Blue Derby Wild wins reprieve for forests around Derby

Blue Derby Wild win logging reprieve for forests around Derby Blue Derby Wild have achieved a stay of execution on multiple areas of forests around the Derby area after years of campaigning for the end to logging of the native forests of the area supported by hundreds of tourism operators, and a public petition signed by more than 35,000 people.

At the start of every financial year government business enterprise Sustainable Timber Tasmania publishes a revised list of which forests they plan to log in the coming three years. On examining the website we have noted that the proposed immediate logging of forests in the Atlas, and Mutual Valley area have been removed. The areas of Krushka's forests that are currently under a Supreme Court ordered logging injunction have also been removed from this map."

We have written to Sustainable Timber Tasmania seeking clarification on what these changes mean for our forests as we have not been informed of these changes, and have not been included in stakeholder consultations on these matters.

This is a good sign for the immediate future for areas of forests where we have recorded rare and threatened species including the Tasmanian Masked Owl, Spotted Tail Quoll and Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish. However we know that this is not long term protection for these forests, rather a reprieve while STT looks to move into native forests that are less visible, and where the public campaign to protect them is not as strong.

Blue Derby Wild commenced legal action in the Supreme Court of Tasmania over unlawful logging of two areas of forests around the town of Derby, achieving the first court ordered injunction against the State government on logging in Tasmanian native forests. This matter is still before the court and awaiting a final decision.