Tasmania’s forests are of global significance. Independent assessments have found that Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests and takayna / Tarkine are of outstanding universal value. They are home to many threatened species such as the Masked owl, Tasmanian devil, Swift parrot and the Giant Freshwater Crayfish. Tasmania is also home to the most carbon dense forests in the world.
There is over a million hectares of land under threat from logging in Tasmania. Hundreds of hectares of important breeding areas of the critically endangered swift parrot have recently been destroyed. Old-growth forests are still being logged in Tasmania, with giant trees of over 5 meters in diameter being felled. Logging old-growth forests and threatened species habitat are two of the reasons that Sustainable Timber Tasmania have failed Forest Stewardship Council certification twice.
In Tasmania’s forests we still witness clearfelling of forests on steep slopes by cable loggers in areas so iconic such as the Styx valley. Where the Tasmanian government closes public tourist roads to log the forests.
Tracts of tall old giant sentinels are still being logged in the highlands at places like Wentworth hills, where spagnum moss ecosystems and King Billy pine pockets in gullies and on ridge lines rely on the moisture held by these forests at their foothills. Rampant logging occurs here with 24 hour log trucks carting ancient trees many hours away to the woodchip mill and exported to China.
At the edge of the World Heritage Area, yet under imminent threat, these old and lush Eucalyptus forests host a vulnerable island of biodiverse ecosystems. Among flowering Blue Gums and Waratahs. Under the canopy of some of the tallest trees in the Southern Hemisphere. Under patches of rainforest. The swift parrots, like many other species, are dependent on the maturity of these forests: they rely on the senescence of these old Eucalyptus to give birth. These requirements can't be artificially or technologically reproduced: if we pursue the logging of these forests... if we are ignoring these facts... we will very soon be sitting in the dock, guilty of the (forever) swift parrot extinction.
Native forest logging in Tasmania is hugely unprofitable and a drain on the economy, with Sustainable Timber Tasmania (formerly Forestry Tasmania) losing a staggering $454 million dollars over 20 years. The industry has been kept afloat by numerous state and federal subsidies, receiving close to $1 billion dollars over the last few decades. This money could be better spent on ways that would protect the environment, economy and benefit our communities.
Our Foundation takes frontline action against the logging and clearfelling of Tasmania’s Native Forests across the state, including in takayna / Tarkine, Wentworth Hills and the Eastern Tiers.