Tasmanian Government poised to launch forest con job: Bacon determined to keep destroying oldgrowth forests
Tarkine National Coalition
The Wilderness Society
Huon Valley Environment Centre
Doctors for Forests
Joint Media Release
12 February 2004
Environment groups have combined today to alert the public to the imminent launch of Forestry Tasmania's new method for logging high conservation forests.
Forestry has labelled this new form of logging 'selective logging', but the facts indicate that it is actually strip clearfelling. The Government's agenda is to push logging into high conservation forests that should not be logged at all under the guise of 'selective logging'.
Forestry plans to demonstrate strip clearfelling in coupe WR17B in the Weld Valley, on the edge of the South West Wilderness. According to the Forest Practices Plan, strips of oldgrowth trees 20m to 50m wide will be clearfelled and then burnt.
'This Government is determined to keep logging Tasmania's ancient, wild forests wherever possible,' says Wilderness Society campaign director Geoff Law. 'This proposed coupe is part of one of the world's great temperate wilderness areas and should not be logged at all – be it selective, clearfelling, or whatever.'
'This is nothing more than a dressed-up form of clearfelling, and it solves none of the problems. It's time to stop logging our ancient, wild forests,' says Mr Law.
Huon Valley Environment Centre spokesperson Adam Burling said: "Any form of logging is inappropriate for high conservation value areas such as the Weld Valley. This area has been documented by a variety of scientists as being of world heritage value. Its wilderness forests and ancient river system deserve protection."
Tarkine National Coalition spokesperson, Mr Amon Suffolk, said: "This is the same sort of nonsense that is being projected for logging in the Myrtle Rainforest of the Tarkine. The proposed selective logging in the Tarkine Rainforest would see only 15 trees left per hectare. There is obviously an understanding that Forestry will need to clean up its act coming into the next Federal election but this effort at spin is not going to fool anyone."
Doctors for Forests spokesperson Dr Geoff Couser said: "This 'initiative' of the government is just spin-doctoring. It will do nothing to alter the relentless progression of our unique forests to the woodchip mills, and it will further compromise Tasmania's supposed clean and green image which is clearly our future."
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
The problems with Forestry's grand plan for logging in high conservation value forests are:
1. this new method is not selective logging, as Forestry claims. It is more accurate to call it strip clearfelling.
2. there should be no logging at all in Tasmania's high conservation value forests like remote parts of the Weld.
CONTACT:
Geoff Law, The Wilderness Society, 03 6224 1550, mob 0409 944 891
For more information, please contact:
Geoff Law
Tasmanian Campaign Coordinator
Workphone: (03) 6224 1550
Created: 12 Feb 2004 | Last updated: 12 Feb 2004
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