Tassie Bound Adventure Tours left in dark over forestry plan to cut off their access to Styx Valley

A Tassie tourism operator already struggling due to COVID-19 restrictions, has now been left in the dark over forestry’s plan to cut off access to key assets in the Styx Valley.

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THE cool temperate rainforest beyond Maydena is usually a place of peace for Fiona Weaver, but the outdoor adventure guide said she panicked on the day of this photograph at Growling Swallet.

Her swift mood change on August 1 followed Ms Weaver learning from the Bob Brown Foundation that Sustainable Timber Tasmania planned to block visitor access to Styx Valley areas on which her business relies.

“Sustainable Timber Tasmania, supported by this government, continues to work in opposition to regional tourism, operating without consultation with local operators and locking operators out of vital tourism assets,” Ms Weaver said.

Local tourism operator Fiona Weaver was up at Growling Swallet when she heard Sustainable Timber Sustainable planned to close Styx Rd for weeks, blocking visitor access and a vital source of income for Tassie Bound Adventure Tours and others. Picture: PERSIA SHAKARI

Since the 2019 bushfires wiped out many walking tracks, Fiona and husband Liam Weaver have relied on the Styx Big Tree Reserve and Mt Mueller mountain range for their Tassie Bound Adventure Tours.

Their only access is via Styx Rd.

Hearing Sustainable Timber Tasmania planned an imminent five-week closure of the road without consultation was “a kick in the guts” in an already difficult season.

She estimated Tassie Bound Adventure Tours had already suffering a 70 per cent downturn since COVID-19 restrictions began.

Fiona Weaver of Tassie Bound at Styx River earlier this year. Picture: AMANDA DUCKER.

Ms Weaver, who leads lobbying from local tourism to stop Styx Rd closures for forestry activity without consultation, attended a Styx Valley open day on August 15 to voice her opposition to some SST practices.

“I don’t understand how we have to adhere to strict environmental protocols in putting kayaks on a lake when they can bomb hectares of our native forest without any consultation with anybody,” she said.

Fiona Weaver pictured on August 1 in the massive hollow of a burnt tree trunk at a roadside Styx Valley clearfell on the Maydena side of Coupe TN 034G. Picture: Persia Shakari

Ms Weaver said she received no meaningful communication from SST over road closures until an inconclusive stakeholders meeting held at Derwent Valley Council chambers on Wednesday.

AT LOGGERHEADS: Protest flares over native-forest logging in Styx Valley.
Special report by Amanda Ducker in TasWeekend magazine in your Saturday Mercury.