In recent years, Tasmania has branded itself to the tourist industry as Australia’s lean and green state. But not everyone is in full agreement. Environmentalists, doctors, health officials and even some timber workers are challenging current forestry practices that seem to be stuck in a continuous state of controversy.

The state’s promotion agency appropriately describes Tasmania as a unique place. About 50 million years ago, Australia and Antarctica were joined as part of the supercontinent, Gondwana, and Tasmania shares geological similarities with Antarctica rather than the Australian mainland.

Species unique to the island include the burrowing freshwater crayfish (Engaeus sp.), Man Ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) and the creeping pine (Microcachrys tetragona). These have thrived because the island’s insular geography has protected against the invasion of non-native species from across Bass Strait and further afield.

Other survivors from Gondwana are the state’s large expanses of temperate forest. These include the Styx Valley, located about 80 kilometres to the west of Hobart, home to stands of Eucalyptus regnans. Also known as swamp gums, these magnificent trees can grow to be 400 years old. Reaching up to 90 metres into the sky, they are among the tallest on earth. To outsiders, it can come as a shock to learn that much of this area is not protected and Eucalyptus regnans continues to be logged, primarily for woodchips.

Old growth under attack

In contrast to the rest of Australia, where the logging of old-growth forests has been phased out or is winding down, the trend in Tasmania has been moving in the opposite direction. Approximately 5.5 million tonnes (about 4.75 million tonnes sourced from native forests) are woodchipped every year by Gunns, a Tasmanian forestry company with a near-monopoly over the state’s woodchipping industry. This represents roughly double the volume across all other states.

Assertions that various residues are used as woodchip feedstocks are challenged by the statistics. According to an analysis by The Wilderness Society (TWS) based on the most recent figures from 1999-2000, if sawmill residues are also counted, 92 per cent of logs are woodchipped while only 3.5 per cent are converted into sawn timber.

The final destination of most woodchip exports is Japan, where they are converted into disposable paper products. Last year, in response to a Greenpeace and TWS campaign, Mitsubishi Paper Mills decided to abandon old growth in favour of a mix of plantation, regrowth forest and reclaimed wood. Others, including Nippon Paper Group, have yet to make the switch.

Using clearfelling practices that have been discontinued elsewhere in Australia, approximately 22,000 hectares of forest are cleared annually. The remains are then burned using a napalm-like substance, a practice unknown in other developed countries. On top of the additional carbon emissions this generates, large volumes of smoke in areas such as the Huon Valley and the Derwent Valley can obscure the scenery for tourists and visitors.

More horrifically, until recently, carrots dipped in the poison 1080 were commonly laid down as baits to kill off any wildlife that ventured back into cleared areas. Most clearfelled land is turned into forest plantations and the poison prevents possums and wallabies from eating young saplings. Unfortunately, 1080 causes a lingering, painful death for these and non-target species, including wombats, bettongs and quolls. (Although this practice was banned in state forests at the end of last year, it continues on private land.)

With the support of both major parties and in the face of strong community dissent, Tasmania’s Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) was signed in 1997. Continuing for 20 years, it provides resource security for forestry companies, with financial compensation if forests they had intended to log are protected during the RFA period. Environment groups claim that areas allocated for protection were chosen on the basis that they were of little use to loggers.

Conflicting views

Tasmania’s powerful forestry lobby encompasses government, business, industry lobby groups and the unions. Its main argument centres on the fact that 40 per cent of the entire state is already protected in reserves and national parks. A second often-touted statistic is that 80 per cent of all old-growth forests are protected.

In the view of Barry Chipman, Timber Communities Australia’s Tasmania coordinator, increasingly large areas are locked up in national parks where they provide no economic benefit to locals. He sees this as a form of politically motivated interference that occurs when federal elections come around.

A counter argument expressed by groups such as TWS, Greenpeace and Timber Workers for Forests (TWFF) is that large tracts of the 40 per cent protected area are unsuitable for forestry; some of it is sand dunes and buttongrass plains. As for 80 per cent old-growth protection, Greenpeace and TWS assert that much of this has not been placed in proper reserves. They draw attention to a national poll conducted in 2004 indicating that 85 per cent of Australians disagree with old-growth logging.

Also controversial is the new Australian Forestry Standard (AFS), touted as an assurance of environmental sustainability. Intended as a domestic replacement for the globally recognised Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) criteria, it is remarkable for allowing the clearing of old-growth trees.

As early as 2002, environment NGOs (non-governmental organisations) withdrew from the AFS development process, complaining of being excluded from meaningful participation in favour of government and commercial interests. In the opinion of Don Henry, executive director of the Australian Conservation Foundation, the AFS is biased in favour of forest industries, particularly those operating in Tasmania. In this light, perhaps it’s no surprise that Gunns was the first company to sign up.

Lobbying for protection

Several regions are listed by TWS as protection priorities on the basis of their high conservation values. These include the Styx Valley, Great Western Tiers, North-East Highlands, Eastern Tiers, the Tasman Peninsula and the Leven Valley. Endangered or vulnerable species on its agenda include the giant velvet worm and burrowing crayfish.

In the Styx Valley, where only 13 per cent of old-growth Eucalyptus regnans is left, a recent high-profile protest resulted in major media coverage around the world. For five months in the summer of 2003/4, Greenpeace and TWS occupied an 84-metre-tall regnans they named “Gandalf’s staff” (a reference to the wise old wizard in JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings). Suspended at a dizzying altitude of 65 metres, their Global Rescue Station attracted visitors from around the world, including celebrities.

Following this action, the tree and 113 hectares in the vicinity were protected from logging as the Big Tree Reserve. With its ancient trunks, mosses and ferns, the Styx has been described by visitors as a “fairytale forest” and many other landmarks in the reserve have been given names borrowed from Tolkien.

TWS would like to see the World Heritage area lying to the west extended to cover the Styx. It has produced a self-drive and walking guide for tourists and encourages people to come out and view the forest. The guide points out scenic sites while drawing attention to landscapes of native forest destruction along the route.

To achieve its conservation goals, TWS has drawn up a transition strategy that aims to protect both the forests and the timber jobs that depend on them. An increased supply of both soft- and hardwood plantation timber provides an opportunity to greatly reduce native forest harvesting. The industry could facilitate this plan by switching its focus to value-added sawn timber, veneer and particleboard.

Woodchipping increases, jobs diminish

It has been remarked that, although woodchipping is making a small minority wealthy, it might not be in Tasmania’s long-term economic interest. The export of large volumes of a low-value product is not healthy for the state’s balance of payments deficit.

According to TWFF, in 1980 a total of 205 Tasmanian sawmills employed 3000 people; in 2003, less than 40 sawmills employed 1350. The same period saw a substantial growth in the volume logged. Outspoken Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan points the finger at mechanisation.

In the view of economist Dr Tony McCall, Tasmania would be better off concentrating on differentiated products for niche markets rather than selling a low-value resource to compete on a flooded global market. According to TWFF, with the focus on quality rather than quantity, more money could be made from a smaller forest harvest. Industries in this sector include boat building, furniture making and crafts.

TWFF believes the state government has generally failed to encourage employment-intensive, value-adding opportunities. The leatherwood honey industry is under threat because of the destruction of leatherwood trees, and valuable furniture timbers such as myrtle are commonly clearfelled and chipped rather than selectively harvested. More encouragingly, though, the Tasmanian government recently announced that two veneer mills are to be constructed near Huonville and Smithton.

Another significant trend involves a long-term shift towards tourism, an industry that now represents double the number of jobs in forestry. Environment groups support the upgrading of tourist infrastructure and encourage an ecotourism direction. Under such an arrangement, unique forest areas can be protected in perpetuity instead of being liquidated for short-term profit.

The march of the plantations

Although plantation forestry is widely regarded as preferable to old-growth logging, shortcomings have been identified in the present monoculture industry and environmentalists would like to see plantation management reach or exceed FSC standards.

Perhaps most alarming is the conversion of native forest to plantation; over the past seven years this has been the fate of around 80,000 of Tasmania’s forested hectares. A few years ago, several corporations, including Mitsubishi and Tokyo Electric Power Company, were taking advantage of a carbon credit financial incentive under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism to convert native forests in this manner.

In parts of the state, plantations have also swallowed farms, villages and hamlets. Around the northern city of Launceston, where proliferation of trees has depleted groundwater, plantation forests are effectively competing with the local population for water, a trend that seems likely to intensify into the future.

Other concerns include the liberal aerial spraying of herbicides such as atrazine (a known carcinogen) and simazine (suspected of causing cancer). Properties adjoining plantation areas may be negatively affected and, under windy conditions, spray can drift for a long distance. Some residents are worried their tap water may not be safe to drink, and the Tasmanian chief of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Aizen, has called for an aerial spraying moratorium.

As plantations approach the coastal town of St Helens, a significant number of residents have been coming down with mystery illnesses including lupus, memory loss, arthritis and neurological problems. In nearby Georges Bay, about $1.6 million worth of oysters died in 2004 following a spraying-helicopter crash in the catchment. The subsequent Scammell Report identified a link between the two events.

Gunns’ activists in court, and a giant pulp mill

Of the companies active in Tasmania’s forests, Gunns strongly dominates the picture. Founded in 1875 by brothers John and Thomas Gunn, today it is Australia’s largest native forest logging company and the world’s largest hardwood woodchipper, owning all four of Tasmania’s export woodchip mills. The close relationship between Gunns and the state Labor Party is reflected in political donations and overseas travel junkets.

TWS has been running a corporate campaign targeting the major investors in Gunns, including Colonial First State Investments (Commonwealth Bank), ANZ Bank, Perpetual Trustees and AMP. At the 2002 AGM, an impressive 23 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of a resolution to end the company’s investment in the destruction of old-growth forest. The company’s share price fell sharply during 2005 and some think Gunns’ adversarial approach may have something to do with the slide.

In December 2004, 20 activists were sued by Gunns for a total of $6.3 million, covering alleged loss of income due to the defendants’ actions. In addition to outspoken community members, they include two independent filmmakers, two Greens politicians including Bob Brown, the Huon Valley Environment Centre and the group Doctors for Forests. Over the past 18 months, the Gunns’ has become a cause among greens and defenders of free speech.

For Gunns, the ride has not been smooth. Last July, its statement of claim received a setback when it was struck out by the Victorian Supreme Court: Justice Bongiorno described some of Gunns’ claims as “unintelligible, embarrassing and incomprehensible”. In response, a revised claim was submitted in August and, at the time of writing, this legal process is still in progress.

Currently, TWS is targeting Gunns’ plans for a $1.3 billion pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, located on the state’s north coast. This would require 30 years worth of pine and native forest feedstocks and the company estimates a substantial increase in woodchip volumes from 5.5 to 7 million tonnes a year. The forests that would come under threat include habitat for the endangered wedge-tailed eagle.

With the pulp mill plan including chlorine bleaching, there are worries about discharges into Bass Strait and consequent harm to the pristine marine environment. Although Gunns had originally proposed to investors a total chlorine-free (TCF) plant using only plantation timber, plans were later revised.

Additionally, the mill would burn up to half a million tonnes of green forest products for electricity annually, the remainder of which would be sold to the grid. As Tasmania has no Green Power option, there is no opt-out avenue for power consumers.

The captive state

Several years ago, Tasmania embarked on a collective decision-making process to determine the island’s future. This community goal-setting exercise is known as Tasmania Together 2020.

In 2001, when the Tasmania Together verdict concerning the state’s forests was released, it appeared to achieve a balance between the twin concerns of employment and conservation. The goal was to cease woodchipping of high-conservation-value old-growth forest (such as the Styx and the Tarkine) by the end of 2002, followed by similar protection for all old-growth by 2010. As it turned out, this target date came and went uneventfully; it appeared the Tasmanian government had already set its course and was not to be deflected. An opinion poll organised by TWS indicated that 69 per cent of the state’s population was in support of the 2002 target; sadly, their voice was drowned out by that of the forest lobby.

Logging has been exempted from almost all Tasmanian laws and since the mid-1990s Forestry Tasmania has also been excluded from the Freedom of Information Act. In other developments:

• Government release of export woodchip figures has been suppressed since 2001.
• Certain forest areas can be accessed by the public only on the condition that filming does not take place.
• Community groups are now required to take out $20 million worth of public liability insurance before they are permitted to protest outside Parliament House.
• Stories abound about Tasmanians who criticise forestry practices being threatened with the loss of their jobs.

In 2003, a forestry regulator named Bill Manning with 32 years experience in the industry came forward to testify to a federal Senate committee. Over the previous five years, as woodchip volumes soared, he claimed to have witnessed a marked deterioration in forest management practices. Strongly dominated by woodchipping, the industry was effectively operating under a system of self-regulation.

Although Manning claimed to have reported dozens of breaches of the law, including the destruction of streams, he asserted that no action was ever taken. He stated that when he eventually tried to prosecute Forestry Tasmania, his charge books were removed and he was relocated elsewhere in the public service.

An activist network

Over the past few years, Tasmanian forest groups have sprung up in major cities and some regional centres around the country. Participants are reluctant to sit back and watch the destruction of ancient forests they believe qualify under World Heritage criteria. Surely it’s possible to create a Tasmanian forest industry with a long-term sustainable vision where high-value trees would be selectively harvested and the forests left largely intact for the next generations.

Contact Japanese pulp mills

Several Japanese pulp mills continue to use woodchipped old-growth forests as a raw material for disposable paper products. Contact the companies responsible via greenpeace.or.jp/cyberaction/tasmania/form_en_html, urging them to switch over to woodchips from sources that exclude old-growth forests.

Forests enter the political arena

In 1972, the year export woodchipping began in Tasmania, the state saw the launch of the world’s first green political party. Led by Peg Putt, the modern Tasmanian Greens have won an impressive slice of the vote in recent state elections; in 2002, this peaked at an impressive 18.1 per cent. Nevertheless, in the recent three-cornered contests, both major parties have joined forces against the Greens to preserve the logging status quo.

Within federal politics, Greens Senator Bob Brown has levelled many criticisms against forestry practices in his home state, finding an unlikely philosophical ally in Liberal senator Bill Heffernan who also wants to see an end to old-growth logging.

When Tasmania’s forests became an election issue during the 2004 federal election, Prime Minister John Howard’s protection package with its “no job losses” appeal was far better received by the forest lobby than Mark Latham’s plan. In contrast, Latham’s would have banned clearfelling and virtually ended old-growth logging. Retrenched timber workers would have been offered compensation plus the opportunity to be retrained in other timber-related careers such as furniture making.

Last year, under an agreement between Howard and Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon, 87 per cent of the Tarkine and 53 per cent of the Styx were added to reserves and it was decided that 60 per cent of all old-growth clearfelling was to be phased out in favour of selective harvesting. While the Tarkine National Coalition was delighted by the opportunity to create a future Tarkine National Park, many conservationists were concerned that other parts of the state remain unprotected.