The Wilderness Society today released a map of the reserved forests through which the Blue Derby mountain bike trails have been built, highlighting the fact that the majority of the trails are either wholly or partly in reserves proposed for reversal and logging by Premier and Tourism Minister Will Hodgman.
As Parliament wraps up its first sitting week for the year and legislation to reverse the reserves is to be tabled, the maps highlight the total lack of logic in the logging plan.
“High conservation value forest reserves across the state are proposed for logging in Mr Hodgman’s legislation, yet all are incredibly important for a range of reasons,” said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for the Wilderness Society. “Some are habitat for threatened species like the swift parrot, some important domestic water catchments and others valuable backdrops for local communities offering a range of benefits.”
“On top of their high levels of natural conservation values, some have predictably emerged as a significant assets from a marketing, tourism and visitor experience perspective, taking advantage of the security and branding offered by conservation reservation.
“The Blue Derby forest reserves are an example where new visitor experiences have been established explicitly on the premise of being in conservation reserves, protected from logging.
“As Minister for Tourism, Premier Hodgman’s plan to log reserves undermines deliberate, local strategies designed to capitalise on conservation and revitalise local regional economies. This is a case of pure, base politics trumping logic and common sense.
“Putting aside the fact that no-one in the timber industry wants the logs from Mr Hodgman’s un-reserved forests, the alternative opportunities and potential offered by new national parks will be lost if the Government takes Tasmania backwards.
Other iconic areas slated to have their reserve status removed so they can be logged include Wielangta, Bruny Island, Douglas-Apsley, the Lobster Forests and the takayna/Tarkine.
“All these forest areas are special, valuable and need to be properly protected as formal reserves like national parks.
“While all new industries going through massive growth need to be properly assessed and managed, the success of the Blue Derby bike trails highlights regional Tasmania can’t afford Premier Hodgman taking us backwards and cutting off a new future.
Download trails map …
Blue_Derby_trails_map.pdf
Vica Bayley Tasmanian Campaign Manager The Wilderness Society (Tasmania) Inc.
