🚀 go-pugleaf

Another important aspect in maintaining large, vigorous original forest 
areas is in maintaining biodiversity and ensuring that ecosystems can 
absorb and neutralise/ accomodate invasions by outside organisms- such as 
the recent discovery that the papaya fruitfly has established 
itself in NQLD rainforest.

Unfortunately, if you saw the recent reports by Professor Michael Archer 
(Uni of NSW) the amount of original ecosystem needed to ensure that 
mammal (and other creatures) lineages can be sustained is at least 
300,000 square kilometres. Any smalller and the animal will gradually 
fade away. The nations largest contiinuos conservation zone is 19700 sq.km
and it is Kakadu... which has great potential as a mining zone.

Most wilderness in Australia is the land that no one wants and is in 
small isolated "islands" of dubious worth- except for the creeping poison 
of enviro-tourism and 'aesthetic scenery'. Areas such as the Tarkine 
which hold some integrity are easy targets for destruction 
(read "improvement" ala the Daintree highway). A pointless road cutting a 
wilderness area in half actually reduces its area by much more than that 
if you consider feral invasion, pest plants and people stopping for a walk.

Jon