Heated words over calls to end forest regeneration burns
The Greens want an end to forest regeneration burns in Tasmania but the government says they are in line with best practice. HAVE YOUR SAY >>
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The Greens want an end to forest regeneration burns in Tasmania but the government says they are in line with best practice.
Greens Leader and forests spokesperson Cassy O’Connor said the burns must stop because they are a “moral crime” and damaging the environment.
“Tasmania’s burning season has begun,” Ms O’Connor said.
“Once again, our still clear days are being blackened by forestry burns.
“These burns are not for fuel reduction, they are designed to sterilise the soil, to destroy the native seed bank so monoculture plantations can replace native forest, ensuring a biodiverse landscape is neutered.
“The fires are so hot they burn the detritus left from logging and the organic matter in the subsoil.”
However, Resources Minister Guy Barnett accused the Greens on wanting to close the native forestry industry.
“This is yet another attempt in the relentless and ongoing campaign of radical environmentalists to shut down Tasmania’s sustainable native forestry sector, taking with it the jobs of thousands of Tasmanians, many in regional areas, who work in the industry,” Mr Barnett said.
“Tasmania’s forestry sector is well-managed, environmentally sustainable and regulated in line with contemporary best practice.
“Details of regeneration burns is an operational matter for Sustainable Timber Tasmania which undertakes this work based on the best available information, with appropriate communications undertaken.”
Sustainable Timber Tasmania advises when burns will be done and where smoke is forecast to travel.
“Our planned burning program aims to improve the safety of the community by reducing fuel loads in public production forests and to regenerate harvested forests in a similar manner to natural regeneration which occurs following a bushfire,” it said.
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