We are farmers in the Deniliquin region who are very concerned about the decision to turn the Gulpa Island, Millewa and Moira state forests into a national park.

We have seen the red gum forest increase in size over the years as a result of past floods and I have also seen the selection of magnificent trees to be left untouched to maintain and enhance the native fauna/flora, including habitats for reptiles and birds as well as providing a seed bank for future trees.

We have also had the privilege to be in the forest and meet with the loggers and were most impressed as to how environmentally sensitive they are towards maintaining and managing a sustainable business.

These foresters are certainly nurturing this area so future generations will enjoy this environment economically, socially and scientifically.

Why are these irresponsible, ignorant, arrogant, insensitive, misinformed politicians making these outrageous decisions for us country people?

The foresters managing the local red gum area are your environmentalist. If the existing forest is left unmanaged it will become a monoculture and then the forest will eventually die of old age if it escapes potential bushfires.

The harvesting of the red gum trees is a very controlled business, and if it is forced to close there will be many ramifications.

Families will be forced to leave as a result of employment, and yes, the country town will have to grin and bear it yet again.

This small industry removal will have a domino effect in the community, and this community is fragile enough in this present climate.

Come and see the forest and meet the real people that are managing it.

We need your support in the bush; don't just turn your back on us and drive another nail in our coffin.

There is always a story behind a story, and an honest and realistic approach to the future of the forest is needed, not an emotional and political scam.

Turning this area into a national park suggests to me that the present government is once again concerned only for the 85 per cent of people who live within 100 km of the coastline and are held ransom to a greenie vote that keeps them in power.

They have no convictions to a sustainable future of business and people living in the bush.

We feel disgusted and disappointed.

Pam and Adam Wettenhall

Deniliquin

Deceit knows no bounds

The recent announcement that the bulk entitlement for the Broken Valley has been altered to allow the decommissioning of Lake Mokoan is the final nail in the coffin for this most valuable asset, and reflects the deceit and subterfuge of the Brumby Government that all Victorians should be aware of and ashamed of.

They deliberately changed the Water Act so that the minister now has the power to alter the bulk entitlements of a river at his whim. There no longer needs to be consultation; there will be no compensation.

Water in Victoria has now become a political football and can be allocated to gain votes and financial support.

John Brumby has been a vocal supporter of Managed Investment Schemes - guess who is now the biggest owner of water in Victoria?

Not the MIS investors, but their managers/directors and their holding companies.

Now, 24 Gl of the 50 Gl that was being lost due to evaporation from Mokoan is to be stored in Lake Boga, near Swan Hill, to prop up MIS irrigation in Sunraysia.

The State Superannuation Fund was a big investor in MIS.

These changes have wide ramifications for all water users. Your water is not safe from governments such as this.

They promised no harm to the environment but their mates in Canberra allowed them to ignore the provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Control Act and wilfully destroy known habitats of endangered species such as the Latham snipe, the Murray cod and the white bellied sea eagle.

They argue they have other habitats!

What is the point of the EPBC Act if governments can say and do what they please? No environmental impact study was ever done.

The environment is not safe from governments such as this.

They promised no water users would be disadvantaged, but now they will only get their water entitlements 80 per cent of the time.

They promised an independent review into this, but told the reviewer not to review the underlying assumptions.

It was a con and a waste of taxpayers' money.

They promised local landholders would not be disadvantaged, yet fox, rabbit and invasive weeds now proliferate on the dry bed of Lake Boga.

The yacht club and caravan park have been forced to close, their assets rendered valueless and no compensation offered.

Rural communities and our food producers are not safe from governments such as this.

Michael Reid

Taminick

Green plans ignore facts

The ignorance of the Green movement and animal liberationists of the real environment, and their willingness to back campaigns which they know little or nothing about, is once again highlighted by UK residents campaigning against the Northern Territory's plan to cull 6000 feral camels - "Camel cull plan outrage" (Country News, December 7).

These camels are not native, have no natural predators, and their numbers can only be controlled by droughts or man.

Camels have the potential to cause enormous environmental damage if their numbers are left unchecked.

But should I really be surprised?

Local well-meaning but misinformed Greens have campaigned to have red gum forests turned into national parks, mistakenly believing parks will somehow save or protect them.

State parks at Barmah and other red gum parks show they do not.

Graeme Barwick

Numurkah