Grassroots environment groups Huon Valley Environment Centre and Still Wild Still Threatened will closely scrutinise the forests agreement pending assessment of the detail. Our organisations have today stated, “Grassroots groups are not bound to the agreement and we will not be silenced in our forest advocacy work. We will continue to stand up for secure protection of Tasmania’s unique forests and to address the forest conservation issues that have not been resolved by the agreement”

“I have been at the top of this tree for almost a year now, waiting the protection of these world class forests. It is still uncertain what this agreement will mean for the future of Tasmania’s forests, and I will wait to see and assess the agreement before making any decision regarding coming down out of the Observer Tree,” said Miranda Gibson, spokesperson for Still Wild Still Threatened.

“We have not seen the agreement yet, and will comment once we have made an assessment. There is detail that needs to be scrutinised, including whether logging will continue in proposed reserves, restructure of Forestry Tasmania, and the future for Ta Ann.We will be looking to address issues of a transition of the industry out of native forests and change logging practices away from clearfelling, cable-logging and woodchipping” Jenny Weber, spokesperson for the Huon Valley Environment Centre said.

“As we know from the previous Interim Agreement, there are a lot of issues that will impact conservation outcomes. This means looking not only at hectares to be reserved, but also the structure of the industry into the future and policy implications such as the biodiversity upgrade recommendations to the forest practices code,” said Ms Gibson.

“Our groups will hold a press conference in the near future to provide comment on our perspective on the agreement and the implications it has for the forests” said Ms Weber.