South Australia's forgotten forests leave trouble on Kangaroo Island

AN ECONOMIC wasteland has developed at the western end of Kangaroo Island.

AN ECONOMIC wasteland has developed at the western end of Kangaroo Island where a large area of blue gum forests is being blamed for ruining the social fabric of the rural community.

Farmers are worried the trees will never be harvested and have called for the forests to be redeveloped into viable farming land.

Agriculture Kangaroo Island committee member and farmer Rick Morris said the loss of community is the biggest problem. The forests have also become a breeding ground for feral pigs.

"When I took over our farm 16 years ago there was a real sense of community and all the original soldier settler houses had someone living in them," Mr Morris said.

"But our community is failing because the people have gone, the houses are empty and there is no economic activity.

"There were 233 kids at the Parndana Area School in 2000, but it is down to 142 this year and Years 11 and 12 are no longer offered."

Mr Morris said 35 of the original World War II soldier settlement farms are lying idle under the blue gums, providing few jobs and posing an increased fire risk.

Most farms were sold to forestry companies in the past 10-15 years and replaced by a forest covering close to 10 per cent of the island's arable land.

The managed investment schemes under which the trees were planted across 14,483ha of land have since collapsed, leaving the blue gums ready for harvest but in a legal limbo.

Mr Morris said the plantations are depriving downstream farms of valuable rainfall run-off and environmental flows and have also become a haven for feral pigs, which are wrecking the environment and farms.

"One farmer has suffered damage to quite a percentage of his pasture because the blue gum properties aren't managed properly, fences aren't being maintained and the feral pig population has exploded," Mr Morris said.

Land owners and the NRM board shoot and trap feral pigs, but he believes owners of the blue gum properties are not doing enough.

"We're very concerned as a community and would like to see the forests returned to farming land," he said.

Mr Morris said he believes the community needs federal and state government support for policy change and a subsidy to help return the plantations to farming land.

He said if the trees were removed and the country resumed for farming, the extra farms would earn at least $10 million annually.

Most of the revenue would be spent at community businesses, help support services, particularly schools and sporting clubs, and improve the social fabric.