Posts from — March 2008

Mercury photograph

Forestry Tasmania’s controversial annual autumn burn-off started yesterday prompting the Asthma Foundation to warn people with respiratory problems to stay inside away from the smoke.

Curiously, the burns started on the same day Premier Paul Lennon announced international consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff would be engaged to audit the Government’s greenhouse emissions.

The first burn of the season was near Railton, in the state’s North-West.

A further six burns are planned for the Florentine Valley in the state’s south over the weekend.

Burnoff details can be found here.

Forestry Tasmania’s Fire Management branch manager Tony Blanks said the burns were expected to run throughout the autumn.

Welcome to clean, green Tasmania.

Kelp collectors on King Island are gearing up for a bumper winter harvest, after westerly weather dumped a large amount of bull kelp on the shore. The kelp is dried and then exported for use as fish food and garden fertiliser. Kelp harvesters rely on rough westerly weather to wash the kelp ashore.

Hobart’s Michael Brennan, is in the running for one of the world’s top big wave surfing awards.

The 19 year-old was the only Australian nominated for the ‘ride of the year’ award which recognises the most amazing performance by a big wave surfer captured on video.

Brennan was chosen for his death defying ride on a monster wave at Shipstern Bluff on the Tasman Peninsula in January.

He is vying with four other surfers from around the world for the $56,000 prize.

Angry Hobart aldermen have branded Targa Tasmania as ‘organised hooning’ and its competitors ‘environmental bandits’.

Eva Ruzicka and Bill Harvey came out firing in their decision not to approve a proposed Targa stage on the Domain in April.

‘It’s organised hooning, and we’ve a problem with hooning on our streets,’ Mr Harvey said. ‘Targa actively encourages that behaviour.’”

A fire that has blackened 17,000ha on the West Coast was started from a car accident on the Western Explorer Highway, a controversial road damned for its scarring of the Tarkine, home to Australia’s largest temperate rainforest.

Tasmanian Greens leader Peg Putt said conservation groups had warned that the road would prove a source of destructive activity and an ignition point.

‘The Greens are now warning that no further roading into remote Tarkine wilderness should be allowed, although the Government is actively pushing such an agenda via Forestry Tasmania,’ Ms Putt said.

Hydro Tasmania says it cannot guarantee water supplies to the $2 billion Gunns Limited pulp mill.

The news comes as water flows in the South Esk basin plummet because of drought.

As well, Hydro Tasmania has reduced generation and thus water releases from Great Lake.

The level of the lake has dropped to 15.9 per cent of capacity ahead of a weekend of high evaporation because of hot weather.

Scientists and a New Zealand dog trainer head to Macquarie Island this month to look at how to best tackle the problem of rodents and rabbits. The World Heritage listed island, half way between Tasmania and Antarctica, is being overrun by the pests. $25 million will be spent on the eradication program.

A cheeky portrait of the Danish royal family has won this year’s Bald Archy Prize.

Newcastle railway worker James Brennan was awarded the $5,000 prize in Canberra this morning.

‘I was vacuuming and it just popped into my head out of nowhere,’ Brennan said.”

The Bald Archy Prize was created in 2004 as a spoof of Australia’s most prestigious art award, the Archibald.

It is also the only art competition in the world allegedly judged by a cockatoo, named Maude.

Hobart residents have been advised to avoid eating two fish species caught in the Derwent Estuary because of elevated mercury levels. Elevated mercury levels were found in 28 black bream and 25 sea run brown trout caught mainly between Bridgewater and New Norfolk.

The Tasmanian Government will introduce legislation to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by the year 2050.

Premier Paul Lennon says the target will be based in 1990 levels.

He says the government’s car fleet will be carbon neutral by mid 2010 and State Cabinet will consider making it mandatory for major government buildings to have solar power and hot water installed.

Mr Lennon has also announced an agreement with Greening Australia to offset the government’s air travel.