Friends of the Earth Melbourne, Australia

During the winter months keeping warm in Melbourne is a necessity - thawing out around the fireplace is, for many of us, a familiar activity.

Less familiar is that 80 percent of the firewood sold in Victoria comes from the rapidly dwindling Red Gum forests of the River Murray.

Victoria’s remnant red gum forests, including the Murray River’s Barmah-Millewa, are increasingly being clear-felled using mechanical harvesters, destroying already rare habitat.

Firewood is not just waste – as groundwood it's habitat, even if it’s ‘salvaged’ after logging operations. Ground-wood is habitat for at least 20 bird species, many marsupial and reptile species.

Burning firewood in built-up areas also contributes to increased heart and lung disease.

What happens when you burn firewood…

Approximately 1.85 million trailer-loads (m3) of firewood are used in Victoria each year, of which Melbourne consumes half. (Birds Australia, NRE 2002) This is almost as much wood (1.9million m3) as is consumed in all of Victoria’s sawlog and pulplog forestry operations combined.

With red gum being the most popular and common firewood sold, our red gum forests are being rapidly depleted. Macnally et al (2002) estimates that approximately 81% of fallen timber has been removed from the southern Murray Darling basin, from where most red gum is logged.

Many people are under the misconception that the wood collected for firewood is simply “residual”-- useless leftover pieces that can be easily swept up after logging. Actually these “leftovers” are homes to a wide variety of birds, reptiles, and mammals, not to mention fauna and flora. With Victoria consuming almost as much wood for fires as it does for other uses of timber, a “tail wagging the dog” phenomenon occurs; Firewood harvesting begins to sustain and fuel the industry-- a stark contrast to the image of individuals picking up a few sticks and twigs after a forest has already been cleared.

Firewood harvesting destroys the homes of many animals, and it removes fallen wood before it has a chance to form hollows (through natural processes of decay and weathering). These hollows are home to 37% of Victorian mammals and 39% of woodland bird species. Dozens of species have been declared at risk due to firewood harvesting, particularly in Barmah.

At least 37 threatened plants are found in Barmah-Millewa, four of which are found nowhere else in Victoria (Robinson 1998; DSE 2006).

The forest includes the only remaining Victorian breeding grounds of the superb parrot, a bird that is listed as endangered in that state and vulnerable nationally. (Webster & Ahern 1992; DSE 2003)

The Barmah forest contains 51% of the threatened species found in eastern Northern Victoria (Robinson 1998).

Mammals threatened in both Victoria and New South Wales reside in the forest, including the squirrel glider, the brush tailed phascogale, and the large footed myotis (Law and Anderson 1999).

But these animals and plants in the forests are not the only ones at risk… Burning firewood can be bad for YOUR health!

Health effects of firewood

Smoke from domestic wood heaters and open fires is the main source of air pollution in Victoria in autumn and winter months.

A major component of wood smoke is fine particles, with wood heating aaccounting for as much as 60% of fine particles in Melbourne air during cooler months.

Particle levels in Melbourne are associated with premature deaths and increases in hospital admissions for lung and heat disease.Hospital admissions for children with asthma are closely linked with particle levels.

(Source: EPA 2002)

If you do use wood, make it more efficient and less toxic…

If you do burn wood, get it from a sustainable source…

Recycled Red Gum Sleepers

The following retailers sell this product recycled from previously used (untreated) red gum railway or wharf sleepers. However, some also sell split red gum or off-cuts from new sleepers - make sure you ask for recycled red gum sleepers as the demand for red gum off-cuts could fuel the industry even more while seeming 'harmless' through the 'tail wagging the dog phenomenom.'

Yarra Timber Salvage
Sugar Gum and Recycled Red Gum Sleepers
Todd Rd, Port Melbourne
Phone 0407 884 385 before to check stock

Deconstruct
Recycled Red Gum Fenceposts
Delivery within Melbourne metropolitan area
Phone Paddy Walsh on 0408 368 356

Daisy's Garden Supplies
NOTE: You must REQUEST Recycled Red Gum Railway Sleepers or Pre-cut Recycled Red Gum Sleepeers for firewood.
12-16 Mt Dandenong Rd, Ringwood

Sugar Gum

A DSE study shows that Sugar Gum contains roughly the same calorific value as Red Gum does (that is, it produces the same amount of heat per volume) (DSE 2002). While it would make a viable substitute for Red Gum, Sugar Gum suppliers are presently limited, but are available from Yarra Timber Salvage. To encourage greater supply, it is important to make your requests known to firewood suppliers and others.

Do you know someone who supplies sugar gum or recycled sleepers as firewood? Send an email to barmah[a]foe.org.au and we can list them here.

Ecologs

Some logs are made from recycled content, such as paper or sawmill waste. These recycled logs are available from various suppliers such as the following:

Unexpected suppliers

Council transfer stations, salvaged timber yards and arborists can also be a great source of firewood.

Alternatives to wood heating

Approximately 18% of households in Melbourne use wood for cooking and heating (much higher use in regional areas (33%) and farms (75%) (Birds Australia). However, the DSE gives a study showing that mains-connected natural gas is the cheapest way to heat households, and an open fire fuelled with purchased red gum wood is the most expensive (NRE 2002, p60). For rural and regional households, gas heating is often not an option.

Electric heating can be sustainable when it uses electricity generated from renewable sources ('green power'). See the Green Electricity Watch website for information on sourcing green power.

References

Environment Protection Authority (2002) Wood heaters, open fires and air quality. Publication 851 EPA Victoria.
NB this publication is not available online, however the EPA have loads of useful information on woodheaters on their website.

Law, B & Anderson, J. 1999. A survey for the southern myotis Myotis macropus (Vespertilionidae) and other bat species in river red gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis forests of the Murray River, New South Wales. Australian Zoologist 31: 166-174.

Macnally, R, Ballinger, A and Horrocks, G. (2002) Habitat change in River Red Gum Floodplains: Depletion of Fallen Timber and Impacts on Biodiversity. Victorian Naturalis, Volume 119(4). Pp. 107-113.

Robinson, D. 1998. Priorities for Nature Conservation Reservation and Management in the Eastern Northern Plains of Victoria. Shepparton: Goulburn Valley Environment Group.

Webster, R & Ahern, L. 1992. Management for conservation of the Superb Parrot (Polytelis swainsonii) in New South Wales and Victoria. Melbourne: Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.