No trees or bees = no food

Tom Allen fears worst from forestry attacks on leatherwood stands

THE cutting down of Easter Island’s last tree and the collapse of its civilisation resonates as a fable of counterproductive ecological mismanagement.

The Lorax is not a true story, yet speaks volumes — lutruwita/ Tasmania’s truffula trees are the equivalent of our rainforest leatherwood trees, arguably the island’s singlemost agriculturally important plant species. And, according to Tasmania’s beekeeping industry, 80 per cent have been logged out of existence and, insanely, continue to be.

The leatherwood honey industry is worth about $ 10m annually, but the pollination services of leatherwood trees are worth millions more, approaching

$ 200m, because it flowers when no other species do, which keeps the island’s bee populations going. Apiarist and recently departed Bob Davey, who long tried to protect leatherwood, said “No leatherwood, no bees. No bees, no food”. Bob was right. It’s really that simple.

But like a real- world fable, some beekeepers have their sights set on accessing the last remaining leatherwood trees in the protected Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, while doing nothing about the state government continuing to cut down rainforests and leatherwood.

Some are though. A recent 7.30 Report featured a rightly angry beekeeper, Rodney Smith, who was relying on leatherwood trees in a logging coupe for his livelihood, which were knowingly logged by Sustainable Timber Tasmania ( formerly Forestry Tasmania).

Logging coupes stuffed full of mature and baby leatherwood trees remain on STT’s logging schedule. Google Tyenna Big Tree Reserve. Go to the Florentine. See for yourself.

The government’s billiondollar agricultural expansion plans hang by the thread of remaining and still- beinglogged leatherwood trees. The agreement between STT and the Tasmanian Beekeeping Association is meaningless because STT has since confirmed it can’t guarantee the protection of leatherwood.

Kudos to the Liberal Party’s North- West Primary Industries Branch, which successfully passed a motion at its recent party conference calling on the government to protect leatherwood. But will government act?

Before Bob Davey died, he talked of getting leatherwoods legally protected. Even if they were, the native forestry industry’s soft- touch, lowstandard self- regulation EPBC- exempted approach would probably just mean business as usual.

There’s another looming threat. Bee and insect populations are collapsing worldwide. Some regions have seen 90 per cent bee population collapses – you already know the causes: climate change, pollution, pesticides, habitat loss. In Tasmania we are sloshing around glyphosate and neonicotinoids like it’s the 1950s.

Apiarists who take ecology seriously know it’s a question of time before collapsing bee populations hit this island too. And Tasmania exports its still-stable bee populations worldwide to prop- up declining populations overseas.

If we treat our clean, green brand as a marketing opportunity disconnected from ecological integrity, the brand will fail. But if the brand is led by ecological integrity, it will thrive. Tasmania can be a leader in regenerative agriculture. To join this island’s regenerative agriculture revolution, join our forum on November 26.

Details at bit.ly/Beecline