Clearfelling, chemicals … and Devonport’s water

A warning to all who drink Cradle Coast water sourced from the Forth River.

We tried to stop the use of chemicals. We wrote the following letter to the legal chiefs at Cradle Coast Water, Gunns, Devonport and Sheffield Councils
Letters to which I received no reply:

First Letter

11th June 2002
To Mr Casey van Eysen – CEO
To Mr Jack Hendriks – Manager Corporate Services

Cradle Coast Water,
P.O. Box 3147 DC,
Ulverstone Tas 7315

Dear Sirs,

As concerned citizens, and as a holder of current water licenses from the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment (DPIWE), and the Hydro-Electric Corporation (HEC), to draw household drinking water from Lake Cethana, it has come to our attention that Gunns Limited or their agents propose to apply Roundup, Brushoff and Simazine to areas on the west side of Lake Cethana on land that drains into Lake Cethana. It has also come to our attention that this same water source, contributes to the drinking water of many households in the Municipalities of Devonport and Kentish, and possibility other areas.

We believe that if Gunns Limited, or their agents do spray Roundup, Brushoff, Simazine, Atrazine or any other poisonous chemicals, not only will such action be negligent, but also constitute tortious conduct, and for which they will be liable. We also believe that, knowing of this possible action, if you do not immediately take steps to prevent this pollution of the community water supply, then you also, will be negligent and therefor liable.

In these circumstances, it may be that your public liability insurance policy, (if you have one), may not cover you, as generally such policies exclude conduct of this type. Further, most policies do not cover the use of chemicals such as Roundup, Brushoff, Simazine, Atrazine or any other poisonous chemicals.

In any event, regardless as to whether or not any public indemnity policy covers such actions, take notice that we will take whatever steps are necessary to prevent this pollution of the environment, and of the waters of Lake Cethana, with these chemicals, and you are clearly on notice, that we believe you must also take whatever steps are necessary, to prevent this pollution, as the use of these chemicals can cause severe detrimental effects to the population. There is abundant evidence as to the dangers of the Glyphosate, and Triazine families of herbicides.

Yours faithfully

Paul and Geraldine de Burgh-Day

Then the poisoning began! (see picture above)

We then wrote the following letter, urgently asking Cradle Coast Water to alert people drinking this water that it was contaminated, with copies to Gunns, Devonport and Kentish Councils.

No reply – total silence!

Second Letter

17th June 2002
To Mr Casey van Eysen – CEO
To Mr Jack Hendriks – Manager Corporate Services

Cradle Coast Water,
P.O. Box 3147 DC,
Ulverstone Tas 7315

Dear Sirs,

Water is now contaminated.

Further to our letter to you on 11th June 2002, we now advise you that aerial spraying was undertaken on Friday 14th June 2002. The helicopter was operating from early morning till near sunset. (All day)

You should be aware that there was significant rainfall in the catchment area prior to this exercise. (We record the rainfall for the Bureau of Meteorology, so this is the official rainfall for Lorinna.)

Monday 10th June 2002 – 20 mm.
Tuesday 11th June 2002 – 12 mm.
Wednesday 12th June 2002 – 15.6 mm.
Thursday 13th June 2002 – 16.8 mm.
Total 64.4mm in the 4 days prior to spraying.

Another rain front was forecast for Friday afternoon/evening. This came through several hours after spraying finished and dumped a further 13.8 mm of rain, mostly before midnight.

In addition to this, the water level in Lake Cethana was extremely high on Friday. Following this rain, water was released down the river and now the level is low again on Monday 17th June 2002.

Spraying was carried out in misty conditions. See attached photograph, taken on Friday 14th June 2002.

It was necessary for one resident of Lorinna, to vacate her home adjacent to the lake. She suffers from a medical condition which prevents her from returning to her home for some months, as a consequence of this contamination. We have been advised that she has briefed a barrister today, in respect to her situation.
Again we put you on notice. You should assess your public liability risk exposure.

Do you intend to take the precautionary principle, as would be done with potential exposure to asbestos, and advise householders potentially at risk, specifically pregnant women and young children, to refrain from drinking water that may be contaminated?

In the circumstances, it may be that your public liability insurance policy, (if you have one), may not cover you, as generally such policies exclude conduct of this type. Further, most policies do not cover the use of chemicals such as Roundup, Brushoff, Simazine, Atrazine or any other poisonous chemicals.

In any event, regardless as to whether or not any public indemnity policy covers such actions, take notice that we will take whatever steps are necessary to advise the population of this pollution of the environment, and of the waters of Lake Cethana, and you are clearly on notice, that we believe you must also take whatever steps are necessary, to advise the population of this pollution, as the use of these chemicals can cause severe detrimental effects to the population. There is abundant evidence as to the dangers of the Glyphosate, and Triazine families of herbicides.

Yours faithfully

We believed that this would be the end of contamination of this valuable catchment, but no……

Only 2 years ago (2008) a steep 214 ha site on the junction of the Forth and Dove rivers was purchased by “SFM Environmental Solutions Pty Ltd”.

SFM states that it “is a Tasmanian owned (two young partners at the time) company offering a diverse range of environmental, natural resource management, forestry and project management services to a broad range of clients throughout Tasmania and mainland Australia.”

Their website (http://www.sfmanagement.com.au) lists past jobs and experience, and includes the following “SFM Projects in 2005 – Forum for government, industry and stakeholders regarding the application of pesticides in relation to Oyster farms.”

This upper catchment of the Forth River was one of the few places relatively clean of chemicals, with much of the catchment in the Cradle Mountain World Heritage park.

We did not know the intentions of these two young people, so I telephoned many times and eventually got to speak to one of the partners, David Wise, on 6/3/08 The gist of the conversation recorded at the time went something like this;

-Property 206ha Will clearfell
-will clear 100ha and put in plantation
-spent 3 months doing plan
-Will use Glyphosate, Oust and Simazine
-bought the block to make a profit
-no E.Radiata on block (even though he admitted he had never heard of this species)
(Eucalyptus Radiata – narrow leaf peppermint – is listed as ‘threatened’ and only occurs in this small area)
-plan to burn
I tried to pursuade to ‘re-seed’ and so avoid the use of chemicals
-No, bought block to make money, decision made, deal with FEA to do plantation.
I asked did he know of the rot problems in E.Nitens?
– Did not know anything of this
I asked if I could have a copy of the FPP?
-Get it under FOI!
I invited him to visit here and look at our 12 yo E. Nitens and consider the long term economics of a plantation. He refused.

Again Clear felling took place, this time on even steeper terrain, including some very old trees, (see picture below) burning and plantation establishment. This steep site now stands like a wound on the side of Lake Cethana. Again, heavy rain in July and August last year (2009), washed away lots of soil, and the water flowed down again to the Cradle Coast water intake which supplies Devonport with its water …

As I tried to negotiate re-seeding instead of a chemical supported plantation, the chainsaws were running, and the cleared area grows. This is the summer 2008 scene from my paddock. The Forth valley is very steep here and Lake Cethana lies down in the valley between the clearfell and my farm. I posted this on TT and asked for help – who is SFM? One reader has told me that SFM stands for “Sustainable Forest Management” – if this is so, surely they should at least re-seed, and not use poisonous chemicals that will run down this steep terrain and into the water supply?

Winter 2008: SFM have now destroyed this forest – see my friend by the centre tree.

All this Forth area has been selectively logged in times past, with many huge trees remaining, and the clean bio-diverse “filter” for the water flowing out of this catchment still intact and operating. Thus demonstrating that we can have a timber industry without chemicals …