BB021C before logging operations began in 2006. View from Glovers Bluff

Logging coupe BB021C, located in the lower Weld Valley, Is an area of forest that was left out of the conservation agreement and which was first logged in 2007. This logging operation was the first incursion into the wild Eddy Creek catchment, and commenced after the removal of the Weld Ark community blockade, which was stopping logging activity in the area and featured a full-sized replica pirate ship built on the road.

Weld Ark community blockade halting logging in the Lower Weld Valley in 2006

Logging continued in the coupe during 2011, and BB021C remains unprotected by the conservation agreement due to further plans to log this spectacular area.

BB021C was a community of mature wet forests – Eucalyptus regnans, tall Eucalyptus obliqua and mature blackwood – which contained suitable habitat for threatened species such as the white bellied sea eagle, wedge tailed eagle, grey goshawk, masked owl, eastern quoll, Australian grayling and eastern barred bandicoot (1).

The nearby Barnback Creek is a known location for the Little Denison crayfish, a threatened species that is endemic to this region (2).

The forested region of Barnback and Eddy Creek catchments contain Acacia melanoxylon forest on flats, and areas of Acacia melanoxylon swamp communities. These swamp communities are a nationally uncommon plant community— essentially confined to Tasmania— and now a rare aspect of Australian vegetation (3).

Please take action HERE to protect the spectacular forests of the Lower Weld Valley and other threatened forests across Tasmania.

For more information about the ‘A forest a day’ project, which is a collaboration between Huon Valley Environment Centre, Still Wild Still Threatened, The Last Stand, Markets for Change and Code Green, please click HERE.

References …

(1) Forestry Tasmania, Forests Practices Plan, 12 Nov 2006.

(2) Forestry Tasmania, http://www.forestrytas.com.au/uploads/File/pdf/foi2008/FOI08-3.pdf

(3) Hitchcock (2012), IVG Report 5A: Verification of the Heritage Value of ENGO proposed Reserves, p. 245  [View online]