Bob Brown Foundation claims logging backdown by Sustainable Timbers Tasmania in Tarkine

Sustainable Timbers Tasmania has made a call on a logging operation in the Tarkine.

Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said the area was one of outstanding natural beauty and should be spared as part of the fight against climate change. Picture: DAVID KILLICK

LOGGING contractors intend to withdraw from a contested area of the Tarkine by the end of the week.

The backdown is being hailed as a victory by the Bob Brown Foundation, which has been protesting in the logging coupe north of the Pieman River in the South-East Tarkine in recent days.

The protest is the second in the Tarkine in recent weeks, with a separate action focussed on an area near the Que River.

Harvesting for special species at Que River was completed last Thursday.

However an email sent to the Bob Brown Foundation today, Sustainable Timbers Tasmania said it would prefer the harvest contractor to exit the coupe near the Pieman River by late this week.

The email asks protesters to moderate or cease their activity for a few days to allow contractors to recover already harvested timber and undertake rehabilitation works.

“It is our intention not to continue further with the harvesting of this coupe this summer,” the email says.

A protester staging a sit-in at the Tarkine.

Protesters in the Tarkine by the Bob Brown Foundation, 10 February 2020. Picture: SUPPLIED

A spokesman for the State Government said the protest was in an area within the Permanent Timber Production Zone set aside by both Houses of Parliament.

The spokesman said STT had already decided to cease harvesting in this coupe and were trying to safely exit and rehabilitate the area, which has now been delayed by a “publicity stunt.”

“STT has advised that this summer’s harvesting did not cease because of the protesters, all it has done is delay rehabilitation work and create a safety issue for workers,” the spokesman said.

Bob Brown Foundation organiser Lisa Searle said 60 people had participated in protests at the site today.

“Our occupation of these forests has successfully forced the loggers to abandon further destruction of these remarkable ancient forests and we will stay in these ancient forests until the last machine is out,” Dr Searle said.

“Sus Timbers Tasmania has logged fewer than five hectares of a 28 hectare coupe and ancient rainforests and tall eucalyptus forests remain intact and in need of urgent secure protection.”

Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff said the area was one of outstanding natural beauty and should be spared as part of the fight against climate change.

“Australians understand that we have to take a completely different approach to forest management, to fire emergency management and particularly to reducing carbon emissions. We can’t continue as we’ve been doing,” Dr Woodruff said.

“What we’re doing here in Tasmania in the Tarkine is doing business as usual. It is damaging, it is corrupted, and fundamentally, it keeps carbon emissions rising and it takes away habitat for animals.”

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Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson rejected the call and said the government stood behind the forestry industry.

“There’s just a PR war with misinformation coming from the Bob Brown Foundation.

“This is selective harvesting of special species in an area that even in the Green-Labor Tasmanian forestry agreement was okay, but now it’s not okay.

“We support the forest industry, and it’s very sad that the Bob Brown Foundation continue to provide misinformation. It shows that they’re desperate for relevance at the moment.”

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