A dispute over logging in Tasmania’s Dial Range has flared again, with Sustainable Timber Tasmania beginning operations this week despite opposition from the local council and community groups.
The harvest covers about 22 hectares at the southern end of the range in the state’s north-west – roughly 0.31% of the 5,800-hectare area.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff defended the operation in parliament, saying forestry, mining and recreation had coexisted in the region since the mid-1800s.
“This area has long been a working landscape, a place where Tasmanians have balanced jobs, entrepreneurship, economy, with, of course, landscape and a place where Tasmanians can access the natural environment,” he said on Wednesday.
“Every coop is regenerated to native forest, so that is a renewable resource.”
Labor MP Shane Broad backed that view in an earlier social media video.
“The idea that logging 22 hectares out of 5,200 is going to ruin this experience for walkers and mountain bike riders and tourists and so on, I think is a bit over the top,” he said.
“I mean, if something was going to ruin the tourism experience, just look at the way that the tracks actually start here with a massive power line corridor going straight up through the guts.”
But opponents say the harvest ignores the wishes of the local community and undermines recent investment in tourism infrastructure.
Community group Protect Our North West Forests said there was “no social licence” for the operations.
“Business owners, farmers, doctors, tourism operators, recreational clubs, council and an unprecedented number of northwesters have been flat out ignored for the sake of a political agenda,” the group said.
The Central Coast Council has also called for logging in the range to end, arguing the forest delivers greater economic returns through tourism.
Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff challenged the state government to halt the harvest.
“Despite the strong opposition … the heart is currently being ripped out of the Dial Range by Forestry Tasmania,” she said.
“They’ve ignored the local community, who’ve pleaded with them to protect their beloved Dial.”
Protect Our North West Forests said it “won’t stop fighting”.
“Because the Dial Range is worth more standing,” the group said.
