Posts Tagged ‘Stihl’

In Tasmania, pristine remains defenceless

Monday, September 23rd, 2013
Pure Tasmania
In Tasmania, pristine remains defenceless

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Hope from 2013: 

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“Today I think of the Wedge-tailed Eagle that I watched fly above my tree, whose habitat was once under threat and is now protected and of the Tasmanian Devils who lived in the forest 60 metres below my platform who can now raise their young in peace.”

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~ Miranda Gibson, The Observer Tree, Tasmania, ‘National student movement stands up for Tasmania’s native forests’, 20130710,
^http://observertree.org/2013/07/10/media-release-national-student-movement-stands-up-for-tasmanias-native-forests/]

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Recalling the STIHL nightmare from 1982:

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Farmhouse Creek Forest BlockadeTasmania’s Farmhouse Creek Conservation Blockade of 1982:   the people’s forest stance against industrial ecocide.  Moral courage in the face of adversity – it resonates with the robust spirit of our brave young people.  Lest we forget our young folk’s personal exposure to Corporate Logger Bully Violence, personal sacrifice and its haunting trauma.
[Source:  ‘For the Forests – A history of the Tasmanian Forests Campaigns’, 2001, book by Helen Gee and Janet Fenton, The Wilderness Society, Hobart, Tasmania]

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From 2001:

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<< In a world in which the tropical forests are disappearing and oldgrowth forests are threatened everywhere, global biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate.  Australia can no longer afford to destroy oldgrowth forests.  They are a priceless resource.  Few of our tall forests of any type remain in pristine condition,and particularly where they have not been degraded they should be protected.  The practice of destroying oldgrowth forests in order to replace it with plantations is criminal vandalism.  Plantations should only be established on already degraded land.

Tasmania has the tallest forests in the Southern Hemisphere, some of the greatest areas of pristine temporate Gondwanan rainforest found anywhere on Earth, and some of the world’s oldest trees.  This makes it a Mecca for tourists as forests disappear elsewhere.  Because Tasmania is the State with the most forest – 40% of area forested – and because the quite erroneous view prevails that forests regenerate completely after clearfelling, a shameful attitude to forest conservation exists at the highest level in bureaucracies.

The Island is being torn apart by the woodchip-at-any-cost mentality.  The forests are being sold off at a loss.  The royalties paid by private companies fall far short of covering the cost of forest management, regrowth and infrastructure.  Job losses attributable to woodchipping were estimated at 4,000 by 1995 – refuting the contention that the industry is good for employment.  The Government, for sake of keeping a few foresters in work for a few years does not have the fortitude to stop the destruction. >>

Tanberg

<< Gondwanan forest, in its complex rainforest and wet scherophyll expression, does not regenerate to form its original mixture.  The complex web of life that it comprises, the extraordinary antiquity and grandeur of its thousands-of-years-old giant components, and the untold interactions betwen its macroscopic and microscopic plant and animal species and soil biota, make it a living entity – ‘a surviving dinosaur deserving of complete protection’.

Over 70% of forests logged are clearfelled in Tasmania, destroying habitats and most of the wildlife they support.  Replacement plantations and regenerated areas cannot provide the range of habitats or the biota.  Over 90% of the timber extracted from natural forests is woodchipped and only five percent ends up as sawn timber.  (An estimated five million cuibic metres of woodchips a year are sold, mainly to Japan).   The common practice of burning ‘waste’ in felled coupes, a scorched earth policy, results in total slaughter of small animals and organisms, many of which are little known or understood. >>

Will Hodgman's WrathDark Forces Regrouping
Will Hodgman’s 20th Century ignorant wrath
..against everything naturally Tasmanian

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<< Even at the start of a new millenium, logging operations are penetrating into more of the untouched valleys.  Forests of World Heritage value are being destroyed and the integrity of the World Heritage protected areas themselves is being compromised.  The damaging effect of logging operations, and particularly the clearfelling, on streams and on the hydrology of catchments, and on soils, is never taken into account and is a serious consequence.   The brave people who have spoken out, risked their lives and faced arrest at peaceful direct actions around the Island, need your support.  Every Australian who appreciates the heritage values of our forests and wants future generations to experience them, can learn what is at stake here and support the campaigns that are ongoing. >>

Mary E White DSc

 

 

 

 

~ Mary E White DSc

[Source:  Forward by Mary E White in book by Helen Gee (b.1950) and Janet Fenton:  ‘For the Forests – A history of the Tasmanian Forests Campaigns’, 2001, published by The Wilderness Society, Hobart, Tasmania]

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Further Reading:

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[1]   Helen Gee’s 2001 book ‘For the Forests: A History of the Tasmanian Forest Campaigns‘, (with Janet Fenton) published by The Wilderness Society, Inc. [^Read More]

‘Oral history of the Tasmanian forest campaigns. Compilation of over 100 interviews of artists and activists, politicians and environmentalists such as Senator Bob Brown and Alec Marr, Campaign Director of the Wilderness Society. Chronicles strategies, protest marches, and achievements of campaigns. Foreword by palaeobotanist Mary E White. Copiously illustrated, includes appendices, maps, chronology, bibliography and index. Author is a Tasmanian writer and environmentalist, writer of ‘The South West Book: A Tasmanian Wilderness’.’

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[2]     Extracts of an interview Dr Mary White in 2003 by Amy Heague (Focus Magazine), ^http://focusmag.com.au/mgl/interviews/dr-mary-white-paleobotanist

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<< When Dr Mary White moved to the Manning Valley (New South Wales mid-north coast) back in 2003, the area acquired a true visionary and pioneer in the world of Paleobotany and environmental conservation.

Dr White has an amazing career that spans over five decades and two southern continents, is an accomplished and award winning palaeobotanist, lecturer and over the last 20 years author of several award winning books on the evolution of the Australian continent and its ecosystems. She is a passionate conservationist, was named a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to botany as a researcher through promotion of increased understanding and awareness of the natural world and just a few weeks ago was awarded the Lifetime Conservation Award from Australian Geographic.>>

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Interviewer:   You came to Australia in 1955. Tell us about your first encounter with Australian plant life.

Dr White:   We docked at Fremantle and had three days to wait until we came to Sydney, so we hired a car and went to look at the sand plains and wildflowers. I was amazed at how the composition of the flora was just slightly different from what I had been finding in South Africa.

I had this questioning feeling; how had I travelled thousands of miles across the ocean to get here and yet I could recognise at a family level everything growing around me. It was the same kind of ecosystem I had just come from.  So, I suddenly was confronted with the concept of Gondwana and believed it totally.

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Interviewer:    What prompted you to purchase Falls Retreat at Johns River at the base of Middle Brother in 2003?

Dr White:   I wanted somewhere I could covenant the land to maintain biodiversity and develop as an environmental education centre. It is in a wonderful part of the world and well worth protecting. Since we’ve done all the plant, animal, bird, bat and frog lists and what not, we have realised that the biodiversity here is much, much richer than we ever thought it was going to be. We have even found a couple of rare and endangered frogs.

I am now very much into climate change and have a very important message to send, which is hopefully what I have been concentrating on doing and intend to do for the rest of my life. I decided a long time ago I was going to die at a 107, so I have a few good years left in me yet – so be warned! >>

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Dr Mary E WhiteDr Mary White – Paleobotanist, curator, author
(b.1926 in then Southern Rhodesia)

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<<..original ecosystems must be preserved because they are complete and have all the interconnections.  “Ultimately you need to understand that this is a living planet and it behaves like a huge super organism, and that everything is interconnected and interrelated.”>>

[Source:  ‘Dr Mary White Moves On’, 20130806, ABC NSW Mid North Coast, by Carla Mascarenhas, ^http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/08/06/3819380.htm]

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Stihl woodchipping Tasmania’s Western Front

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Like a skin-burned landscape flaking, Tasmania’s disappearing wild forests are revealed on Google Maps. The 19th Century colonial timber-getting landscape around Hamilton in the lighter treeless region on the right of the image.  In 2011 the colonial mentality pervades in burnt clearfelled coupes on the left side of the satellite image below. Tasmania’s tall Eucalypt forests and the ecosystems they support face a denuded Hamilton vision or at best a sterile silviculture.

Fourth generation Tasmanian loggers knowing no better, mindlessly scarring  their rich timbered homeland for a pittance to feed the profits of multinationals, and knowingly deny their children the endless Tasmanian forests they knew as children.  It is Thylacene Bigotry repeated down generations.

Satellite Map of Tasmania showing vast areas of clearfelled native forest scars.
(Click photo to enlarge)
(Simply go to Google and type in Tasmania Map in Google and zoom in)
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The culprit, Forestry Tasmania (FT), has made it a cliche to hide its destruction from public roads, but can no longer hide from Google Maps.

Zooming in on the massive scaring of the Florentine Forest.
(click to enlarge image)
(Google Maps)

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Zooming in on the massive scaring of the Styx Valley Forest.
(Google Maps)

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‘This charred scene of forest devastation here in Southern Tasmania stands as a stark symbol of the industrial scale logging operations that are ripping apart Australia’s native forests every single day. Harvey Norman needs to stand up, show some genuine environmental leadership and stop selling native forest products to the Australian people’ said Ms Majewski.  [^http://www.thelaststand.org.au/]

[Source:  ‘Massive banner unfurled in Tasmania drawing attention to Harvey Norman forest destruction’, by anonymous 20010811, ^http://indymedia.org.au/2011/08/15/massive-banner-unfurled-in-tasmania-drawing-attention-to-harvey-norman-forest-destructionWatch Video]

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So where does Harvey Norman’s EKO Wood ‘Jatoba’ come from?…

Jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril)
A tall rainforest hardwood tree common to the Caribbean, Central, and South America.
It is killed for hardwood furniture and flooring.
Go to hell Harvey Norman, go!

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The bastards are clear-felling Tasmania’s majestic Styx Valley in 2011!
Do they hate Tasmania that much?
(Source: ^http://www.thelaststand.org.au/)
(Photo: R. Blakers)

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Tools of the trade for Forestry Tasmania – Industrial Forestry Bondage – a CAT 553 fellerbuncher-
But then machines are more efficient than people, and unlike selective logging, with contract woodchipping you don’t have to think ~ ‘its all good’.
Shit Money. Shit Future. Pulping Tasmania’s Heritage so that Jap’s can sell their paper back to us mugs.
(click to enlarge photo)

Husqvarna – ‘taming the wild’ and selling their last chainsaws to a dying culture
– like the Japs killing dolphins at Taijin.

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Stihl Chainsawing Tasmania’s Western Front

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A FT holocaust survivor
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(‘Holocaust’ comes from the Greek, holos meaning ‘completely’  and kaustos ‘burnt’
~ to burn away, leaving no trace of what was previously there.     (A. Krien, 2010, p.122)

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‘World Forestry Day’ = World Logging Day

Sunday, August 7th, 2011
The following article was initially posted Tigerquoll on CanDoBetter.net 20090422, and subsequently updated.
 
Logging a road through old-growth rainforest
Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland
© 2008 Friends of the Earth Kuranda
[Source http://foekuranda.org/]

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‘World Forestry Day’ on 21st March is a greenwash promotion by the logging industry.  It has the same meaning as the oxymoronic ‘eco-logging‘ (see above photograph).

[‘Eco=logging‘ means that we do leave some trees, sometimes. Some dodgy entrepreneur in South America has tried to register the name ‘ecologging’ as a trademark  [^Read More]  ]

The concept sounds noble enough on the Victorian Government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) site:

“World Forestry Day has been celebrated around the world for 30 years to remind communities of the importance of forests and the many benefits which we gain from them. The concept of having a World Forestry Day originated at the 23rd General Assembly of the European Confederation of Agriculture in 1971.”

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But hang on a second!

…a “Confederation of Agriculture” …this suggests a different set of values than anecological respect for native forests; somewhat more to do with agriculture (aka ‘logging‘). But I let the Victorian Government’s Dept of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) site continue:

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“Forests provide many valuable things for the whole community. These include fresh water from forested catchments, a safe home for our flora and fauna, timber for our homes, furniture and paper, beautiful scenery and rugged environments for those who enjoy the outdoors, pollen and nectar for honey production, and archaeological and historical sites.”

“Today, Victoria has an area of approximately 22.7 million hectares. About 40% is public land, meaning that it is owned by the State and managed by the government. There are about 4.8 million hectares of publicly owned native forest which is divided into the following categories: National parks and reserves – 1.7 million hectares, State forest – 3.1 million hectares.”

“Less than one third of Victoria’s state forests are available for timber harvesting and these forests produce more than two million cubic metres of wood products which return about $50 million in revenue to the State.”

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Ah Ha! So it’s all about revenue FROM our native forests, not a about being FOR our native forests!  That phrase ‘timber harvesting‘ conveys such wholesome overtones of good honest pastoral labour, except it’s bloody logging forests!  The term has been borrowed by poachers slaughtering kangaroos who euphemistically label the wildlife crime as ‘kangaroo harvesting‘.

So why not just rename this green-washing ‘World Forestry Day‘ what it really is: a celebration of logging – and rename it ‘World Logging Day‘?

DSE on its site suggests:

‘What can I do on World Forestry Day?”  ..well children    (the propaganda targets school children):

“Celebrate World Forestry Day by visiting your local forests and learning more about the many contributions they make to our well-being. For further information and ideas, see our Forest Education Information.” This link then takes the children directly to the ‘For Schools;’ section of its website which sends a key mesage [sic] to students that ‘forests have many different uses and values.” A second link takes children direct to the hardcore logging site of the Department of Primary Industries”.

[SOURCE: ^http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfor.nsf/childdocs/-8E773CD126CA22704A256AA40000EDEE-034EBCC6B1670D984A256AA40011A9F8?open]

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Proud logger

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Forests should be celebrated in their natural state, not by their exploitative revenue potential. Pity that we are now celebrating these in islands and outside the mainstream media. The contrasting ‘Earth Hour’ hype of late seems so token, yet attracts such mainstream publicity and has even Peter Garrett as its cheerleader! But beyond people thinking about turning off lights, Earth Hour pales in addressing irreversible planet damage compared with any day that recognizes the value of global forests.

Recognising natural undisturbed forests and the ‘green carbon’ benefits they contribute to a healthy global future is more important than token politics. As advocated by Professor Brendan Mackey in an article in EEG’s The Potoroo Review (current Spring/Summer 2008-09 edition, p9), “estimates that around 9.3 billion tones of carbon can be stored in the 14.5 million hectares of eucalypt forest in southeast Australia IF THEY ARE LEFT UNDISTURBED.”

While one supports the celebration of native forests in their natural place, the drawback of World Forestry Day is that the forestry industry has corrupted the word ‘forestry’ into a vernacular meaning of ‘exploitation value’.

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World Forest Day – online propaganda during 2010

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In 2010, if one searched ‘World Forestry Day’ online, one got the following suspicious results:

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Google Search #1: Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) (aka Victorian Government)…say no more

http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenfor.nsf/childdocs/-8E773CD126CA227 04A256AA40000EDE E-034EBCC6B1670D 984A256AA40011A9 F8?open

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Search Result in 2011:

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Google Search #2: NSW Department of Primary Industries | Forests (a chainsaw endorsed site)

http://www.forest.nsw.gov.au/publication/forest_facts/celebrating_ trees_forests/default.asp

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Search Result in 2011:

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Google Search #3: Global Education, but linked to ‘DSE’ after scrolling down the page

http://www.forest.nsw.gov.au/publication/forest_facts/celebrating_ trees_forests/default.asp4: Better Health Victoria

(another Victorian Government website)

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Search Result in 2011:

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Google Search #4:  Better Health (Victorian Government again)

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcevent.nsf/pages/DF43C04B6CC6D19E CA257250007C8F46 ?opendocument

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Search Result in 2011:

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So when searching ‘World Forestry Day‘ online, clearly Australian state governments’ greenwashing has set up prime presence.

[Editor: The above government links have disappeared consistent with government short-termism].

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NAFI Propaganda

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Equally the National Association of Forestry Industries (NAFI) ^http://www.nafi.com.au offered a propaganda page on World Forest Day during 2011.

NAFI’s logo

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NAFI boasts that it is..

the peak forest industry body in Australia representing a wide variety of companies involved in forest management, wood processing, commercial tree plantation growing, timber sales and distribution, carbon offset growers, forestry harvesters, haulage contractors, and engineered wood products manufacturers.  NAFI also represents the interests of forestry research bodies, timber community groups and state forest industry bodies.’

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Not surprisingly NAFI is located within a ten minute drive of Parliament House Canberra, with a politician never out of earshot.

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NAFI’s VISION THING

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‘The vision of NAFI is for an ecologicaly [sic] sustainable Australian society based, in part, on a dynamic, internationally competitive forest industry.’

Clearly drafted by an expensive consultant, it is utopian in its desire for harmonious co-existence between making a buck from logging forests, and conserving the ecological values of those same forests. In other words having one’s cake and eating it too. Pity they couldn’t spell ‘ecologically’.

Yet, conspicuously, ‘ecologically sustainable’ is missing in NAFI’s Objectives.

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NAFI’s OBJECTIVES

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  1. Improve the commercial results and investment attractiveness of the forest industries through favourable government policy decision and actions  (i.e. make money from logging).
  2. Create a preferred position for the Australian forest industries in the rapidly changing international framework of treaties, codes of practice, standards, conventions and legislation. (i.e. influence law making so that more money can be made from logging).
  3. Achieve widespread community recognition of the social, environmental and economic benefits of forest industries. (i.e. drive a propaganda strategy to win hearts and minds that logging is good).
  4. Support and promote innovation, research and development. (i.e. pay universities to write reports to show that logging is good).
  5. Improve market opportunities and competitive advantage in order to increase demand for forest products and achieve consumer satisfaction (i.e. market logging).
  6. Achieve maximum utilisation of Australian resources within a framework of an open and competitive market. (i.e. be efficient by logging all the forest and invite others to join in).
  7. Service members needs and maximise industry ownership and involvement in the Association. (i.e. lobby loggers interests for more forests to log and build numbers to maximise political influence)

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Without compromise, the above objectives convey a single minded focus on commercial logging of forests.

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NAFI’s BIGGER LOGGER LOBBY GROUPING: ‘AFPA’

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Consistent with the NAFI objectives (not the VISION), in April 2011 the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) was formed through the merger of the Australian Plantations Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P) and the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI).   Nothing uncertain about the motives of this organisation.  Anyone who profits from logging is represented by AFPA – ‘tree plantation growers, harvest and haulage contractors, sawmillers, forest product exporters, and pulp and paper processors’.  The new website is  ^http://www.ausfpa.com.au/site/

Not surprisingly, AFPA is strategically located in NAFI’s offices, just a ten minute drive from Parliament House, Canberra, with ready access to the hearts and minds of Australia’s federal politicians.

A few weeks prior on 21 March 2011, a gala dinner was staged between the loggers and the politicians up the road at Parliament House, Canberra to (believe it or not) celebrate the United Nations’ Declaration of 2011 as the ‘International Year of Forests’.  The logger body’s response to 2011 being the ‘International Year of Forests’ has been to unite loggers into a single united mighty lobbying force for logging – the AFPA.

“A single voice, a single association, is a clearer and more concise way to present the forest products industry to governments, the media and the people of Australia in a united fashion.”

– Linda Sewell, transitional Chairperson of AFPA and A3P Chairperson, after announcing the creation of AFPA in Canberra on 21 March 2011.

No surprise who is on the Transitional Board of AFPA – loggers and logging product merchants one and all:

  • Ms Linda Sewell,  HVP Plantations (Transitional Chairperson)
  • Mr Bryan Tisher, Boral Timbers (Transitional Treasurer)
  • Mr Greg McCormack,  Midway Ptd Ltd
  • Dr Hans Drielsma,  Forestry Tasmania
  • Mr Ian Telfer,  WA Plantation Resources (WAPRES)
  • Mr Jim Snelson,  Carter Holt Harvey (CHH)
  • Mr John McNamara,  Hyne & Son
  • Dr Jon Ryder,  Australian Paper
  • Mr Terry Edwards,  Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (FIAT)
  • Mr Vince Erasmus,  Elders Forestry
A more apt logo for the Logging Industry

The motives for World Forestry Day are nothing but blatant pro-logging propaganda.

Stihl Chainsawing Old-Growth

…’are you looking for the best chainsaw for cutting trees?’   ~ quote from Stihl’s website.

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The term ‘Existence value’ deserves to be further explored and promulgated, so we can develop a greater non-utilitarian value of our natural and now rare forests. Our precious forest exists for their own sake, the forest ecosystems they support and of which we have so little comprehension of their global existence value and scarcity.

– end of article –

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