They would have you believe that old-growth forest is rare and endangered. In fact nearly a quarter of Tasmania's land area is covered in old-growth forest. The State Government has now protected 86 per cent of it.
The Styx river area, the latest target of anti-forestry groups, is a small catchment that divides roughly into one-third protected forest, one-third managed forest for harvesting, and one-third farmland. The Greens want to rip up this agreed division and end timber production.
These groups endlessly denounce clear-felling, which is the preferred harvesting method in this area because it is much safer for workers and allows new forests to be regenerated.
The final big lie is that the older trees are harvested just for woodchips.
These trees are used to obtain the high-quality fine timbers that only
come from fully mature trees. Woodchips are made from the residue material
that would otherwise be wasted and become fuel for the next bushfire.