Media release – Forestry Watch and the Wilderness Society, 2 November 2021
Logging of Swift Parrot habitat halted while new petition demands Guy Barnett declare Lonnavale Forests a ‘Swift Parrot Important Breeding Area’
Forestry Watch and the Wilderness Society have today launched an ‘Act Swiftly’ petition as Forestry Tasmania has commenced logging of swift parrot habitat in the Lonnavale Forests, while swift parrots are feeding and breeding there. Forest ecosystem defenders have arrived in one of the two active logging coupes and forced the logging to stop.
“These superlative forests are teeming with some of the remaining swift parrots, which are feeding and breeding in the Lonnavale Forest region right now,” said Ms Ford. “It is unbelievable that logging is occurring during the breeding season with swift parrots throughout these forests.”
Logging of high conservation value forest commenced this week in coupes RU001J and RU034B. Swift parrot calls were recorded in RU001J, 75ha of high-quality, high conservation value forest and swift parrot habitat. The generic swift parrot requirement of the coupe’s Forest Practices Plan says that a swift parrot seen or heard “within 500m of the operation during September to February” must be “reported immediately to the officer in charge of the operation”.
UTAS ecology student and bird enthusiast Hannah Nichols is one of the concerned citizens who has halted logging operations this morning in logging coupe RU034B with Grassroots Action Network Tasmania (GRANT) to try and save the species from predicted rapid extinction caused by industrial logging.
“Right now, we have the chance to save the world’s fastest parrot, whose population is in rapid decline because its habitat is being logged. It is predicted to be extinct by 2030.”
“Forestry Tasmania’s exemption from the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act and weak management and policy have failed this species, and if we want our kids to see and experience them like we have, we need to act swiftly. Otherwise, we will be talking about the Swift Parrot as we talk about the Tasmanian Tiger within the next decade,” said Ms Nichols.
The Act Swiftly petition demands that lutruwita/Tasmania’s Forestry Minister Guy Barnett halt logging in the Lonnavale Forests and declare the region a Swift Parrot Important Breeding Area (SPIBA), something scientists have twice previously proposed but were refused.
“We are launching this petition to give the swift parrot an extra layer of protection it so badly needs in probably the most critically-important habitat in lutruwita/Tasmania, the high conservation value Lonnavale Forests,” said Ms Ford.
“Guy Barnett could declare this area a Swift Parrot Important Breeding Area (SPIBA) in the click of a mouse. This would mean these forests would be better managed giving the swift parrot a better chance of survival. Ultimately, all swift parrot habitat and all high conservation value forests should be permanently protected,” said Mr Allen.
Critically, if a logging coupe is located within a SPIBA, Tasmania’s Threatened Species Advisor recommends that;
“If the proposed planning unit is in a SPIBA, retain all patches of high- and medium-density nesting-habitat that are at least 1 ha in size, and retain 90% of nesting-trees in areas of low-density nesting-habitat. Where this cannot be achieved, the Forest Practices Authority must be contacted for advice.”
Petition here: bit.ly/actswiftly
Geoffrey Swan
November 2, 2021 at 22:25
Well done, and thankyou team, for your fight to save the Swifty and our forests in Lonnavale.
peter
November 3, 2021 at 21:52
Please notify the FPA, and FT, and the Minister.
Make sure that you cc your email to the FSC Auditors so that these organisations are aware that the FSC auditors have been notified.
Mjf
November 8, 2021 at 15:23
The Lonnavale forests do not necessarily stack up to being included in a SPIBA, or indeed qualifying as a SPIBA in their own right just because someone thinks they should.
The SP prescription supposedly quoted from one FPP suggests the coupe is not suitable habitat. The fact that scientists have twice nominated the area for SPIBA status, and failed, suggests there’s wishful thinking on their part, and probably a lack of understanding of the crucial attributes. Perhaps DPIPWE knows better after all.