Wood centre

Arnold Rowlands, Burnie, The Mercury (letter) 25/1/2002

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The proposed $26m wood centre for Smithton (The Mercury, January 21) looks to be a good idea on the surface. It includes "downstream processing" in the form of a rotary peeler veneer mill followed by laminated veneer timber board production.

However, according to a brochure put out by Forestry Tasmania, the future and major stages of the development will include a wood-fibre mill and a wood-fired power station.

The brochure is a masterpiece of euphemism, by using terms such as the "wood-fibre mill". In other words, a woodchip mill.

The source of the logs for both the  woodchip  mill  and  the woodchip-fired power station will inevitably come from the nearby Tarkine rainforest - Australia's largest rainforest and already recognised as having World Heritage values.

This rainforest has no protection and is open to access for clearfelling and logging, followed probably by replacement with industrial tree plantations.

Tasmania, as a tourist state, is heavily dependent on the tourist dollar. In fact, the tourist industry brings in far more revenue and creates far more jobs for the state than the forest industry. Already tourists visiting Tasmania are commenting adversely about see; ing landscapes of industrial tree plantations and clear-felled areas. Can we afford to go further down this road?


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