Will Mooney Huon Environment Centre: An update on old growth logging in the Huon district
OVER recent months, the destruction of precious old growth forest areas in the Huon district has escalated. From Esperence in the Far South to the Weld and Arve valleys, some of the few remaining pockets of spectacular tall old eucalypt forest are being systematically destroyed. New roads are being pushed into these previously inaccessible areas, often on precariously steep slopes. Cable loggers are being used to strip these forested hillsides.
The Huon region is home to some of the world’s most outstanding tall forest ecosystems. These iconic forests contain the tallest hardwood trees on the planet. They play an essential role in providing ecological services such as storing carbon, filtering our water, cleaning the air and sheltering biodiversity. Yet they are systematically targeted as fodder for an unsustainable woodchip industry.
In the Esperence block, west of Dover, new roads and logging coupes are being cut into the spectacular tall old growth of the Peak Rivulet area. This hidden valley contains the last major pocket of unprotected old growth in the “Far South” region, and borders the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Steep forested slopes beneath Adamsons Peak are being targeted for logging. Further North, along Hermon’s Road, remaining stands of old growth are also being removed. The area is being quickly converted to a barren wasteland of monoculture plantations and stunted eucalypt regeneration.
In the Arve block, just north of the Esperence, old growth forests around the fringes of the World Heritage Hartz Mountains are being rapidly destroyed. Extensions of Crib Hill Road, beneath the Hartz, have opened up another small enclave of old growth. Spurs leading off the main Hartz Mountains tourist access road are proving access to high altitude coupes which directly border the World Heritage Area. The Arve is home to some of Tasmania’s, and the World’s, biggest trees. It is a rich area wedged between major tourism sites.
Further east, logging in the Kermandie Block has seen steep hillsides directly behind the town of Geeveston stripped in perverse cable logging operations. The spectacular forests of the Kermandie Divide are being targeted in a number of operations.
West of the Hartz Mountains, the forests of the Picton Valley are still under enormous pressure as new roads carve into the remaining significant areas of wild old growth. New roads on the Eastern and Western sides of the valley have opened up steep areas directly adjacent to the Tasmanian World Heritage Area. A planned road on the Western flank of the valley will allow for the decimation of several thousand hectares of untouched forest contiguous with the WHA.
While the large unprotected forests of the Weld Valley have received greater recent public exposure, ruthless logging continues on both sides of the Valley, with further operations planned. A proposed bridge over the wild Weld River is probably of greatest concern. It would open up several thousand hectares of high quality old growth and a large area of pure rainforest.
North of the Weld, destruction of old growth forests continues in the Barnback, Denison and Russell areas. Several significant new roads are planned to access areas of remaining forest.
Australian taxpayers are, in many cases, footing the bill to destroy these irreplaceble ecological assets. New roads are directly funded under perverse forest policies that fork out money for activities that, in the real world, would be completely unviable. Forestry Tasmania at the behest of Gunns, is seeking to cement its control over the wild ecosystems of the southern forests through a network of new road, bridges and gates. Once these are in place, protection of alternative management become almost impossible.
The Huon Valley Environment Centre will continue to monitor logging activities and keep Tasmanians informed about the plundering of our carbon sinks, water catchments and biodiversity.
