BY PAUL PRITCHARD
HOBART — Deep in the forest, from the vantage point of a rickety bridge, spanning a lazy river black with tannin, some of the vegetation is as it would have appeared 60 million years ago.
Myrtle, sassafras, celery-top pine, prehistoric manferns and pandani all brush branches with eucalyptus trees, which in places reach heights of more than 90 metres and have circumferences of 19 metres — the tallest hardwoods on earth.
But then the paradise rapidly gives way to a scene of black devastation, where for miles and miles little grows amid charred stumps and bulldozed piles of smouldering timber.
It is here that the prehistoric Tasmanian forests have been unceremoniously plundered to feed the global market for woodchips. Old growth forests like these will take thousands of years to regenerate.
The process is brutal. When the trees have been cleared away, helicopters come in to drop napalm to burn away the remaining stumps and vegetation so that quick-grow species of pine and eucalypt can be planted. Both of these have disastrous effects on native wildlife, of which Tasmania has the most diverse range in Australia.
But while the will exists in this antipodean island to end the destruction, some of it being carried out by the state-owned company Forestry Tasmania, the way is blocked by the country's dire economic situation. Unemployment in Tasmania is running at 12%, with a rapidly declining population.
In an attempt to redress this, the Tasmanian state government has pumped huge amounts of money into the timber industry, specifically the clear-felling of old growth forests. An area the size of 30 football ovals is cleared every day.
In 1990, the forestry industry boasted almost 10,000 jobs; today that has shrunk by half. On an island with a population of less than half a million, any loss of jobs is significant.
During the past five years, despite $75 million having been poured into the industry, more than 400 jobs have been shed.
Forestry Tasmania's managing director, Evan Rolley, does not dispute that it would be desirable to stop the logging. But he said: "A sudden end to old-growth forestry would have a devastating impact on the Tasmanian economy."
Critics, including the Greens, claim jobs are only a tiny part of the equation — and many Tasmanians agree. An astonishing one fifth of the voters backed the Greens in the 2002 state elections.
There has been a growing protest against the logging, with several lobby groups coming together. There are Doctors for Forests, Veterinarians for Forests, Lawyers for Forests, Beekeepers for Forests, Aborigines for Forests and even Timber Workers for Forests — proving that the protests are not just headed by "feral greenies", as some of the industry's supporters like to think.
Last year Artists For Forests expressed concern at the appointment of Forestry Tasmania as the major sponsor of "Ten Days on the Island", the showcase of creative Tasmania. A boycott was backed by novelists Tim Winton, Joan London, Booker prizewinner Peter Carey and Richard Flanagan, author of the acclaimed novel Gould's Book of Fish.
"I felt they were trying to use the artistic achievements of Tasmanians to veil the terrible shame of what they are doing and I didn't want to be party to it", said Flanagan.
Toxic chemical use by Forestry Tasmania has tripled since 1999. After the napalm, 1080 is laid to control the possums and wallabies that eat the young trees. Many pets die after eating an infected possum or wallaby.
Flanagan says "somebody's child will get poisoned and that will be the line in the sand. People will go berserk".
Forestry Tasmania's Evan Rolley claims the company leads the way in exploring alternatives to 1080 use and that there is "no evidence of population harm".
Doctors for Forests spokesperson Dr Geoff Couser said none of the lobby groups was against a timber industry. "While most other state governments are encouraging their forest industries to use plantation timber, Tasmania alone permits its industry to rely almost entirely on logging native forest."
Tasmania has made its forestry department exempt from the Environmental Protection Act, the Threatened Species Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
Gunns, a private company, accounts for over three-quarters of the forestry operations in the state and is the largest regional woodchip exporter in the world. Its shares have skyrocketed and last year it made a $50 million profit. Tasmania now exports more woodchips than any other country in the world except for the US.
The Tasmanian government is feeling the pressure. In a poll last year a board representing the community was 70% in favour of ending old-growth clear-felling by January 1, 2003.
Shingler and founder of Timber Workers for Forests, Graham Green, thinks selective logging is the best way to maintain the health of the forest, to ensure that there is always going to be a diversity of wood coming from it.
Forestry Tasmania has not been without its share of intrigue. A bribery scandal rocked the state in 1989, when Edmund Rouse, who was on the board of Gunns, served an 18-month jail term for attempting to bribe a Labor politician to cross the floor. Last October, a local council voted to prosecute Gunns for illegal logging.
"People have finally woken up to the fact that this island is precious and unique and they don't have to sell it off for a mess of pottage", Flanagan said.
[A version of this article first appeared in the April 6 British Observer.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, April 23, 2003.
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