Summer forest campaign

By Natasha Simons

HOBART -- The slogan “Yes to EIS” (environmental impact statement) was chalked on every corner pavement in Hobart on January 18, as the Wilderness Society launched its “long hot summer” campaign of national forest protests in Tasmania. A banner was hung from the CES building in the city, and three protesters were arrested for abseiling down a building to hang another banner.

The campaign calls for an environmental impact statement to be made on the state government's Forest and Forestry Industry Strategy. Both TWS and the Tasmanian Conservation Trust have condemned the forest management plan, which they say poses a serious threat to Tasmania's native forests.

“The FFIS locks woodchipping into some of our most important forests” the director of the Trust, Peg Putt said. “It allows logging in areas that were identified by the International Union for Conservation and Nature as being worthy of World Heritage listing.”

Forestry industry representatives have rejected calls for a new EIS and are warning of “eco-terrorism” by “fringe elements in the green movement”. The protesters will now shift their campaign to the forests.

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