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DISCOVER
TASMANIA NEWS
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GREENS
MEDIA RELEASE
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Peg Putt MHA
TASMANIAN GREENS OPPOSITION LEADER Thursday, 27 NOVEMBER 2003 FORESTRY MEMO REVEALS WOODCHIP DRIVEN FOREST OPERATIONS Sawlogs Woodchipped as Overcutting Admitted The Tasmanian Greens today used Forestry Tasmania s own notice to logging contractors to grill the government over instructions which show that current logging operations are woodchip driven, that due to a glut of sawlogs certain categories of sawlog are no longer being segregated but are being woodchipped instead, and that peeler logs will also be woodchipped as of Friday this week. Greens Opposition Leader and spokesperson on Forestry Peg Putt MHA pointed out the total inability of Forests Minister Lennon to justify the bombshell revelations which completely undermine his constant assertions that the industry is sawlog driven and which show massive overcutting of State forest under Forestry Tasmania. Ms Putt observed that the Minister had not addressed any of the specific matters put to him but had instead betrayed the difficulty he was in by resorting to misconceived personal attacks and elaborate conspiracy theories, a sure measure of his degree of difficulty. Here on paper from Forestry Tasmania itself we have the scandalous admission that they have hammered the forests so hard that they have cut far too much sawlog and now have to stockpile these logs at mills and in the bush, that some categories of sawlog will not be segregated but sent for woodchip instead, and that contractors must avoid logging sawlog rich areas wherever possible, Ms Putt said. "This tells very clearly the tale of a woodchip driven industry and of explicit orders to chip sawlogs and that is an outrage." The arguments that special forests cannot be protected because sawmilling will suffer are shown to be a cruel deception, and small sawmillers will have salt rubbed into their wounds when they realise that they are still getting slim pickings whilst big sawmillers like Gunns are suffering a glut of supply and sawlogs are off to the chipper. Why has Forestry Tasmania presided over such massive overcutting in State forest and why couldn't Minister Lennon utter one word in defence of this appalling situation? The Bacon government is in real difficulty because these revelations completely undermine the fairy stories they have been spinning about the conduct of logging in Tasmania, and their ugly side has come out in the bile of personal attack and elaborate conspiracy theory to which Minister Lennon resorted under Parliamentary privilege. Forestry Tasmania s Sawlog Management Update November 2003 reveals: • There is surplus sawlog supply running at 70% of annual requirements already cut; • Sawlog stockpiles to capacity at large sawmills such as Gunns, with little room for more under sprinklers (necessary to stop the logs drying out and splitting); • Sawlog stockpiling in the bush and instructions to place logs under bark to try and minimise damage due to drying and splitting; • Instructions to minimise harvest in high sawlog producing areas; • Instructions to Leave sawlog standing where appropriate and safe to do so; • Instructions to cease segregation of some categories of sawlog which will instead be woodchipped; • Instructions to cease segregation of peeler logs which will instead be woodchipped. In relation to the vexed question of what has happened about the proposed rotary peeled veneer plant for Southwood, the instruction to cease segregating these peeler logs for export and to woodchip them instead giving credence to suspicions that this project Is under a cloud. Paul Lennon and Jim Bacon are stuck as apologists for a rapacious woodchip industry which has logged the forests so fast that there are far too many sawlogs and many will be wasted, Ms Putt said. For Comment: Cath Hughes on 0419 886 304 |
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This website has NO affiliation with Peg Putt or the Tasmanian Greens, Port Arthur, TT-Line, Spirit of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government or its Department of Tourism known as Tourism Tasmania |
