Days after the lawfulness of native forest logging across Tasmania has been called into question when charges against native forest activists were thrown out of court due to the requirement of validating legislation, more evidence of legal issues with the logging of native forests has been uncovered.
Blue Derby Wild volunteers have been conducting ongoing logging audits of forests in north east Tasmania, including the Krushka's forests that are currently being logged, recording breaches in the code and the Forest Practices plan with the logging seed trees and high habitat trees.
This past weekend we documented evidence of wilful logging of marked Seed Trees which are meant to be left standing to disperse seed into the cleared former forest around them. In this first week of Krushka's wedge tail eagle forest CC105A being logged we have documented two well marked seed trees having been logged. Part of our visual evidence includes what appears to be attempts to remove the painted signs from the tree bark, and obscure the markings.
This failure for logging contractors to adhere to even the most basic guidelines that have been set out for logging this ecologically significant area of tall wet forest, with known wedge tail eagle nests on the perimeter, demonstrates the lack of regard for environmental standards. Blue Derby Wild has provided reports of this, with visual evidence to the regional head of Sustainable Timber Tasmania to take action and halt logging of these forests immediately. We are still awaiting their response.
It is incumbent on the Tasmanian government to step in and declare a moratorium on the logging of our native forests as serious questions are to be answered about the validating legislation that applies to Forest Practices Codes across the state. While here on the ground where logging is happening, we are seeing a flagrant disregard for the very few guidelines that have been put in place. Our lawyers have again action legal proceedings to stop all logging operations in both of the Krushka's forests as serious questions are unanswered about the legality of native forests across Tasmania, which is heightened with the ongoing breaches we are recording.