Necessity of Protection in the Tasmanian Rainforests

Necessity of Protection in the Tasmanian Rainforests Correspondent: At the end of the ice age Tasmania was separated from the Australian mainland when the European settlers arrived in 1803 we immediately came into conflict with an aboriginal people who had developed a culture distinct from their mainland ancestors. The colonizers could not coexist with the hunter gatherers. Those who were not killed in what came to be called the black war died from despair and disease. While before the end of the 19th Century all the pure blood aborigines had perished. This haunting voice is a gramophone recording of the songs of the vanished people. The settlers from Britain set about creating a home from home. Livestock and mining were the mainstays of the colonial economy. Frontiersman helped out the most valuable hard groups. These activities continue as a mainstay of the economy and with it the attitude of the bushes near to be exploited. Year round contractors deliver timber to mills to be turned into wood chip to be made into paper in Asia. Peg Putt (Greens Member State Parliament): There’s a very, very strong thing here in our culture about the ethics of so going out in timing with the rugged land and exploiting it and it really gets summed up in dig it up or chop it down and ship it out that’s how real people make real money and everything else is you know a bit suspect Correspondent: But change is happening. The starting point was 20 yeas ago. It came with the success of the campaigns to stop the damming river in the Western part of the island that’s when an extraordinary Tasmanian wilderness in wildlife came to international notice. The Tasmanian Devil that went extinct in a long time ago in the Australian mainland flies here. The – is found nowhere else and can’t survive industrial logging. The – is easy prey to foxes on the mainland but is still common in Tasmania the eastern – the closest marsupial equivalent to a cat but now extinct on the mainland. Or even those who believe the Tasmanian Tiger clings on in the wilderness. Max Jeffries: Now I think there’s quite a few genuine – big day sway as he saw one in they went on and it was guarded and day are in danger and he was so sure of that that he even went down to the museum and make sure that what he saw was a tiger. Correspondent: Dr. Bob Brown reluctantly says it is certain the tiger is extinct. 20 years ago he was a medical doctor but now after the Franklin River protest he gave up his stethoscope to be a full time campaigner. He’s now a green party senator and easily Australia’s most famous environmental advocate and constant thorn in the side of the timber industry. Senator Bob Brown: In the 90s the pair or the corporations on the politicians has reversed floor in terms of making it difficult to protest laws the forest stand here in the land the chainsaws when they come are liable to 6 months in jail. Peg Putt (Greens Member State Parliament): I have the walnuts undone on my cars and on going harassment and most grains will be able to tell you similar stories. Correspondent: To the foresters this is a motive green—the island export more woodchips than the rest of Australia. The distinct forestry agency says it follows a sustainable policy. Hans Drielsma (General Manager, Forestry Tasmania): Well as both an ecological context and of course a production context in the first place it’s ecological sustainable because of the systems we’ve got and then we also measure the growth rate of the forest to make sure that we’re already taking as much as is growing each year. Senator Bob Brown: Where you say the word environmentally sustainable applied to logging in Tasmania you are seeing a lie, it’s a straight out lie. It just doesn’t happen. It is the destruction of ecosystems which never ever return. What might be economic is its sustainable for the money makers and what is ecologically sustainable which are two different things. The fire burning and poisoning and total destruction in the forest can never be defined as ecologically sustainable. Correspondent: The debate rages and little quarter is given by either side. In comparison with Tod Dudley Senator Brown is a moderate. Tod Dudley says he’s a full time environmental volunteer. He’s now the champion of the giant velvet worm. The worm is incredibly rare and our transferry mosquito infested forests he managed to find one. Todd Dudley: The giant velvet worm under the back here this is really. This – is one o the identified hot spot areas for velvet worm it’s really good habitat because there’s lots of logs and – on the ground and its nice and I like it to be raisingly damp to. Correspondent: It’s not a worm actually nor is it an insect. Its kind of in between the fossil record shows its going to change for hundreds of millions of years. You’re looking at one of the first creatures to colonize the land. Today its last refuge is tiny patches of damp forest in Northern Tasmania Where to Todd Dudley it’s multimillion year tenure were being periled a farmer in to make a tidy sum by selling this 30 hectare forest for wood chip Todd found out about it and launched an objection into the threatened species legislation. A tribunal ruled in favor of the worm. The invertebrates forest refuge was saved. Todd: Here my main action is just that I think the we should respect life that’s evolved that means years. Correspondent: But Tasmania has its own way of doing things straight out of the velvet worm decision the law was changed to prevent any similar legal action to protect wildlife. It’s now up to the foresters to decide which bits of biodiversity to safeguard. Hans Drielsma (General Manager, Forestry Tasmania): And clearly it’s important that we don’t impact on threatened species in any way. We put a lot of effort both as an organization and as a society in terms of their the research that’s done you know both animal organization and more generally in Tasmania. Correspondent: The State government seems to have complete faith in his corporation forestry Tasmania to for sound forestry management. For example loggers must leave trees untouched or ripped with over 20 meters along side important streams. Hans Drielsma: This is what we call a class 2 stream a higher order stream and we insure that you know management the environs of this streams are protected so we have what we call filter strips or sometimes the wildlife habitat strip and in this case it will be a minimum of at least 30 meters wide on each side of the stream to both protect the quality of the water. Correspondent: Last year there was only one prosecution for breaking the regulations but on our journey’s through logged areas it is not difficult to find places where the code has been completely floated and this one is especially important because it’s the habitat of another unique species that borrow in crayfish. It’s found early in pockets of damp forest at the foot of a mountain in the northern part of the island. Male: What we’ve got here is a water cross that’s been interrupted by these heavy machinery running through it the major problem I suppose is the fact that it has been a heavy machinery heavy machinery in the creek that the landing is too close to the creek.