Greens groups claim to have identified the forests the state government plans to log after analysing a heavily redacted Right to Information (RTI) documents.
Areas at Mount Arthur, Mount Barrow and Ben Lomond are reportedly first in line under the state government’s proposed ‘wood bank’ plan.
“These areas are much loved by nearby communities and full of important natural values,” Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said. “These include old growth forests, habitat for threatened wildlife and endangered plant species.”
Among the species to call the forests home are the Tasmanian devil, wedge-tailed eagle and green and gold frog.
Woodruff believes the public deserves to know which areas are “on the chopping block”, something the government has so far refused to reveal.
“Exposing this information now gives the public the chance to push back,” she said.
“We know that the reason the Liberals have been hiding this information is because the communities think that these forests are permanently protected.”
“Why doesn’t the government tell Tasmanians? Why doesn’t it tell the people in Lillydale, in Upper Blessington, in St Marys, who are going to have public meetings about it next week?”
Hughie Nicklason from the Wilderness Society said they worked “pretty tirelessly for a couple of weeks” to narrow down the five earmarked locations using the little information the RTI provided.
“We’re talking about large slopes down mountains. We’re talking about water catchments for major rivers with drinking water catchments included. We’re talking about areas that have never been logged before,” he said.
“We’re talking about areas that have never been logged before and there’s a reason why there’s Aboriginal heritage sites in them. That’s because they haven’t been logged before. That heritage has not been destroyed.”
Minister Jacquie Petrusma, who is not responsible for the forestry portfolio, insisted the Greens will get to have their say as the plan moves forward.
“All I can say is that the Greens and the Bob Brown Foundation are anti-forestry and at the moment, when the time comes, any land that is identified for conversion will come before Parliament,” Petrusma said.
The Liberals, during last year’s state election, pledged to open up as much as 40,000 hectares of the 360,000-hectare ‘wood bank’, a collection of native forests once set aside for potential future production.
