The Styx Valley of the Giants

Eucalyptus regnans forest, Styx Valley, Tasmania (Photo by Geoff Law)

The Styx Valley contains the tallest hardwood trees on Earth.  Many of the trees are taller than a 25-storey building, over 400 years old, and up to five metres wide at the base.  The Styx is only 70 kilometres west of Hobart (about 90 kilometres by road) and is on the edge of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area — one of the great temperate wilderness areas on Earth.

However, between 300 and 600 hectares of the Styx Valley have been logged each year. The Styx Valley is just one of the forest areas around Tasmania that The Wilderness Society has been campaigning to protect.

The last few years has seen the profile of the Styx Valley raised dramatically. Thousands of people around Australia wrote letters and took part in rallies, public meetings and marches, all demanding protection of the Styx Valley. People from around the world have joined the call. Tasmania's forests became a major issue during the federal election of October 2004.  Immediately before the election the Prime Minister promised to protect Tasmania's oldgrowth forests, including the Styx Valley.

In May 2005 a number of forest areas were protected, including parts of the Styx Valley. This was a great result. A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who was involved in the campaign. However, much more needs to be done. The campaign continues: for the protection of all of Tasmania's threatened oldgrowth forests; the protection of the remainder of the Styx Valley's oldgrowth forests, and the permanent protection of the Styx Valley as National Park.

Click here to find out more about the campaign to protect Tasmania's threatened oldgrowth forests.