February 8MyEnvironment & Victoria’s forests need your help now!
Right now, a groundbreaking court case is playing out in Melbourne’s Supreme Court that has the potential to change the future for the last tracts of threatened forest in Victoria. MyEnvironment and their lawyers are doing an absolutely sterling job but they urgently need your help! Donate here now to help save Victoria’s forests!
Here is one of the latest updates from MyEnvironment along with a fantastic rundown on the current situation in Victoria’s spectacular threatened forests.
‘On Monday, 6th February, one of the most significant court case ever undertaken on the conservation of Victoria’s threatened fauna commenced in the Supreme Court. The case is testing whether the logging operations of VicForests are in compliance with state laws, focussing on three coupes in Toolangi State Forest, around 80 kms. north-east of Melbourne.
However, VicForests argued today that the economic case for continuing the logging of endangered species’ habitat outweighs the precautionary principle. In effect, they are saying, jobs are more important than species and ecosystems. READ MORE »
February 7One week to go til 24 hours of action!
There’s only one week to go until hundreds of amazing people around the globe take a stand for Tassie’s forests in a massive 24 hours of action! It’s easy to take part … Jump on board, wherever you live, and stand up for Tasmania’s spectacular forests which are still being destroyed by logging operations right now!
Join the amazing Miranda Gibson (who’s now spending her 56th day in the ObserverTree!) and people right across the planet on Tuesday 14th or Wednesday 15th February 2012 to stand up for our forests. Check the event page on facebook or get more info HERE. And make sure you confirm your action with the wonderful ObserverTree crew as soon as possible by emailing observertree2011@gmail.com.
February 6From a Picton clearfell to Parliament Lawns
The Huon Valley Environment Centre have released a sample of a celery top pine we believe to be more than 250 years old. The sample was obtained from controversial Picton Valley logging coupe PC024B, where logging operations in high conservation value forest have been halted by conservationists and a tree sit this morning.
The celery top pine is an example of the destruction being wrought upon all elements of the Picton Valley forest, whether or not Ta Ann takes every log. The sample of the celery top pine clearly demonstrates that the forest currently being logged in the Picton Valley is part of an old growth ecosystem. Furthermore, sections of the coupe were mapped as old growth forest during the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement process. This coupe is being logged to supply wood to Ta Ann, and their wood supply requirements are cited in official documents as the driver for logging this coupe which is inside the 430,000 hectares.
‘Ta Ann have admitted that old growth forests are being logged to supply their timber. The fact that Ta Ann only mills smaller logs taken from areas of high conservation value does not excuse the source of supply. We are losing globally significant forests for Ta Ann, meanwhile they are selling their timber as environmentally friendly and plantation sourced in Japan. Our campaign intends to inform their corporate customers of the true source of the timber from Tasmania’s high conservation value and old growth forests’ said Huon Valley Environment Centre campaigner Jenny Weber. READ MORE »