T h e O b s e r v e r T r e e

Day 8 – It’s been just over a week now that I’ve been sitting here in this tree in an area we have come to call “Julia’s Forest.” The most incredible part of the experience has been the messages and phone calls that have been bursting with inspiration, enthusiasm and passion. This has been so uplifting, especially those messages from people who have worked tirelessly for so long to protect the forest, many of whom have become weary and disheartened by the roller coaster ride of fresh hopes followed by broken promises.

It all started getting close to two years ago now. The forest industry was in crisis. The international market was becoming less tolerant of paper and wood products coming from Tasmania’s old growth. This was one factor in a range of forces that lead to the industry coming to the table to be a part of the “forest peace talks” as they were to become known as.

Industry bodies, union reps and greenies were sitting down together talking. As strange as it seemed, it made sense. Because really we have more in common than maybe we realise. What environmentalists want is what most people want, after all, right? A future. A future with clean air and clean water and a climate that we can survive in. And what forest industry workers want is a future too.  I can’t claim to know what other people really want, but I imagine that it’s something along the lines of a future where there is work for themselves and for the next generation. These things don’t have to be incompatible. And it seemed like a whole new realisation was being made along those lines. Everybody’s future depended on a change in the industry, shifting out of native forest destruction.

Then the announcement came that Gunns Ltd, the biggest woodchipper in Tassie, was exiting from native forest logging. Tasmania’s forests were still being decimated at the same rate as ever, but now the end seemed in sight. So we waited.

Finally, October 2010: The Statement of Principles was announced, which included a moratorium on 572,000 hectares. Within 90 days logging would cease in that area for the duration of the verification process, which would lead to formal protection. Time to celebrate!  I imagined the day when we would soon be packing up Camp Floz- no longer needing to blockade to defend the Upper Florentine Valley. Every one was talking about the good news!!

Yet, something wasn’t quite right. The machines were still in the forest. And not only were they not moving from areas they were in – they were starting new ones, and to top it all off, they were building more roads! New logging roads being built into areas that weren’t going to be logged? No, something just didn’t seem to add up.

… Did we say 90 days? Um, no what we meant was, really, 90 days from when the government announces their support for the Statement of Principles, not 90 days from the signing of it……

Ok, so good to clear that up. Now we just had to wait for the pollies to get their act together.

Dec 14th 2010: Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett announces their support for the Statement of Principles, in full, including the Moratorium to be implemented within 90 days.  This gave Forestry Tasmania plenty of time to get organised and reschedule out of logging coupes, shifting workers located to other sites. But Forestry Tasmania just didn’t seem to be moving – there was no progress being made. The deadline for the moratorium, March 15th, loomed ever closer. Was FT going to suddenly be able to reschedule all those coupes at the last minute? Why weren’t they moving any contractors out by now? All these questions began to arise and no one could give a straight answer.

Still Wild Still Threatened worked on documenting the coupes within the 572,000 in our local area (the Derwent region). We assessed which coupes were being logged and also surveyed those areas that were left for their conservation value. I spend a lot of time in amazing areas of old growth that we have left, see, these are the places I spend most of my time. And so, in a way, I guess I’d almost come to take it for granted. This documentation process really brought it home to me how rare and precious those areas are how quickly they are disappearing.

Most places we surveyed were being logged.

March 15th 2011:  The day came and went… The bulldozers and chainsaws ceaselessly continued. Hectares upon hectares of forest that was meant to be protected was felled.

But the act of bad faith on the part of Forestry Tasmania and the State and Federal government did not go unnoticed. March 15th was the beginning of 10 days of action held by the Huon Valley Environment Center and Still Wild Still Threatened.  In addition to actions in the forest, every  day for 10 days community members stood outside the office of Lara Giddings and maintained a vigil.  The 10 days rolled on into 10 weeks. We jokingly suggested announcing a “10 years of action” – but hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. The sinking feeling in our hearts reminding us that the forest doesn’t actually have 10 years left to wait.

August 2011: This is where Julia’s promise comes in. After a process facilitated by government appointed Bill Kelty, which brought together the interests of all negotiating parties, an agreement was signed. This was called the Tasmanian Forest Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA). As those who are following this blog would know by now, this was full of promise for the forest. Even stronger than a moratorium- this time there was promise of an immediate conservation agreement would be placed on the area ear-marked for protection. By this time the area had been reduced by over 140,000 hectares, though those areas not covered by the conservation agreement could still have a chance of formal protection through the verification process, if there was anything left of them by then. Still Wild Still Threatened and the Huon Valley Environment Center had serious concerns about this reduction to 430,000 hectares. In fact we took our message straight to Parliament House in Canberra, making it clear to the Prime Minister that our forests needed a better deal.

A common questions asked by the media these days is something along the lines of – but shouldn’t you be willing to compromise? But you see, if they could only see the areas of forest and the areas of clearfell that I have seen then perhaps this concept of ‘compromise’ would take on a different meaning. It is those of us who spend our time traipsing about in the forest on a day to day basis who know what it really means for even a hectare to  be taken off the agenda, let alone 140,000.  And now, for logging to continue and we are losing more and more from the 430,00 hectares as we speak. When you live in these forests you begin to realise what it really means for that big old tree over there with the hollows in it to be felled and burnt. What it means for that Tasmanian Devil, the one with the little spot on the left side of it’s bottom, that visits the same spot every few days… you  begin to realise what it really means here in the forest to compromise. And quiet frankly, the forest cannot afford anymore compromises. It has been doing so for decades. The industry has made no compromises, however… it seems they are able to continue with business as usual. in fact, they’re doing even better than business as usual. You could say they got to have their cake and eat it to. For example, Forestry was given millions of dollars of tax payers money to reschedule coupes, then they still get to log those coupes. It doesn’t take a mathematician to tally up the checks and balances and see that the it is the forest that has done all the compromising. Especially when you take into account the fact that despite this whole process, not one single hectare has been protected.

So, that just about takes us up to the present. Four months passed since Julia made that announcement . And even though there were some flaws in the agreement, the least she could have done, really, is actually implement it!

I couldn’t help it…. once again i got my hopes up that this was it – a conservation agreement would be announced and we could step back and take a breath. I thought of all the areas of forest that I love so much…. the Styx, Counsel, Tyenna, Upper Florentine… Soon they would be safely guarded by a conservation agreement and waiting for the day when they would be formally declared national parks and world heritage areas.

Today, not one hectare is protected and logging is due to continue in over 30 coupes, including this one. You can see why it has been a tough year.

And so that brings me to where I started this blog…. I wanted to write this message to all of you out there who care about this forest, especially those of you weighed down by broken promises.. don’t give up. We cannot afford to. These forests are too precious, too unique, too irreplaceable, to give up now. I know it’s hard to hold onto a sense of hope after so many let downs, but I think that there is still reason to be hopefully. I think something is beginning…. I can sense it in the emails and messages I have received this past week. A new spark seems to be emerging and now is the time, more than ever to give it the best we’ve got.  Julia Gillard, Ta Ann, Forestry Tasmania, and all those responsible for the decimation of our precious natural heritage….they will know soon enough that we will not tolerate it. And that change needs to come now, before our forests are lost forever.

Till tomorrow, Miranda.

P.S:  For anyone wondering what you can do to help. Here a few small suggestions. Feel free to add more ideas in your comments….
– Post and share our introduction video like crazy on face book, email and on any other websites you can.  The more people watch it the more we can get the message out there. As well as showing to the government that we have the support and interest of a large amount of people. We have reached over 1000 views now. Lets get even more – next lets aim for 10,000!
– “Like” the Facebook page and get your friends to do  so too. This also helps us show that we have a large amount of people supporting this campaign.
– Host a community forum or a get together with people to live-chat with me. I am happy to talk to people about what is going on here, answer questions and have a chat.
– Put up posters around your town, hand out flyers, hold a stall. Go to the Take Action page of our website for downloadable copies.
– Write an article and get it out there – in a newsletter, local paper, magazine – any where you can.
– Write to the Prime Minister.
– Donate to help us keep this project running – you will find a link on the Take Action page.
– Do an action in your city to highlight what is going on.
– Contact companies that are purchasing products from our native forests

Day 6 – Following on from yesterdays blog – today a report was released that makes it quiet clear that Ta Ann are one of the driving forces behind the on-going destruction of high conservation value forests.

The Report of Independent Expert Schedulers: appointed under the Tasmanian Forests Inter-Governmental Agreement was released today by Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck. The report was developed as part of the IGA process, Forestry Tasmania claimed that they were unable to reschedule logging operations out of the 430,000 hectares ear-marked for protection. This lead to independent verifiers to asses these claims and produce this report.

The report indicated that Forestry Tasmania did indeed have intentions to log at least 34 coupes in the area that is meant to be under a conservation agreement. The report indicated that contracts, one of the major ones being with Ta Ann, could not be met outside of the proposed reserve area.

This report confirms that Ta Ann are a major blocker to forest protection due to their contract for 265,000 cubic metres of wood a year, which is unable to be met outside of the area allocated for protection. In fact, the report proved that a much larger amount of forest is going to Ta Ann than this, because to produce 265,000 cubic meters of peeler billets they are actually taking 330,000 cubic meters of wood.

It will be interesting to see if Forestry Tasmania attempts to use this report to justify their continued logging in high conservation value areas. Rather then provide a reason to continue forest destruction this report provides evidence that the government must now use to enact Clause 27 of the IGA. This clause in the agreement states that if contracts cannot be meet outside the 430,000 hectares then compensation would be given instead. There is no option in this agreement for logging to continue in those areas, regardless of the contracts. The contractual requirements of Forestry Tasmania will be fulfilled through the compensation process.

It is the failure of Forestry Tasmania to do adequate preparation for rescheduling that has lead to this situation where contracts are not able to be meet elsewhere. They were given the work to a long time ago, yet have not managed to reschedule any significant number of operations. This is interesting considering they were recently given millions of dollars of tax payers money to do this work! In fact millions they received was taken out of the budget that had been allocated to oversee conservation outcomes and manage the new reserves. How ironic that it went instead to FT, who have done nothing but continue to log in areas that are meant to be protected by a conservation agreement by now.

It is interesting too that Senator Colbeck claims the IGA to be a sham. The only thing that is making the IGA a sham right now is the fact that the government has failed to actually implement any of the conservation outcomes that are clearly outline in it.

Senator Colbeck claims that there “will never be peace” due to protest actions by myself and other environment groups. I would say that it is the bulldozers and chainsaws that are ripping apart this valley that are disrupting the peace, wouldn’t you? My presence here is simply documenting and exposing that disruption to the world. It would seem that the real culprit in this situation is Julia Gillard, signing a deal and then not honouring it is certainly one way to destabilise the integrity of the entire IGA process. And so, yes, I would agree with Senator Colbeck on that point – the IGA is in risk of being a complete sham.

All this talk of “peace” in the forests takes on a whole new meaning when you sit here in the middle of a logging coupe and day after day hear the sound of trees falling. There will be no peace in the forests for the Tasmanian devils, spotted tailed quolls or white goshawks… there will be no peace in the forests for these 400 year old trees… there will be no peace in the forest for me here in this tree-sit… so long as the chainsaws continue.

Till tomorrow – take care. Miranda.

Download Schedulers Report

Day 5 – Why would the Prime Minister risk the controversial act of breaking her own promise and allowing logging here? This was a question I was asked yesterday and yes… I was wondering the same thing! Only Julia can know her own motivations, but I have a sneaking suspicion it might have something to do with Ta Ann – a company fast becoming known as “the new Gunns,” due to their position as the driving force behind logging in Tasmania since Gunns Ltd took a step back.

Ta Ann are a Malaysian company based in Sarawak. They started operations here five years ago, with an attractive deal from our government – the offer of wood prices far below the cost of logging in their own country. Executive Chairman Datuk Hamed Sepawi told the media that rates were lower in Tasmania than Malaysia or Indonesia. While the company is by no means poor (being part of a corrupt network of companies under the control of the wealthy Taib family) their operations in Tasmania are propped up by tax payers money. Not only do they get the wood at rock bottom prices they also receive tax payer funded subsidies. Despite this they still managed to record an $18 million loss last year.

The company has a deplorable record internationally. They are responsible for the displacement of Indigenous people in Sarawak to secure access to forests for logging. The company should not be welcomed in Tasmania, let alone supported by tax payers money.

Ta Ann is now a major driver of forest destruction in Tasmania, with their contract of 265,000 cubic metres of wood per year now being used as an excuse for continued logging in high conservation value areas ear-marked for protection. The contract lasts until 2027, though the government has also given an option of a 15 year extension. The company has lobbied Forestry Tasmania (FT) and the government to secure on-going wood supply, undermining the Statement Of Principles and the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA). When the IGA was announced FT managing director Bob Gordon claimed forest protection could not be achieved due to 59 logging coupes on the plan that were “critical to the supply of logs to Ta Ann.”

Ta Ann’s continued pressure on the government for access to native forest is a major block in Tasmania moving forward. These past 2 years during the negotiation process the Tasmanian community has shown determination to see an end to the so-called “forest conflict” that has gone on for generations – by moving out of an unsustainable native forest logging industry. It seems now that the only thing holding us back is a Malaysian company that is hell-bent on destroying the forests at no benefit (financial, social, environmental or otherwise) to the Tasmanian community. That and a government that appears to lack the back bone to stand up to them.

Writing this has felt like “extreme blogging!” I’m sitting here gripping tight as I write. My tarp like a wild animal trying to free itself from the ropes holding it down… the wind plunging it this way and that. The noise deafening. The tree is swaying … the movement intensified by the counteracting sway of near-by trees, so that the whole forest itself seems to be in motion. Although it feels hectic, it also makes me feel like a part of this landscape as it heaves and moves in the wind, taking me along for the ride. It seems impossible to imagine one day the wind might whip up these slopes and touch no trees, stirring only the ash from a burnt out and lifeless clearfell.

Please take action to help make sure this tree I’m sitting in doesn’t end up as veneer flooring beneath your feet. Thank you for following my blog. I’ll be updating with more about Ta Ann and the forest negotiations over time. For now check out this article that appeared this week in the Asia Sentinel.

Talk to you tomorrow ~ Miranda.

Day 3 – Some people aren’t too fond of Currawongs, in fact the poor things never seem to be anybody’s favourite bird. Maybe it’s because they lack in vibrant colours or melodic and dainty song, rather they are black and grey with their song more like a squawk. Or maybe it’s their beady eyes and slight resemblance to the kind of birds likely to star in old school horror films. But me, I have a soft spot for the Currawong. Once, when I left Tassie to visit Melbourne, for some strange reason it was that sound that I missed the most as I walked through the streets surrounded by unfamiliar buildings. I guess because hearing their call is a reminder to me that I am home. It is the every day sound of life in the Upper Florentine Valley, which lies on the other side of Mount Mueller, and has been home to me for several years. There you can hear their cries echoing eerily across the valley. And sometimes they would gather together in a tree, hundreds chattering away in some kind of Currawong convergence. It’s nice to hear them here in my new home too.

Last night I slept out on the deck and fell asleep looking at the stars scattered across the sky between the top branches of my tree. Across the gully the moonlight reflecting on leaves made the forest look as though it was speckled with stars too.

This morning I woke to the chirps of White Throated Honeyeaters busy getting breakfast in the branches above me. Today was the first time they came to visit. I wonder if they’ve been a bit cautious of my presence these past few days. It must seem strange having a human move in up here. It made me smile to see them. They are one of my favourite birds, and they too remind of feeling home at home in the Upper Florentine.

We’ve had several tree-sits at Camp Floz, but the tree I spent the most time in was called Front Sit. I know we didn’t have the most original names – Front Sit, Middle Sit, Back Sit – though we also had The Lungs of the Land (or simply ‘Lungs’ for short), Birds Nest and Floating Sit (a platform suspended mid-air between several trees). But Front Sit was my special tree where I spent many nights and days. Every morning the same group of White Throated Honeyeaters would visit me like clock work. Well, to be honest, they weren’t really there to see me, they were there for breakfast. But I enjoyed their presence. They have a sweet and happy sounding chirp as they hop around on the branches. Sometimes I would catch them watching me watching them. Interestingly they didn’t come to the other tree sits, only the Front Sit on a regular basis. Perhaps it had the best tucker on the block, I don’t know. I wonder if they feel the same about the empty space where the Front Sit once stood as I do.

I hope that today’s Honeyeaters will be back to visit me tomorrow morning. I guess we’ll wait and see. I hope you’re having a good night, talk to you again tomorrow – Miranda.