Three charged following logging protest
Three people have been charged for trespassing on Sustainable Timber Tasmania land in West Coast Tasmania this morning.
A 44-year-old woman from Tinderbox, a 20-year-old woman from NSW and a 22-year-old woman from Victoria were charged with trespass and obstruct a police officer.
They were bailed and are due to appear in the Hobart Magistrates Court on 10 March 2020.
"We are grateful to the brave defenders who have stood on the front line today, and to all our supporters of the campaign, because of them, no tree will fall unfought," said takayna/Tarkine Campaigner Scott Jordan.
Britton Timbers Managing Director Shawn Britton says the area is a tailored specialty timber logging operation targeting only 60 trees. The timber will be used in a high-profile Hobart development.
"The Bob Brown Foundation have acted to prevent a small selective harvest operation of Tasmania’s Special Timbers at Que River in Tasmania’s north west, under the guise of action for climate, but their actions actually contradict the advice of the world’s leading scientific experts on climate change."
Mr Britton says the small selective harvest that the Bob Brown Foundation has been trying to prevent is in an area that has previously been selectively harvested, around 70 years ago. It is an area agreed with conservation groups under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement to be harvested again to produce small quantities of Tasmania’s iconic special timbers. The selective operation has been carefully planned to harvest approximately 60 trees from a 54-hectare coupe that contains an estimated 25,000 trees to produce high value decorative veneer panels for a new high-profile Hobart-based development.
He says using wood products instead of alternative, more carbon intensive materials, is widely regarded as one of the most positive steps we can take in the fight against climate change.
“Every tree harvested in Tasmania’s native forests is regenerated and the sector is actively working to increase forest carbon stocks through increasing the plantation estate,” he said.
