SUSTAINABLE? HARDLY

TASMANIAN Forest Products Association chief Nick Steel tries to claim forestry is a sustainable industry when this same industry has destroyed much of Tasmania’s native and old-growth forest through its brutal clearfell regimen. Forestry is not a significant employer. That claim was exposed as misleading in 2012 by an Australian Institute study that found it employed barely 2 per cent of Tasmania’s employment. It’s unlikely that has changed much. Forestry’s

slash and burn practices contributed to the loss of biodiversity, pollution of our rivers and waterways, and pushed species to the brink of extinction. They made a complete mockery of the state’s clean, green image. Studies show that mature trees in mixed species forests are of far greater value when it comes to combating the real and present danger of climate change. It’s why they have been described as the lungs of the planet. Reason enough surely to leave them standing. Single species plantation does nothing to provide important wildlife habitat, and contributes to pest infestation that requires toxic sprays.

It’s our unique and priceless native forests that teem with wildlife that are a major tourism drawcard. Surely another excellent reason not to log them for woodchips.

No one denies we need a timber industry, and some plantation forest is essential for this, but the wanton destruction of native and oldgrowth forests, and shortsighted stupidity that saw rare special timber prized by craftspeople, sold as woodchips is economic and environmental insanity.

Anne Layton-Bennett

Swan Bay