The logging industry’s mantra of clearfell logging and destroying native forest is wearing very thin. Quoting percentages of what is logged versus what is protected is a furphy - in the entire history of logging in Australia, not one 300 year-old tree has been replaced, and they are still being cut down in Tasmania and Victoria.
It is time for all old-growth logging to stop and the magnificent forests such as the Styx, the Tarkine and East Gippsland to be spared. In the long term, there is much more money to made from forest-related ecotourism such as the immensely popular and profitable Treetop Walk in South Western Australia.
This is also local issue for Melbourne, as devastation from clearfell logging in the Thompson River catchment on the flanks of Mt Baw Baw and other catchments is affecting both the quality and quantity of the water collected.
The shift to sustainable plantation resources is now well overdue.