THE Education Department has renewed the controversy over Victoria's response to bushfire risks by ordering 27 primary schools in the Dandenongs and Yarra Valley to clear trees from their grounds.

HOME owners will get increased powers to clear trees and other vegetation from their properties under a controversial move to prepare the state for another horror bushfire season.

MELBOURNE furniture maker Nicholas Dattner began championing Australian redgum a quarter of a century ago at a time when it was regarded only as good firewood.

CHOPPING firewood is never a fun task, but one way to get out of it is to have your name read out on national radio as the latest member of the Australian Olympic athletics team.

THE line of figures trudging along beside their firewood-laden bicycles stretches to the the horizon on this dusty Nepalese back road.