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Protesters say they are at a loss to explain why the state government chose the early hours of the morning to try and end the protest.
"They went in about six this morning. A fortress has been built there with a lot of equipment for people to defend the area, it's being removed for machinery to enter the area," Victorian campaigner for the Wilderness Society Gavan McFadzean said. "This is the most important old-growth forest outside the existing protected areas," he said.
The DNRE said this morning's action came after repeated requests to environmental activists to vacate the site had been ignored.
Goolengook Road is part of the forest access network used by the fire management division and forest contractors to fight forest fires in the state forests and adjacent National Parks.
Forestry Victoria's general manager Peter Rutherford said activists had prevented access to Goolengook by dismantling the bridge. "Throughout the past two years the activists have dug trenches and pits in the road, and erected structures on the road endangering public safety and preventing access for the public and NRE staff. "The activists have been continually asked to vacate the site, but have refused. NRE requires the sawlogs in this area to fulfill contracts with local sawmills," he said.
Mr Rutherford said the bridge would be replaced and harvesting would commence as soon as possible, perhaps in one week. "The replacement of the bridge will cost in the vicinity of $40,000, with that money coming out of the same budget we would use for regeneration and fire safety", he said.
The five-year blockade has also raised fire concerns because access to the area has been limited, Mr Rutherford said. He said the road and bridge repairs would re-establish fire access.
Protesters rally to the call
Anti-logging campaigners claim to have mustered support from interstate
to try and halt logging in the area.
"Hundreds of people are on the way from Melbourne, New South Wales and Canberra. We've put out red alerts and been on the phone all morning. A lot of people have been involved over the last five years," said Shelly Nundra from the Goongerah Environment Centre.
Ms Nundra said the site was a nationally significant rainforest and government scientists had recommended the area never be logged. "The Government is showing shameful contempt for scientific recommendations," she said.
Ms Nundra said there was no way logging could start immediately. "The road has been damaged by floods and the bridge was burnt by their own napalm fly-over," she said.
Ms Nundra said the government was removing protesters and allowing logging to go ahead to gain points with "industry bullies".
Hundreds of protesters, including Greens senator Bob Brown, have been
arrested at the site since protests began in 1997, Mr MacFadzean said.
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