A complete contradiction

Malcolm of Hobart
Forestry Tasmania’s claim to be sustainable managers of our forests is completely contradicted by their abject attempt to justify the destruction of this irreplaceable area within the Upper Florentine Valley. Firstly, they fail to recognise that their own report which is supposed to provide reliable information on the production needs of the Special Timbers market has yet to be completed let alone made available to the public. They also fail to recognise that had so many of our native forests not already been logged for woodchips then they would not require access to such a highly contentious area. It seems inconceivable that 78% of our native forests comprise pulpwood which is defined as “logs below sawlog quality but suitable for manufacturing pulp, paper and panel products.” Has this ever been independently audited? They also fail to mention that under the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement 1997 (RFA) they are only legally required to provide an annual supply of 300,000 cubic metres of high quality sawlogs yet their latest Annual Report shows that 2,230,000 tonnes of low grade pulpwood was logged from our native forests alone! Furthermore, the Supplementary Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement 2005 stipulates that “an overall cap on clearing or conversion of native forest on both public and private land will be established to retain 95 per cent of the 1996 area of native forest.” Where is the detailed evidence of compliance with this commitment! Read more, Comment here