "fix" environmental "problems".

In my past life I often saw the unexpected ill effects of "do-gooders" who assumed they had correctly identified a fix only to make things worse in the dryland and irrigation farming areas of Vic. Our environment is far more complex than many greenies like to admit.

http://heraldsun.com.au/opinion/how-the ... 6517681233

This is similar to what's happening in south Gippsland where the eucalypt rain forests are being destroyed by the indigenous pittosporum because of the no burn off policy, we now know that fire was what kept it under control.

[vettepilot_6]

Totally Agree...as with most of our plant species without fire they wont go to seed....and our indigenous population has been burning off for centuries..with no ill effects on plant or wildlife..

[Diane]

From the article

So is banning fishing in marine parks going to cause more problems than it solves? Do we now doubt the science behind sending irrigation water down the Murray-Darling river system to return it to a "natural" state?
Will more frequent flooding along the Murray do more harm than good? And, of course, then there's the science around climate change.

I guess that would depend on if you were watering your cotton fields...see Cubbie Station or your rice crops (both water heavy crops in one of the driest countries) or at the end of the Murray wanting water to come out of your tap.

[E Orix]

We here on the Murray River can see 1st hand what damage the so call experts working out of big city glass towers
can do.
They had the brilliant idea to pull out all the willows and trees along the banks and pull out all the big snags.
Their theory was that the river would flow better,now they are spending millions of dollars buying large tree trunks from properties
kms away,carrying them on low loaders and pushing them into the river to slow it down.Why because the faster flowing water was destroying
the river banks with massive bank collapses.
That is only one of their brilliant theories and sadly there are other serious stuff ups.

[casehulsebosch]

Vettepilot quote:" and our indigenous population has been burning off for centuries..with no ill effects on plant or wildlife.."

Been to Kakadon't or the Kimberley lately? massive destruction due to what the locals call 'Black lightning'. Traditionally they may have been doing it right but the current trend in fires is too often and at the wring time.

controlled wet burn offs are good for nature in general. What I saw up North in the last few years is nothing but wanton destruction.Fires that create heat of up to 3200 degrees C. Not mtch that can survive this, and taking place at the end of the dry season!

cheers, Case

[TomDeGraaff]

Yes, the greenies can get it wrong. However, they get it wrong try to undo the damage done by aboriginal and European man. The sheep omission from the plains wanderer habitat was stupid. Obviously the larger native herbivores and native grasses would also be needed. Without the native grasses, I suppose the sheep would be needed to keep it in control. Simple logic really. That doesn't mean everything done by conservationists or farmers is stupid it means more thought needs to be put into these.

It bothers me reading Tim Flannery today about the lack of effectiveness and number of Recovery Plans for species. Whilst he largely talks of mammals, the helmeted honeyeater and the orangebellied parrakeet sring to mind as totally useless given their length of operation. Aviculture would have built those numbers up easily. vis Eric Ridley (plains wanderer), Glenn Lowrie-Fraser (Norfolk Is woodhen) and Brian O'Gorman (beautiful firetail). Bit off topic I suppose.
Aboriginal man destroyed the existing environment at the time. Megafauna were hunted and their habitat destroyed. They are not innocent of some environmental impact. However, we must also remember that both aboriginal and European man did not know any better.

[TomDeGraaff]

I just read my first para and even I can't follow me !!!!!!
The plains wanderer needed grass and a beast to eat the grass. That was the stupid mistake the greenies made there. Native grasses and native herbivores would be better.

[vettepilot_6]

Who would want to go to KAKADONT anyway??? No I have been to Darwin and other areas of it and much prefer Kimberlys and Top of Cape York... But I should have said about how they did it before European settlement....Greenies are the worst in my opinion...spot a Greenie car a mile away its the one belching all the blue or black smoke into the atmosphere

[TomDeGraaff]

There's no excuse for stupidity,is there!!
WE need agriculture, we need our creature comforts but we also need to take care of our Earth and the lives we share it with.
Whatever we do - greenie or other - we still need to do positive things for thecommunity, the environment and the planet, I reckon.

[fishdance]

I am sure plenty of well intentioned plans go wrong. Hind sight is always 20-20 vision. However I think a badly working plan is indefinitely better than no plan at all. Hopefully things can get corrected and improve.
Obviously with so many different stake holders and objectives, someone is always going to be disappointed.