MARK POYNTER, Institute of Foresters of Australia, Doncaster East
The Age, 28/1/07
It is disappointing that public discussion about the small annual timber harvest in the Thomson catchment continues to ignore the overriding impact of fire in determining how much "water guzzling" regrowth resides in our catchments.
The critical importance of keeping fire out of our catchments has been obvious during the recent bushfires. It is worth noting that the loggers were at the forefront of the firebreak construction that saved the Thomson catchment.
If maximising water yield was our only criterion we'd be better off with pastured or concreted catchments. If we prefer healthy forested catchments we must accept that trees use water.
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