Nannas knit their protest on state forest access road

GROUP of grandmas demand a moratorium on logging at Myrtle Creek.

Lismore Knitting Nannas Louise Somerville, Felicity Cahill, Rosie Lee, Margaret Scheidler, Dot Moller and Jally Hawthorn at a protest against logging in the Myrtle Creek State Forest, south of Casino.

'WE'RE here for our children and grandchildren," Knitting Nanna Louise Somerville said at the Myrtle State Forest, south of Casino today.

Six nannas (less than normal due to social distancing) protested with their knitting and placards against the NSW Forestry Corporation logging trees in one of the most burnt out areas in the region.

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"Logging operations have commenced in the past weeks after the Environment Protection Agency approved the Forestry Corporation to undertake logging in three State Forests on the Richmond River lowlands and the Nannas are not happy," Ms Somerville said.

Koala habitat in Bungawalbin, Doubleduke and Myrtle State Forests have had little chance to regenerate since the October fires and the Knitting Nannas fear that if logging operations continue the species may be wiped out altogether.

They're calling for a moratorium on logging.

Knitting in flaming red wool, the Nannas stretched their long line of knitting across an access road at Myrtle Creek to "to draw a line in the sand."

"It's time for a logging moratorium in these forests so all species of plants and animals can regrow and return before it's too late," Felicity Cahill said.

As a Rural Fire Service volunteer for more than 20 years, she is determined to protect the environment.

Knitting Nanna Rosie Lee likes to knit koalas, and had one with her named Gladys (after the state premier) which sits on a picnic rug well apart from a koala named Shane who is destined to be a special gift from the Nannas to Shane Fitzsimmons in honour of his work as Commissioner for the Rural Fire Service from 2007-2020, she said.

NSW Forestry Corporation were contacted for comment.

 

Lismore Knitting Nannas at a protest against logging in the Myrtle Creek State Forest, south of Casino.