The battle to save Tasmania's forests

[Toymaker Len]

I don't find this boring at all. In fact I have a vested interest in the debate as I go to tas every year or two and bring back a trailer load of huon pine and myrtle and whatever else I can find. In the course of these trips I meet (and have a beer with) loggers, millers, retailers and state forestry workers. They are almost universally opposed to the clear felling followed by burning regime but often feel that they can't do anything about it. It is an ongoing tragedy that whole complex ecosystems which nurture the more rare and special timbers (not to mention the animals and birds and plants etc.) are obliterated and replaced with what is effectively eucalypt monoculture. This is simply dumb, it doesn't even employ many people and to add insult to injury uncounted thousands of tonnes of craft woods are heaped up and burned. This is glorified slash and burn imposed undemocratically from on high for the benefit of a very small number of people and a multi national.
We are at the beginning of a new way of looking at the natural world. It is no longer good enough to just wade in with a bulldozer and take what you can take with no reference to sustainability, emmissions, ecology etc.

[Wild Dingo]

I dont know... the whole issue of so called "sustainable logging" is bullshyte in my view... when you see whole swathes of Tuart forest (the ONLY Tuart forest in the world by the way) being bulldozed down into huge piles then burnt to cinders or trucked to the pulp mills... along with massive chunks of Jarrah forest being hacked away on the whim of some dumbass polititian with a name to prove... you begin to wonder

No much of the West Aussie cut slash and burn methods DONT discriminate on specie... just rightio lads were making a friggin development here so in with the bulldozers... I mean thats bad enough but then they arc up the damned scrapers and tear the heart out of the soil.

I guess Im a sorta greenie in that I once voted green until I found out the canditate gave their preferences at the time went to Labor... and havent since... I have however enjoyed many a fine summers day frolicing around in the bush on the beach starkers and a great ol time was had I must say

It would help I guess if there was some effort at least to offer up the specie that they knock down and so calmly burn or mulch to those of us who want the timber... but usually that goes to good ol Colli and sons or Guns or whoever the favored big name mob are at the time...

I have no shame nor hessitation in heading into the scrub with my ute trailer and chainsaw and take the trees I need... at least what I take will be utilized and made into something of use for someone... I doubt there will be any Tuart forest left within 15 years and very little of the old growth Jarrah forests if what Ive been seeing over the last 20 years is anything to go by... there will be little of either left

But the thing that really irks me about the manner in which its done is that the same thing is being done to the "sub" specie of the forest the sheoak the gravillia and all the others that are under the forest canopy or near to it... they also are done the same...

Some of the logs that pass through here on the back of the logging trucks are friggin HUGE!! massive great one length total truck span and height seriously OLD Jarrah... yet when the local forest commission has its almost monthly auctions there are none of them offered up... why? cause bloody Guns and Colli get the damned things... I mean whats wrong with just turning down the road to my place and driving around the back and dropping of just one of these logs eh?? EH??? I mean any length semi can get in and out without turning around any length log can be dropped here... dont worry about the milling I will deal with that... somehow!!!!

But do they? no they dont... sodding friggin mongrels Im thinking of making up some "Detour" signs and wandering down the corner to the highway and have Joshy or someone up the road a bit and as they see one heading toward me give me a hoi and I stick the thing down so they HAVE to come down this way another out the bottom driveway... and then have the top two drives blocked off so they cant turn around and a small toll booth with a turn around charge of $5000 per trailer... well then they may as well drop the thing eh?

[reeves]

I don't find this boring at all. In fact I have a vested interest in the debate as I go to tas every year or two and bring back a trailer load of huon pine and myrtle and whatever else I can find.

Yes i agree Les, its not a boring issue but one that probably 'should' concern most people who are passionate about supplies of quality woods. Good comments of what Tassie workers feel, I found much the same but no one has any good ideas on what to do about it.

When I read about the 3,000 tonnes of Huon pine getting 'accidently' burnt (see other post)

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...10&postcount=1

my balls dropped! even lower, thats a hell of a lot of some of the worlds rarest and most beautiful timber up in smoke cos Forestry Tasmania (who had care of it) didnt store it properly or notice it had caught fire, probably would have been over 1000 logs...which would have kept many woodworkers happy for years. Now the good stuff gets even harder to come by and costs more. And the clearing of red myrtle for pulp, uggg!

I dont undertstand the apathists or woodworkers that cant see that theres a genuine limit to the avilabability of our treasured resource and the the Gov and BIG business are doing no one a favour by clearfelling old growth forests.

Wild Dingo, good story mate, maybe try out the detour thing, never know your luck. When i was about 18 i was camping out at Calcup Ford, south of Pemberton on the Warren river and i used to go and 'watch' Bunnings clearing the forests, huge trees big mess. Sounds like things are much the same.

WA has the same issues still and while lots of people bitch about it on both sides of the debates, save jobs no! save trees, the sad truth is that much good timber is being munched, sub species cleared and there will be little or none left in years to come if sensible amounts are not retained. Woodworkers dont need much, big business gets bigger on the back of the workers and the forests.

If anyone doubts this just look at whats happened to Red cedar in NSW and Qld, none left in mainstream wood supply yards and what is available is usually salvage or from private lands, same for Rose Mahogany used to be plentiful and cheap 30 years ago, now its hard to buy good boards. Everywhere I go I here stories from timberworkers about 'ah dont get much of that anymore'. Plantation timbers just dont have the same 'joy' factor as old growth for woodworkers and timber like myrtle sassafras and their forest friends take several hundred years to mature and so make crappy plantation timbers, and Huon pine, well no one is plantationing a tree thats takes 3000 years to grow...!

Sad thing is lessons are not learnt and the same pattern continues, sure there may still be 'heaps' to be had in Tassie but the writing is on the wall and industrial logging practices do result in less supply of quality timbers for woodworkers, it might not have happened just yet but the worm is turning sad but true.

For those who wanna jibe others who actually 'like' the forests as greeneies , treehuggers or ratabgs etccheck this pic, i am actually measuring the arm lenghts around an old sydney bluegum, any resemeblance to tree hugging is purley coincidental..;-)




now i aint religious at all by I love this quote from the old testament

“And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. "
Leviticus 18:28

[reeves]

latest news from the Tassie forest issue

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...6/s1939552.htm

New forestry practice follows public concern

Forestry Tasmania says its decision to end the broad-scale clearing of native forests to establish plantations is a direct response to community concerns.
Under the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement, broad-scale conversion was due to be phased out by 2010.
But this morning Forestry Tasmania announced it would end the practice today.
The Executive General Manager, Hans Drielsma, says conversion has been an on-going issue and the subject of intense debate among environmental groups.
"It's probably been the most significant point of criticism that we've had, and we're always looking to respond to those things and to improve," Mr Drielsma said.
The timber company Gunns has also announced it will not convert broad scale native forest areas to plantation.
In a statement, the company says the management shift won't impact on the company's planned pulp mill.

[Lignum]

Who gives a f*$^

[reeves]

Who gives a f*$^

lots of people Lignum ;-)
thousands in fact

which now inlcudes the management of forestry Tasmania, along with many 'greenies', woodworkers and others...

of course it could just be a political ploy and they will crank things back up after the election but it would seem that the 'community concern' noted in the news report, which inlcudes many woodworkers and forestry workers, has grown to the point where the guv has now acknowledged it and on the surface at least, is seen to be ending clearfelling of old growth forest.

Now they may ramp up selective logging in those areas for specialty timbers and sawlog prodcution but the levelling of forest is what they are saying they will end, which paralells land clearing laws in other states.

Could be a good day for the trees ;-)

Tho I am wondering where it leaves those who collect leftovers from the coupes under craft licenses..?

[glock40sw]

Right. That's it.
I'm out of here.
When somebody starts quoting Scripture, My bullschit threshold dies.

Time to go sharpen the chainsaw and fill it with fuel.
Jeese I love the smell of freshly felled timber .

[KevM]

........but it would seem that the 'community concern' noted in the news report, which inlcudes many woodworkers and forestry workers, has grown to the point where the guv has now acknowledged it and on the surface at least, is seen to be ending clearfelling of old growth forest.

Now they may ramp up selective logging in those areas for specialty timbers and sawlog prodcution but the levelling of forest is what they are saying they will end, which paralells land clearing laws in other states.

Psst Reeves,
Have a read of the press release. What does it really say?

[ozwinner]

Going by the press release they have seen the light so to say and stopped clear felling and the planting of monotrees.

Lets hope they havent also locked up the forests for the craft industry too.

Al

[reeves]

Psst Reeves,
Have a read of the press release. What does it really say?

not a lot Kev, fairly brief but it states a new agreement has been reached bewteen various parties..

Executive General Manager Hans Drielsma said that the major policy, effective from today, followed a long period of discussions between Forestry Tasmania, the forest industry and conservation interests.

]that FT page seems to state they will continue clearing in some form mianly regrowth, it seems to acknowledge loss of vegatation trends worldwide as the reason for the policy change. In fact its fairly vague and ambiguous. its does mention that its more economically efficient to harvest plantations.

“This is a very significant policy decision. In economic terms it is more efficient to grow plantations, as they grow four to five times faster than regrowth native forests and provide an attractive and sustainable basis for wood production.

that post gives no real indication or differnce between chipbased, log based or special timbers harvesting..

I have seen other recent reports that suggest special species collection continue and general sawlog and veneer production will continue.They seem to say they will maintain activity in regenerated forests. I also saw one report that said they were not logging in those areas at present and the 'hiatus' will be rethought after the election this year.

The RFA, the last time it was updated, had reduced special timbers area down to 70,000 hectares. The latest RFA changes dont seem to have been fully established in terms of exactly what access craft licence holders will have.

cheeeers
john

[Honorary Bloke]

What Lignum said.

[kiwigeo]

Who gives a f*$^

I do and so do alot of other people. Why is it that anyone in this country who disagrees with someone else on something and just happens to be passionate about same gets labeled as a "whinger" or a "greenie". Even if I don't agree with someone's opinion I respect their right to voice their opinions and if I "dont give a f*$^" about the issue then I don't get involved in the debate. It's amusing to note that people who use the latter expression actually DO "give a f*$^".....certainly enough to take the effort to read the posts in this discussion and reply with inane explitives.

Unlike some others in this debate, Reeve's manages to voice his opinions without resorting to personal insults and inane posts and he makes an effort to put forward some facts and figures to support his arguments

I don't agree with locking up all the forests as National Parks but at the same time I find the current practises of clear felling of furniture grade wood for turning into chopsticks and loo paper disgustingly wasteful and bordering on criminal.

As far as the Tasmanian economy dying if they kill the timber industry (not what I'm in favour of).....look at the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Logging died in the ar*e there some years ago but the last time I was over there (2006) the economy of the area certainly hadn't died and was actually more vibrant and diversified if anything.

Just my ten cents worth.