In an unusual step, a resident of the Mutual Valley has applied to the Forest Practices Authority (FPA) and to the Minister of Forests Mr Peter Gutwein to have the current Forest Practices Plan (FPP) for coupe CC104B revoked.
Over the weekend in a decision not notified to stakeholders in the dispute over the contentious coupe (CC104B) Forestry Tasmania made public the decision to widen the buffer zone adjacent to the Blue Derby MTB trail running along the edge of this coupe.
In a highly technical claim Mr Coxhead has pointed out to the FPA that despite nearly all of CC104B is situated over mudstone which has a Landslip Threshold Angle (LSA) of 15 degrees. The FPP states that the majority angle of the slopes in CC104B is well over that at 19 degrees and that much of the coupe is in danger of sliding down the hill into the house of a resident situated below.
Mr Coxhead claims that his domestic suppy water catchment is sourced in CC104B and that no consideration has been given to that fact beyond what any normal class 4 stream buffer would warrant.
He claims that juvenile crayfish in the stream only need an increase of turbidity of 5% for them to become endangered and that this has not been factored into the FPP.
He has also pointed out that a drainage depression marked on the plan is in fact a class 4 stream.
Owing to the serious changes that need to take place for this coupe to be logged Mr Coxhead has sought to have the plan revoked in order for these issues to be addressed before logging commences.
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• Karl Stevens in Comments: The logging industry will be arriving here shortly to make sure Tasmania is degraded to the max. There is money in it for them but not for us. Why wasn’t Mutual Valley listed in the ‘peace agreement’ they tore-up they will cry. The fact is the Tas Forest Agreement was torn-up the day after Ta Ann received the final payment under the TFA. The logging industry always works like that.
