Lilydale Protection Group Inc
Startling new information in controversial Plan to clearfel Lilydale water catchment
Concerned residents of the Lilydale community have uncovered a serious flaw with the plan to clearfell part of their town water catchment. Local knowledge of the area has revealed that a significant strongly flowing stream, identified on the Forest Practices Plan as leaving the coupe, re-enters the coupe further down. It then runs through an area marked for clearing and plantation. This section of the stream was not identified on the Forest Practices Plan. Local residents believe it joins Rocky Creek, above the Lilydale town water intake.
In a letter to the Mercury (12/2) Chief Forest Practices Officer, Graham Wilkinson, claimed that the catchment area had been correctly calculated to exclude this class 3 stream shown on the Forest Practices Plan (FPP) as it was not identified as being anything to do with Lilydale’s water supply. He also claimed that the streams as marked on the FPP map were accurate.
Spokesperson for the group, Mike Scott said that this was the most significant in a series of errors in the Forest Practices Plan exposed by the Group. “This is a monumental blunder, which may have significant implications for the town water supply”, Mr Scott said. “Work must cease immediately while a full investigation is conducted.”
Work on the coupe commenced yesterday, despite calls for a moratorium from the local community and the Launceston City Council, until a full hydrological assessment of the coupe could be undertaken. “ If our fears are confirmed, the Forest Practices Plan must be revoked immediately” Mr Scott said.
Other significant problems already exposed by the group include discrepancies with catchment area calculation, and suspected failure to comply with special provisions for streams within 2km of a town water intake.
“The Lilydale community (and the Launceston City Council) has been entirely vindicated in calling for a full hydrological survey. Our transparent and professional attempts to assess the risk to our water supply, using a combination of expert evidence and local knowledge, have been met with blanket denials by the Forest Practices Authority . All evidence we have supplied to date has been either ignored or dismissed as “uninformed allegations” ,” Mr Scott said.
“The Forest Practices Authority is the police for forestry operations, and they have clearly failed in this instance. But they are also the authority in charge of what happens in our water catchments. This is a dreadful indictment on the current state of affairs, and all Tasmanians should be horrified. Water is just too important for basic mistakes to be made.”
Lilydale Protection Group Inc
