Conservationists campaign against logging near wedge-tailed eagle nests on Frankland River
Updated
Environmental groups are campaigning against the harvesting of timber from two coupes in north-west Tasmania because of the presence of wedge-tailed eagle nests.
The two coupes are on the Frankland River, about an hour south of Smithton near the Arthur-Piemen Conservation Area.
Bob Brown Foundation campaign manager Jenny Weber said campaigners wanted Forestry Tasmania to take the areas off their logging schedules.
"We are calling on the Tasmanian Government to provide secure protection for these forests," Ms Weber said.
"Certainly we are calling for Forestry Tasmania put them off the logging schedule and leave them as intact forests."
It is estimated about 47 per cent of the endangered wedge-tailed eagle nests in Tasmania lie in Forestry Tasmania-managed land.
In a statement, Forestry Tasmania said exclusion zones were established around any nests discovered to prevent disturbance to breeding.
The exclusion zone includes a 1km radius 'line-of-sight' from the nest.
Both coupes fall entirely within the combined 1km radius exclusion zone of the two nests, and are scheduled to be harvested in February once the current breeding season ends.
However, Forestry Tasmania maintained the nest would not be disturbed once the harvesting operation began.
"Even outside the breeding season, nest trees and surrounding areas are protected by being excluded from future harvesting," the organisation said.
Campaign a 'political stunt' for Tarkine push
Tasmanian Resources Minister Guy Barnett dismissed the foundation's concerns and reiterated his full confidence in the existing environmental protections for endangered species in logging areas.
"The Forest Practices Code includes very rigorous measures for the protection of all threatened species, and also offers guidance so there's no issues [regarding the wedge-tailed eagle nests] going forward, as far as I am concerned," Mr Barnett said.
He said an agreement had already been reached between conservationists and government about the logging of the areas.
"The two coupes been approved for harvest under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement, supported by environment groups and supported by the previous government and previous legislation, and by our government," he said.
"This is a political stunt by the Bob Brown Foundation. It's part of a campaign to shut down the native forest industry and throw thousands of Tasmanians out of work."
The two coupes were agreed as native forest logging areas in 2014, in the Forestry (Rebuilding the Forest industries) Act 2014.
They are currently classed as future potential production forests and lie outside any formal conservation area.
Ms Weber did not shy away from the broader campaign.
"It's integral to our campaign where we are calling for a Tarkine National Park and World Heritage listing," she said.
Forestry Tasmania finances central to coupes
Forestry Tasmania said the coupes in question were crucial to meeting current supply contracts.
"These coupes contain a significant volume of high-quality sawlog, which is needed to meet Forestry Tasmania's contractual obligations to supply eucalypt sawlog and special species timber to mills in the north-west of the state," the statement read.
However, Forestry Tasmania's record of operating at a net loss — it posted a loss of $67 million in 2015-16 — has prompted environmental groups to raise a red flag over arguments the harvesting of timber is an important economic pursuit.
"It's costing the economy to log these forests. Forestry Tasmania is not making a return to the Tasmanian economy or the taxpayer. It's costing us endangered species habitat that we are seeing destroyed," Ms Weber said.
Mr Barnett said the planned restructuring of Forestry Tasmania to a more streamlined government-owned Sustainable Timber Tasmania mid-next year meant those financial concerns were no longer valid.
"We want to build a sustainable future for Forestry Tasmania. They will be put on a sustainable footing from 1 July 2017. That will happen," he said.
"Millions of dollars will not be subsidising Forestry Tasmania going forward."
Conservation groups have made clear their intention to intensify the campaign to prevent logging from areas they see as part of the Tarkine region.
"We are in the final hour for these forests, so we are ramping up our campaign to get them off the logging agenda and into a secure conservation agenda instead," Ms Weber said.
Topics: forestry, forests, environmental-management, conservation, arthur-river-7330
First posted
