Forestry Tasmania’s Eucalyptus nitens pruning/thinning trial at Goulds Country, NE Tasmania: here
The confusion over what should, or should not, be included in forest agreements has not changed in two decades. The dialogue has been controlled and wrong-headed; the present conflict involves a complete oversight of reality leading to a constant loss of public money and resources.
Sanity and reason need to be restored to the forestry debate. Dependence on chemically-dependent monoculture plantations is a serious mistake.
These chemically-dependent plantations are water-hungry. They result in the poisoning of water supplies, land degradation and are a severe restriction upon other activities – whether agricultural, domestic or industrial – in the same catchment. Chemically-dependent monoculture plantations are not genuine reafforestation that most people see as being desirable and attainable. Chemically-dependent plantations are also an attack on the health and well-being of most people in Tasmania. Plantation timber, more than half being Eucalyptus nitens, is principally directed to one end-product – wood pulp no one wants.
This is a grotesque distortion of priorities. The health and environmental damage caused by chemically-dependent monoculture plantations for pulp – as well as the massive economic costs to the public purse – needs to be challenged. “Over the last 25 years in Tasmania cancer rates ( excluding skin cancer) have increased by a significant amount 33% for males and 30% increase for females. (Menzies Research Institute)
Why?
Having clean water to drink and land use policies that allow us to grow food are issues that need to be brought to the forefront of public awareness.
The conservation community is not viewing the much bigger picture.
Continuing with the current highly mechanised slash-and-burn forestry policies will ensure further divisions across the community and seriously weaken the struggle to protect our native forests. Current policies will further undermine the struggle to act against global warming.
There are already solid cores of people in the Tamar Valley as well as on the East and North West Coasts who have grasped the vital importance of opposing water-poisoning monocultures.
A group of Hobart citizens deeply concerned about these issues met on Thursday May 17th and decided to work together to try and develop much more public awareness of the above issues. The group adopted the name Tasmanians for Clean Water and plans to work in Hobart and the South to open up a discussion of these issues. Working closely with existing groups, with similar concerns, in other parts of the State, will also be part of future activities.
Future events are planned, including seminars that could help to break through the current highly dangerous nonsense that unfortunately exists around forestry issues in Tasmania. Success would be an important contribution to ending a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of Tasmanian citizens
If you are interested in our campaign for clean water contact: Max Bound [email protected] or David Obendorf [email protected]
