Tasmanian Forests We Must Protect

Summary: The Wilderness Society’s Proposed Reserves to Protect Threatened Forests on Public Land in Tasmania, 25 June 2002

The Wilderness Society's Proposed Reserves to Protect Threatened Forests on Public Land
One of the world's great tracts of temperate wilderness. The tallest hardwood forests on Earth. Australia's largest tract of temperate rainforest. Wild rivers. Spectacular forested mountainsides. Waterfalls. Domestic water catchments. Biodiversity. Rare or endangered plant species. Tourist attractions. Walking Tracks. Lookouts.
 

Extensions to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

• Giant eucalypts, ancient rainforests, dolomite and limestone caves, ancient Aboriginal rock shelters, wild rivers flanked by spectacular mountains, walking tracks, rare and endangered species. Part of one of the world's greatest temperate wilderness areas.
• Proposed extensions include the unlogged parts of the valleys of the Picton, Huon, Weld, upper Esperance, upper and South Styx, upper Tyenna, upper Florentine, Broad, Counsel, upper Derwent and Navarre Valleys, as well as the unlogged slopes of the Snowy Range, Mt Wedge, Mt Field and Wylds Craig.
• These proposed extensions have been proposed or supported by Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick (1987, 1994 and 1999); the Tasmanian Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage (1990); the Australian Heritage Commission (1987); Peter Hitchcock (1988 and 1991); the IUCN (1989, 1990 and 1994); and the World Heritage Bureau (1989 and 1994). National and international experts have warned that the logging of these areas will adversely affect the integrity of the existing World Heritage Area as well as destroy forests with World Heritage values in their own right.
• The logging industry and Forestry Tasmania claim that 95% of Tasmania's wilderness is protected. That figure is wrong. 30% of our wilderness forests remain threatened by logging. Many areas of unforested wilderness remain threatened by mining.

The Styx Valley of the Giants National Park.

• The world's tallest hardwood trees, waterfalls, dolomite caves, rainforests, wild river, wilderness, rare and endangered species.
• The Valley of the Giants National Park was proposed by the Wilderness Society in February. It has received support from local and statewide tourism operators and received major national coverage, including on 60 Minutes, the Good Weekend magazine, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and Aussie Post. Consultant Bob Graham reported in February 2001 that the Styx could attract up to 100,000 tourists per annum, create over 150 new jobs and generate millions of dollars for the local economy.

The Tarkine

• Australia's greatest temperate rainforest, tall-eucalypt forests, wild rivers, magnesite karst systems, wilderness, rare and endangered species.
• The Tarkine has been listed on the Register of the National Estate. It contains Australia's largest single tract of temperate rainforest. Possible World Heritage values have been identified in the area by the Regional Forest Agreement's Panel of Experts on World Heritage (1996). The Wilderness Society identified numerous World Heritage values in the Tarkine in its proposal for a Tarkine World Heritage Area in 1992.

The North-East Highlands

• Tall-eucalypt old growth forests, rainforests, waterfalls, deep valleys, high mountains, walking tracks, rare and endangered species, domestic water catchments.
• Local groups and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust proposed this consolidation of the existing Mt Victoria, South Esk and Blue Tier Forest Reserves in 1996. The proposal put forward by the Wilderness Society also includes unlogged forests on the Rattler Range, Mt Maurice, Mt Barrow and Mt Arthur.

The Great Western Tiers (Kooparoona Niara)

• Tall-eucalypt forest, rainforested gullies, waterfalls, walking tracks, rare and endangered species, domestic water catchments.
• A Great Western Tiers National Park was proposed by local groups in 1989 and enlarged in the mid-1990s. Extension of the adjacent World Heritage Area to incorporate parts of the Great Western Tiers was proposed by the Tasmanian Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage in 1990.
• National expert bodies which support extending the World Heritage Area to include parts of the Tiers have included the Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage (1990).

Extensions to the Ben Lomond National Park.

• Spectacular scenery, rare and endangered species, old growth forests, rainforested gullies, wilderness, walking tracks, domestic water catchments.
• In July 2001, the Wilderness Society proposed that the Ben Lomond National Park (which currently consists largely of the treeless alpine plateau and rock screes) be extended to include the largely unlogged forested slopes of the mountain. These slopes contain eight rare or endangered species and are an important scenic, recreational, tourist and water-catchment resource for the north-east.

Eastern Tiers

• Dry-sclerophyll forests, rare or endangered species, waterfalls.
• In 1996, the Tasmanian Conservation Trust proposed a series of reserves from the Avenue River in the north and the Wielangta forest in the south to protect unlogged stands of native forest in the Eastern Tiers. This is a crucial proposal from the point of view of protecting biodiversity in dry-sclerophyll forests.

Tasman Peninsula

• Tall-eucalypt forest, rainforested gullies, spectacular coastal scenery, walking tracks, domestic water catchments.
• The recently declared Tasman National Park consolidated a number of existing reserves under the one name - but few additional forests were protected. Forests still threatened include Mt Koonya, Mt Clark and those in the vicinity of Fortescue Bay and Tatnells Hill.

Reedy Marsh

• Dry sclerophyll forest, rare or endangered species, domestic water catchments.
• The Reedy Marsh Forest Conservation Group has long been battling to protect local native forests from logging for nearly 10 years and has proposed a reserve to cover remaining important forests at Reedy Marsh.

Important note: not all of the areas above consist of forests regarded as old growth by Forestry Tasmania. Some wilderness areas have had a natural bushfire in the last 100 years; some areas on the fringe have had some selective logging. However, they are all areas of very high conservation-value. "Save old growth" is short-hand for reserving these areas and other forests of high conservation-value from logging. Forests outside these proposed reserves should also be protected from clearfelling or woodchipping.