SX028C is an area of intact high conservation value forest that is on the current logging schedule to be logged this year. An area featuring the iconic giant trees of Tasmania’s Styx Valley. These tall eucalypt trees are hundreds of years old and provide critically important habitat hollows that are a unique feature of old forests.

This forest is dominated by Eucalyptus regnans. This species is the tree that the Styx Valley is perhaps the most well-renowned for. These giants are the tallest flowering plant in the world. They are also documented as having the highest biomass carbon stocks (Mackey 2008:28). Protecting forests as significant carbon stores is increasingly critical to mitigate climate change. Old forests such as this one have been shown to have a larger carbon store than industrialised forests, which hold around 40-60% less carbon (Mackey 2008: 6). This is because significant volumes of carbon have been emitted to the atmosphere as a result of logging operations and that the carbon density is never regained on the ground unless the original forest is completely restored.

The understorey features mature wet rainforest, including myrtle, celery-top pine and a diverse array of ferns. The forest floor is abundant with moss, lichen and fungi. This area of forest is within the 572,000 hectares of forests that has been proposed by environment groups and is the subject of ongoing negotiations.

We are calling for an immediate cessation of logging in this area and the formal protection of these iconic old growth forests of the Styx Valley. Please CLICK HERE to take action for the forests.

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:

Mackey B. et al. (2008) Green carbon : the role of natural forests in carbon storage. ANU E Press