Destruction of Rainforests in Tasmania
Keith Parkins | 17.12.2004 16:25 | Analysis | Ecology
Part of Tasmania is covered by a temperate rainforest. Less than 20% of the original rainforest is left, and at the current rate of destruction, what little remains will soon will be lost.
'The forest we are walking through is unlike any I have ever seen. It is a verdant mass of vast, thick-trunked, ancient eucalypts, smaller younger trees and a low level jungle of oddly beautiful bushes and shrubs. The canopy of this temperate rainforest is 70 meters above our heads, and from it come the calls of whip birds, cockatoos, rosellas, and parrots. Thick vines hang from from vast, old trees, and ferns grow high up on their branches. Fallen, rotting trunks smothered in multi-coloured fungi litter the ground. The sheer variety, the colour and the chaos of life is stunning.' -- Paul Kingsnorth
Part of Tasmania is covered by a temperate rainforest. Less than 20% of the original rainforest is left, and at the current rate of destruction, what little remains will soon will be lost.
The temperate rainforest in Tasmania is a wet eucalypt forest. Eucalyptus trees, Eucalyptus regnan, 400 years old, tower 70 metres tall. To put this height in context, it is the height of a 25 story building!
These trees are some of the tallest trees in the world, exceeded in height only by the Giant Redwoods in California.
The Styx Valley is all that remains of the rainforest.
The Styx Valley also contains large areas of unlogged tall E. obliqua, E. delegatensis. These forests are home to many native species of wildlife, including the majestic Wedge-tailed Eagle, the Eastern Pygmy Possum, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, owls and rosellas. Other features that occur in the valley include limestone caves, the high dolerite bluffs of the Snowy Range, the winding, tannin-stained Styx River, and several waterfalls.
What is left of the rainforest is being clearfelled for woodchips. What little is left is then burnt. Helicopters fly in and drop napalm, destroying everything that is living.
The rainforest is being destroyed at the rate of 300 to 600 hectares a year.
The cleared rainforest is then used for plantations. A poison called 1080 is used to kill any living creatures that feed on the saplings.
The Styx Valley is old growth forest, pristine forest. The only way to protect it would be to declare the entire area a National Park, A World Heritage site, with a total ban on logging.
The only permitted logging would be selective felling on the boundaries. Such logging is sustainable and would yield high value timber products and employ more people than clearcut felling for wood chips.
The rate of clear felling in Tasmania has quadrupled in the last decade. Tasmania exports more wood chips than the rest of Australia. Logging company profits have steadily increased. Meanwhile jobs in the industry have steadily declined.
Tourism in Tasmania is completely dependent on wilderness. An estimated 22,000 jobs in 2004, at least twice as many jobs as even the puffed-up figures that the logging industry gives not only for the entire logging industry but secondary industry dependent on logging. Destruction of old-growth forests accounts for less than 400 jobs.
Even logging company Gunns have admitted, 'Up to 480 jobs could be lost if Gunns had to stop using old-growth forest but share price would not be adversely affected.'
Timber Workers for Forests, who log sustainably using high value timber products and with a membership of around 200, estimate at least 650 are employed in this sector, far exceeding the 400 or so employed in destructive old-growth logging.
The destruction of the rainforest is being carried out in the name of corporate greed by a company called Gunns Ltd. Protesters have targeted the company EGM (specially called to discuss the issue) and major shareholders. They now also need to target the Japanese customers of Gunns.
Mass protest, with 15,000 people taking to the street, forced the rainforest issue up the political agenda.
The response from Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been feeble to say the least. But no one should be surprised. This is a government that were one of the major backers of the illegal US/UK war on Iraq, backed the murderous regime in Indonesia and the atrocities it carried out in East Timor, sinks ships of asylum seekers on the high seas, puts asylum seekers who make it to Australia in concentration camps in the middle of the desert, kicked aboriginals of their land to make way for the Olympic Games, refuses to sign the Kyoto agreement on climate change, pushed through draconian clampdowns on civil liberties in the name of anti-terrorism legislation, proposes to vet defence lawyers in terrorist cases.
Back in Styx Valley, Global Rescue Station was created, a platform high up in the forest canopy.
Proponents justify the destruction by falsely claiming it creates jobs. That it is ok to destroy 400-year old trees and entire ecosystems because a few trees will remain and thus we do not lose their genetic information.
The excuses put forward beggar belief
"It is a production area," said Kim Creak, Forestry Tasmania's general manager of operations. "That in itself is a nice tree. But there are hundreds of trees like it... in reserves, in fact, more than required by international standards for preservation of the gene pool."
According to Creak, it would be irresponsible to lock up Tasmania's forests and put more pressure on developing countries such as Brazil and Indonesia, where out-of-control logging is devastating tropical rain forests. Tasmania, where the government can regulate logging and replanting, should contribute to the global supply of wood products.
Or in other words, the poor and oppressed of the world, desperate for land to feed themselves, should not be allowed to destroy rainforests, but it is okay if we do it in the name of corporate greed. And we better save a few trees, as you never know, another corporation may wish to patent their genes.
More pressure needs to be put on the Australian government. It needs international pressure on the government.
For a more detailed article, plus useful useful links, and what you can do to save Styx Valley from destruction by corporate greed please visit
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/styx.htm
Part of Tasmania is covered by a temperate rainforest. Less than 20% of the original rainforest is left, and at the current rate of destruction, what little remains will soon will be lost.
The temperate rainforest in Tasmania is a wet eucalypt forest. Eucalyptus trees, Eucalyptus regnan, 400 years old, tower 70 metres tall. To put this height in context, it is the height of a 25 story building!
These trees are some of the tallest trees in the world, exceeded in height only by the Giant Redwoods in California.
The Styx Valley is all that remains of the rainforest.
The Styx Valley also contains large areas of unlogged tall E. obliqua, E. delegatensis. These forests are home to many native species of wildlife, including the majestic Wedge-tailed Eagle, the Eastern Pygmy Possum, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, owls and rosellas. Other features that occur in the valley include limestone caves, the high dolerite bluffs of the Snowy Range, the winding, tannin-stained Styx River, and several waterfalls.
What is left of the rainforest is being clearfelled for woodchips. What little is left is then burnt. Helicopters fly in and drop napalm, destroying everything that is living.
The rainforest is being destroyed at the rate of 300 to 600 hectares a year.
The cleared rainforest is then used for plantations. A poison called 1080 is used to kill any living creatures that feed on the saplings.
The Styx Valley is old growth forest, pristine forest. The only way to protect it would be to declare the entire area a National Park, A World Heritage site, with a total ban on logging.
The only permitted logging would be selective felling on the boundaries. Such logging is sustainable and would yield high value timber products and employ more people than clearcut felling for wood chips.
The rate of clear felling in Tasmania has quadrupled in the last decade. Tasmania exports more wood chips than the rest of Australia. Logging company profits have steadily increased. Meanwhile jobs in the industry have steadily declined.
Tourism in Tasmania is completely dependent on wilderness. An estimated 22,000 jobs in 2004, at least twice as many jobs as even the puffed-up figures that the logging industry gives not only for the entire logging industry but secondary industry dependent on logging. Destruction of old-growth forests accounts for less than 400 jobs.
Even logging company Gunns have admitted, 'Up to 480 jobs could be lost if Gunns had to stop using old-growth forest but share price would not be adversely affected.'
Timber Workers for Forests, who log sustainably using high value timber products and with a membership of around 200, estimate at least 650 are employed in this sector, far exceeding the 400 or so employed in destructive old-growth logging.
The destruction of the rainforest is being carried out in the name of corporate greed by a company called Gunns Ltd. Protesters have targeted the company EGM (specially called to discuss the issue) and major shareholders. They now also need to target the Japanese customers of Gunns.
Mass protest, with 15,000 people taking to the street, forced the rainforest issue up the political agenda.
The response from Australian Prime Minister John Howard has been feeble to say the least. But no one should be surprised. This is a government that were one of the major backers of the illegal US/UK war on Iraq, backed the murderous regime in Indonesia and the atrocities it carried out in East Timor, sinks ships of asylum seekers on the high seas, puts asylum seekers who make it to Australia in concentration camps in the middle of the desert, kicked aboriginals of their land to make way for the Olympic Games, refuses to sign the Kyoto agreement on climate change, pushed through draconian clampdowns on civil liberties in the name of anti-terrorism legislation, proposes to vet defence lawyers in terrorist cases.
Back in Styx Valley, Global Rescue Station was created, a platform high up in the forest canopy.
Proponents justify the destruction by falsely claiming it creates jobs. That it is ok to destroy 400-year old trees and entire ecosystems because a few trees will remain and thus we do not lose their genetic information.
The excuses put forward beggar belief
"It is a production area," said Kim Creak, Forestry Tasmania's general manager of operations. "That in itself is a nice tree. But there are hundreds of trees like it... in reserves, in fact, more than required by international standards for preservation of the gene pool."
According to Creak, it would be irresponsible to lock up Tasmania's forests and put more pressure on developing countries such as Brazil and Indonesia, where out-of-control logging is devastating tropical rain forests. Tasmania, where the government can regulate logging and replanting, should contribute to the global supply of wood products.
Or in other words, the poor and oppressed of the world, desperate for land to feed themselves, should not be allowed to destroy rainforests, but it is okay if we do it in the name of corporate greed. And we better save a few trees, as you never know, another corporation may wish to patent their genes.
More pressure needs to be put on the Australian government. It needs international pressure on the government.
For a more detailed article, plus useful useful links, and what you can do to save Styx Valley from destruction by corporate greed please visit
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/styx.htm
Keith Parkins
Homepage:
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/
