Environmentalists across Tasmania have been left ‘outraged’ after a centuries-old native tree was driven through Hobart as part of a series of large trees being removed from the state’s southern forests.
The tree shown in the “horror image” was ‘nearly 3 metres in diameter’ and was seen on a Victorian-plated log haulage truck around the same time logging started in a native forest near Geeveston, according to the Bob Brown Foundation.
This incident comes after questions were raised about Tasmania’s native forestry practices when images of another centuries-old tree being transported on a log truck from Maydena were shared earlier this year.
Public forestry company Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) did not confirm whether the tree was taken from the southern forest, but admitted logging was underway in that area when asked by the ABC.
The tree was located in a zone that permits logging in various types of native forests, including old growth, but it didn’t meet the criteria for protection – which only covers exceptionally large trees at least 85 metres tall and 5 metres in diameter – according to Tasmania’s native forest logging system.
Native forest logging is exempt from Commonwealth environmental laws and operates under the Tasmania Regional Forest Agreement.
Protesters from the Bob Brown Foundation blocked access to the logging coupe in Kermandie on Friday morning, suspecting that the transported logs originated from there.
“Native forest logging must end now so these trees & their surrounding ecosystems stay intact,” the Foundation wrote online.
“The loggers did not turn up to destroy the Swift parrots forests this morning. Forestry Tasmania visited and realised the threatened forests have been occupied by defenders today and loggers shall not pass.”
“There is still time to save the remaining forests here. We have scores of recordings of Swift Parrots and Masked Owls just from the last two weeks inside this forest, before and during the logging.”
“The critically endangered Swift Parrot depends on hollow-bearing trees for breeding and these forests provide this habitat.”
The Foundation has written to Premier Rockliff, Forestry Tasmania and the Forest Practices Authority, “recommending that the forests be protected from destruction” and “calling for an end to native forest logging nationwide”.
STT claims that the forest in Kermandie is regrowth, indicating that it has been logged in the past, and reported sightings of critically endangered swift parrots flying overhead in the area.
