“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” 

~ attributed to Goethe.

Miranda – Defender of Tasmania’s Forest Heritage

at the foot of ‘The Observer Tree‘

Mount Mueller Forest, Styx Valley, Tasmania
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One young Tasmanian woman, charged with a deep commitment to her natural island heritage, continues to be prepared to do more to protect Tasmanian old growth forests than most Tasmanians.  Miranda Gibson of Still Wild Still Threatened is certainly prepared to do more than the current (read ‘temporary‘) Premier of Tasmania Lara Giddings, and more than the current (read ‘temporary‘) Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, who have quickly turned their backs on Tasmanians to more populist party-political issues of the day.

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Tasmania’s Forest Wars

– what the Intergovernmental Agreement is supposed to resolve.

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Gillard and Giddings in breach of Tasmania’s 2011 Forest Agreement

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Tasmanians are condemning government delinquency on meeting the conservation goals contained in the Gillard Labor Government’s Forests Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) signed and promised to all Tasmanians in Launceston on 7th August 2011.

Giddings and Gillard

– hollow Labor promises

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IGA Clause 25 states:

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‘The State will immediately place the 430,000 ha of native forest identified in Attachment A (other than any areas which are not State forest) from the 572,000 ha nominated by ENGOs through the Statement of Principles process, into Informal Reserves.’

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IGA Clause 27 states:

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‘In the event that Forestry Tasmania reports that it cannot meet contractual requirements from production resources outside the nominated 430,000 ha the Governments will undertake the following steps. First, an independent expert will be jointly appointed by the Governments to review scheduling and other relevant data and attempt to reschedule harvesting activities so as to meet the requirements of contracts and maintain the interim protection of 430,000 ha. In the event that the independent expert concludes it is impossible to achieve this, the Commonwealth will compensate the contract holder for the value of lost profits and unavoidable costs.’

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Gillard’s fly-in to Launceston on 7th August 2011 to sign and celebrate the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement with Labor mate Giddings was not a mere plaque unveiling, it was a Tasmanian landmark agreement to provide certainty for Tasmania’s forestry industry, support local jobs and communities, and protect the state’s ancient forests.  It deserves the respect of commitment and follow through on promise.

On the one hand it has funded Forestry and its associated families hundreds of millions and with a dignified exit from logging and transition to alternate trades.  On the other hand Gillard’s Forest Agreement guarantees protection for Tasmania’s natural but threatened heritage – its most iconic ancient forests, immediately placing 430,000 hectares of iconic old growth native forest into informal reserve – the Styx, Upper Florentine, Huon, Picton and Weld Valleys and the Great Western Tiers, Tarkine and Wielangta.

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Gillard’s promise made to the Australian people (Prime Minister Gillard’s official website):

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‘These forests will not be accessed for harvest while verification takes place.‘.

Well, verification is still taking place.  And Bill Kelty, who brokered the deal, seems to have run to the hills.

Such a landmark State-wide agreement that promises a ‘strong foundation‘ is hollow if the leadership waddles off to be distracted  by other issue so the day, without the committed delegation of trusted lieutenants to see through on implementation.  Predecessor PM Kevin Rudd failed classically on the implementation phase of his policy – insulation being his and Garrett’s multi-million dollar incompetent legacy.

“The Australian and Tasmanian governments are taking too long to implement the intergovernmental agreement. If they can get their act together to offer contractors exit packages then they can honour the conservation agreement as well.” Greens Senator Bob Brown has said.  “Four months later not one hectare has been protected and Forestry Tasmania continues to fell these magnificent trees as fast as they can put the roads in. All up, more than 10km2 of our wild forests will be destroyed“, Greens Senator Brown said.

All political leaders, while dancing on mountains of power and influence, pragmatically realise that their time in office is temporary.  Status quo is not a characteristic of modern democratic politics.  What matters most in political careers is legacy.  Australia’s current Prime Minister Julia Gillard is starting to stare that legacy in the face as she allows Premier Lara Giddings to breaking the $276 million promise by backing Forestry Tasmania’s current logging of the 430,000 hectares of old growth forest protected under the Gillard Government’s Agreement.

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Tasmanian Betrayal

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Gillard and Giddings have allowed Forestry Tasmania to log the protected 430,000 hectares, ignoring the prescribed compensation requirement.  Gillard and Giddings have blatantly reneged on their core promise in the Agreement to cease logging and to protect these forests.  Gillard and Giddings have betrayed the Tasmanian and Australian people.  They have no mandate to stay in power.  Their broken promises are to be their legacies.

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“Those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around”  

~ Abdul Kalam, President of India (b.1931)

 

Styx Valley Giants being massacred by State logger ‘Forestry Tasmania’

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Tasmania sells itself as ‘the natural state’. But there is a gap between rhetoric and reality as logging of old-growth forests continues – to international dismay.

“And they have these big logs, and you just know they are coming from old-growth forests…I don’t think I could take living there and seeing them every day knowing (the trees) are going mostly to woodchips.”  ~ Larraine Herrick or Tumbarumba, Snowy Mountains, New South Wales.

But the Styx has been, and (is continuing) to be, logged by the timber industry in a state in which questions have been repeatedly raised about whether cronyism, corruption and deception underlie the management of forests.  Only discovered in 2002, El Grande was a Eucalyptus regnans with a 19-metre circumference. Last autumn (2003), it was killed when a regeneration burn went wrong.  Its demise helped fuel a midwinter protest that drew more than 2000 people to the Styx Valley. There, The Wilderness Society and Greenpeace began a tree-sit, 65 metres up a threatened giant eucalypt called Gandalf Staff.

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[Source: ‘Tasmania: seeing the wood but not the trees‘, by Melissa Fyfe and Andrew Darby, The Age Newspaper, 20040313, ^http://www.theage.com.au/news/science/tasmania-seeing-the-wood-but-not-the-trees/2004/03/13/1078594604573.html]

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‘El Grande’

Australia’s largest tree burned to death in 2003 by Forestry Tasmania’s incompetence

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Tasmanian forests activist organisation Still Wild Still Threatened have called on the Federal and State governments to honour a $276 million forest deal made on 7th August 2011.

“This deal has already seen $35 million delivered to Forestry Tasmania and Gunns Ltd. without protecting a single tree” said Still Wild Still Threatened spokesperson Ali Alishah.

“It is clear that by backing Forestry Tasmania’s destructive practices within the identified 430,000 ha area of high conservation value native forest, the State and Federal Governments are in direct violation of Clauses 25 and 27 of their own Inter Governmental Agreement.” said Mr. Alishah.

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The Observer Tree

Miranda Gibson on top of  The Observer Tree

Totally committed to Tasmanian Forests,

unlike Gillard and Giddings hollow words.

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Still Wild Still Threatened have this week launched a new tool in the fight to protect Tasmania’s forests today, unveiling the ‘ObserverTree‘, a 17-storey high tree sit and media centre equipped with the technology to record footage of logging operations and stream these images live to the world via the internet.

The Observer Tree is located in the Styx Forest below Mt Mueller, in Tasmania’s western wilderness, part of the 430,000 ha of forest that was supposed to receive immediate protection under the federal-state agreement on forests (the IGA). The Observer Tree is situated at the head of a section of Styx Forest currently targeted for logging by Forestry Tasmania.

 

‘Observer Tree’ location

^http://observertree.org/2011/12/15/observertree-on-google-maps/

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Teacher, author and forest activist, Miranda Gibson, has vowed to occupy the tree-platform continuously, until real protection is secured for Tasmania’s forests. Ms Gibson will maintain a daily blog and upload video updates during her stay in the tree, documenting the struggle to protect Tasmania’s forests to concerned people all over the globe.

‘We have used the internet to connect this spectacular patch of threatened Tasmanian forest to the world. The Observer Tree will transmit images and information about the value of the thousands of hectares of forest that remain threatened if Julia Gillard does not keep her word. People across Australia and the globe will have the opportunity to view bear witness to the wasteful destruction of these forests and hear from the people fighting to protect them,’ said Ms Gibson.

For the first time their actual logging will be broadcast live internationally via the web.

Website:    ^http://www.observertree.org
Facebook:  ^http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/ObserverTree/152795598158969

Download Google Earth  (93MB):    GoTo: ^http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/

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Google Earth’s satellite image of the Observer Tree in dense old-growth, adjacent to Forestry Tasmania’s fresh logging road

(click photo to enlarge)

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Close up image

(click photo to enlarge)

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Monday:  Forestry Tasmania attacks the Styx Forest  

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On Monday 12th December 2011, State forest ‘nazi logger’, Forestry Tasmania, under the command of District Officer (Gauführer) Steve Whitely, rolled in its contracted ‘ecodeath-squad’ into the western end of the magnificent Styx Valley.  The targeted forest area is situated at the base of Tasmania’s prominent and wild Mt Mueller on the border of the World Heritage Area.  It is situated about 25 km west of the infamous logging town of Maydena.

Directing the logging – Forestry Tasmania’s Steve Whiteley

[Source: Southern Cross Television, 20111214]

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In true forest nazi style, Forestry Tasmania’s targeted forest area is branded as coupe ‘TN 044B‘.

Logging Nazi in and destroying the Styx Valley Forest

Monday 12th December 2011, in direct breach of Prime Minister Gillard’s Forest Agreement.

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This ‘Madill’ feller buncher was getting well stuck into the Styx Valley last Monday morning just below the Observer Tree.  The hydraulic arm clamps onto the trunk of the tree while a cutting mechanism severs the tree at the stump. The machine then lifts the tree, lowers the tree into a horizontal position, and drops the tree on a bunch of logs piled on the ground.  The industrial machinery has all the efficiency of a Nazi death factory.

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Foresty Tasmania is operating in direct contradiction of IGA Clauses 25 and 27.  The coupes within the 430,000 ha of high conservation value forest are not to be logged under any condition.  The IGA prescribes that relevant customers and contractors are to be granted compensation and million have been set aside for this purpose.  Foresty Tasmania under Gauführer Steve Whitely is out of control.  He is driving ecological apocalypse in Tasmania’s southern forests. He has become a Walter E. Kurtz.

Walter E. Kurtz – unhinged, his methods unsound.

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If you go down into the woods today you’re sure in for a big surprise…but in Tasmania’s South-West it ain’t no teddy bear’s picnic.

One has to first get past the many infamous locked gates.  Forestry Tasmania (aka the State-sanctioned corporate logger) is sure to have locked its steel gates for very good reason – Forestry Tasmania doesn’t want the public to know the truth about what it is doing to Tasmania’s remaining wild forests.

Forestry Tasmania’s locked gate on the public road to the top of  Mount Tim Shea

(Suspiciously this public access road was deemed unfit for public travel coincidentally around the same time as Forestry Tasmania opened its ‘Adventure Hub’ in Maydena,

and equally coincidentally one of the hills they charge people for a ride to the top from reads ‘Adventure Hub’).

(Photo by Alan Lesheim)

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Rugged Mount Tim Shea, South-West Tasmania

Photo by Forestry Tasmania

^http://www.forestrytas.com.au/topics/2008/06/maydena-adventure-hub-opportunities

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Locked Gate on Five Road in the Upper Florentine
(connects to Cook’s Track which enters the Gordon River Road short of Camp Flozza)

(Photo by Alan Lesheim)

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Forestry Tasmania has hundreds of these padlocked gates throughout Tasmania’s wild forests.

The Wilderness Society’s spokesperson Amanda Sully said “Forestry Tasmania have a locked boom gate over the Huon Valley Wilderness and are refusing entry. This is just one of hundreds of gates on forestry roads in Tasmania.

“It’s very clear who is locking up the forests. People are sick and tired of seeing log truck after log truck coming from the clear felling behind these padlocked gates.

These are publicly-owned forests.

Forestry Tasmania is supposed to manage them for the benefit of all Tasmanians, not just the loggers” Ms Sully concluded.

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[Source:  ‘Forestry Tasmania – Locking up our forests‘, ^http://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/forests/19980924_mr

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Forestry Locked Gate on Blue Road, northern section of the Upper Florentine Valley

(Photo by Alan Lesheim)

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Author Anna Krien was on a quest for the truth described in her revealing expose book of 2010 into what’s stihl happening in Tasmania’s wild forests:

~

‘Most people travelling through Tasmania will never know of the long-running hide-and-seek taking place in the labyrinth of logging roads beyond the bitumen.

Sightseers walk among 300-year-old trees, some of them 90 metres tall, in the Styx Big Tree Reserve, chainsaws can be heard in the distance.

The road into this attraction is lined with stage sets of wilderness.

At the rise of a hill, just before the nose of the car tilts downwards, passengers might glimpse a balding peak, a fleeting insight into the world behind the verge.’

~

[Source:  ‘Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania’s Forests‘, 2010 by Anna Krien pp.25-26, published by Black Inc. ^http://www.blackincbooks.com/books/woods, includes video interviews].

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So, this Editor, half way through the book, last month flew down to Hobart, hired a car and retraced the author’s journey into Tasmania’s South-West …

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Driving west along the old Hydro Electrical Commission’s (HEC)  Gordon River (Access) Road,

through Forestry’s logging town of  ‘Westerway’

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Noticeably, when driving out of Hobart I passed clearly wealthy residential suburbs, yet driving along the Gordon River Road these few isolated hamlets are not wealthy.  Their construction mostly seems temporary like mining companies would construct while the mine delivers.  The highway through the hamlets of Westerway, Fitzgerald and Maydena seems only for forest access, not for community.

I parked the car and walked through Maydena.

There is only the odd person out and about.  The place seems impoverished –  one small primary school, a notable lack of shops, lack of amenities, and little sign of any vibrant community.

It’s as if the profits from logging have driven right through the guts of these local villages and on to big corporations eastward.

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Past the National Park Hotel

where Tasmania’s champion wood-chopper ‘Big Dave’ holds pride of place above the pub’s fire place.

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Driving through Forestry’s old logging town of  ‘Fitzgerald’

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Driving through the old logging town of  ‘Maydena’

 

– a closed so-called ‘Adventure Hub’ on the left, yet its diesel bowser (circled) open for Forestry Tasmania vehicles and observed in used by Editor 20110928.

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Reminiscent of Australia’s 1850s Gold Rush, Tasmanian folk would have been lured west by Forestry to the promise of bountiful tall timber delivering reliable logging income and the promise of building personal wealth.

But along the Gordon River Road there is a stark absence of Forestry wealth.  Instead it seems Forestry has abandoned these Gordon River Road communities.

What Forestry has done is to sell out Tasmania’s traditional woodcraft industry for short term profit from flogging quality Tasmanian hardwood as cheap asian woodchips, destroying Tasmania’s forests timber communities in the process.  Then Gunns got greedy and Tasmania’s timber reputation has deteriorated thereafter.

Now Forestry Tasmania are clearfelling and selling out Tasmania’s rare forests to the asians direct, to the likes of  Ta Ann.  Forestry Tasmania is no more than a corporate pimp of Tasmanian rare forest heritage.

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“The road into this attraction is lined with stage sets of wilderness.”

Driving further west along the HEC Gordon River Road

– bulldozed in 1964 through 64km of pristine wilderness forest by the Hydro Electric Commission, and

funded by the then Menzies federal government at a cost of  £2.5 million (likely twenty times that in today’s terms – i.e. $50 million.

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Gordon River Road – signposted logging country

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“At the rise of a hill, just before the nose of the car tilts downwards, passengers might glimpse a balding peak”

 

 

The balding peak of Forestry Tasmania’s cable logging…’a fleeting insight into the world behind the verge’.

(Photo by editor 20110928 while on Gordon River Road heading west)

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An entire hill of  wild Tasmanian forest savagely cabled logged bare by Forestry Tasmania

Tourists can now see this from Gordon River Road.

(Photo by editor 20110928.  Click photo to enlarge.)

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Beyond the lock gates lies the ecological holocaust

(Photo by editor 20110928.  Click photo to enlarge.)

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Styx Valley Holocaust

(Photo by Rob Blakers)

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Tasmania’ s Styx Holocaust

September 2011 (Photo by Alan Lesheim)

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Forestry Tasmania’s Killing Fields

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Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge Killing Fields

(Human mass murder comparable to Tasmania’s mass forest murder

– both crimes consistently against life)

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Google Maps (September 2011) satellite view of the forest rape by Forestry Tasmania

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Camp Flozza’s symbolic goddess of the ancient Florentine Forest

~ eco-raped by Forestry Tasmania in its January 2009 raid

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And they wonder why the people protest and are prepared to be arrested?

(Photo of forest defender being arrested at Forestry Tasmania’s police raid on Camp Flozza,

Upper Florentine Valley, 13th January 2009)

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Styx Valley Holocaust by Forestry Tasmania, September 2011

(Photo of editor 20110928.  Click photo to enlarge.)

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Forestry Tasmania padlocks gates 10 kilometres from clearfell around a protected Wedge-tailed Eagle nest

[Source:  ‘Loggers breach eagle nest protection laws again‘, Bob Brown, 20090827, ^http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/category/issues/environment/forestry/wielangta]

‘In the breeding season, a clear felling operation in Tasmania’s wild Upper Huon Valley has breached guidelines by smashing down forests next to an endangered Tasmania’s Wedge-tailed eagles’ nest. The Tasmanian Wedge-tailed eagle, with wingspan up to 3 metres, are one of the Earth’s 6 largest eagle species.

“After repeated controversies about woodchip operations burning or destroying eagle nests and causing failure of nesting because of bulldozers and chainsaws operations near nests, this failure of protection in the Huon is inexcusable. It makes a mockery of logging industry propaganda,” said Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown.

“The Ministers for Forestry and Environment who are responsible for Australia’s rare and endangered species don’t know, and don’t act in any helpful way.”

“It is as if the Howard Government never left office. These ministers have washed their hands of their role in the Wedge-tailed eagles’ fate. Logging laws in Tasmania state that a minimum of 10 hectares be left around an eagle’s nest,” said Senator Brown.

Forestry Tasmania has erected locked gates 10 kilometres from the nest logging site preventing public or media inspection.’

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Footage of the logged area and nest available here  (on YouTube):

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Meanwhile Forestry Tasmania on its ‘Adventure Forests‘ website promotes its ‘Top of the World Tour‘ from Maydena…

…’Go wild where eagles soar…Make the escape to the Eagle’s Eyrie on a Top of the World Tour.You’ll experience all the fun of the Railtrack Rider as you travel into the heart of the forest to explore long-abandoned bush heritage, before emerging to an alpine wonderland and an eagle’s eye view over the Tasmanian wilderness. There’s plenty of time for indulgence as well, with an individually-prepared gourmet lunchbox and fine regional wines enjoyed in the fireside comfort of the Eagles Eyrie.’

^http://adventureforests.com.au/maydena

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‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes

but having new eyes’

 

~ Marcel Proust, French novelist

 

 

The spin from the dying legacy that is Forestry Tasmania, Tasmanian taxpayer subsidised yet still proudly loss making,  is palpable.

In 2009, it enticed a travelling UK backpacker, ‘Shannon’,  to include its propaganda on her blog ~ silly naive girl.

Check the spiel..which Forestry added to its website:

^http://www.forestrytas.com.au/visiting/visitor-sites/central/styx-big-tree-reserve

The Forestry Propaganda continues as follows, but we consider it appropriate to intersperse the spiel with photos of Forestry Truth in the Styx Forests nearby inflicted by Forestry Tasmania and continuing to happen right now in October 2011!

Styx Big Trees decimated around the corner by Forestry Tasmania

(Photo by Alan Lesheim Photography, 20110928)

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‘Standing in the pouring rain in the middle of the one of Tasmania’s state forests, is not something I would usually consider fun (the things I do to keep you guys informed). However, on this particular day it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Where am I…? I hear you ask.

 

About an hour and 15 minutes north-west of Hobart, is a little town called Maydena, and just a short drive past the town, is the Styx Big Tree Reserve. Well, now you know where I am, let me tell you about the day I spent up there.

I headed up through New Norfolk, along the Lyell Highway, through some charming, little country towns like Glenora and Westerway. Along this road, Maydena is the last point of service, and so I called into Maydena Adventure Hub (Forestry Tasmania’s latest tourism venture) to refuel both the car, and myself. The coffee is lovely, and they have a range of foods, such as toasted sandwiches, salad rolls, and the like. From here, I headed about ten minutes further along the road, to a turn-off which leads you into the heart of the forest, and to the Styx Big Tree Reserve.

 

 

The road is gravel; however it had been recently graded so it is suitable to all car types. If you keep your eye out, the signs located along the road will point you in the right direction, and it’s about 15km to the actual reserve. After the initial turn-off there is only one other turn-off and then you basically just following the one road the rest of the way. You can tell you are getting closer if you notice the trees are getting bigger.

(Photo of Styx Forest by Alan Lesheim Photography – click photo to enlarge)

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The reserve is equipped with toilets, disabled access and a car park. It also has some lovely picnic facilities throughout the forest. Due to my unorganised nature, and the fact that the decision to come up here was very spontaneous, I was not well equipped to deal with the wet weather, or the forest. Luckily, someone in the office leant me their waterproof jacket, and with my jeans tucked into my socks to keep away the leeches (paranoid I know), I told myself to toughen up and get out there!

Styx Big Trees incinerated in a irreversible holocaust fire by Forestry Tasmania…”a lack of regular wildfires”…we’ll fix that!

(Photo by Editor 20110928, free in public domain)

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The Big Tree Reserve has a boardwalk, which takes you on an informative tour of the giants that call this forest home. It turns out that the trees here can grow so big due to a combination of factors including, high rainfall (1000-1500mm per year), high soil nutrient content, and a lack of regular wildfires in this particular area. The trees in this area are over 85m tall, and are swamp gums.

The Styx – what is and what was

(Photo by Editor 20110928, free in public domain)

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There is so much to learn here, and I won’t tell you anymore, you will just have to come up and experience it yourself! Or, if you like, Maydena Adventure Hub can set you up a guided tour of the Styx Forest, or other areas in the region. The staff in there are very approachable and will be happy to help you out with anything you need to know.

Forestry Tasmania’s infamous tourist ‘Welcome’ sign…welcome to our ‘Styx Holocaust’

(Photo by Editor 20110928, free in public domain)

Rain or no rain, it was a lovely experience. Heading back from the reserve you can either turn right and continue further west to Lake Pedder and Strathgordon, or turn left and explore the rest of what Maydena has to offer. As I left it so late to leave from Hobart that morning, and the wet weather, I thought it would be best just to head back home. However, don’t worry, I will be back shortly and then I will let you know what the rest of the South-West wilderness has to offer.

Gullible tourists directed left, while Big Tree ecocide lies in a battle field right nearby.

 

(Photo by Editor 20110928, free in public domain)

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Until next time, get out there and explore some of these wonderful sites for yourself.  Oh and by the way, someone was just trying to scare me and I didn’t even come across any leeches!’

Styx Forest after Forestry Tasmania has been through

(Photo by Editor 20110928, free in public domain)

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GPS Coordinates :

LAT :  42°48’54.79″S
LON : 146°39’51.46″E