National estate forests threatened by APPM

National estate forests threatened by APPM

By Natasha Simons

HOBART — Large sections of the Tarkine forests, situated in the north-west of Tasmania, are threatened with logging by APPM. The company plans to set up a world-scale pulp mill in the area, which would mean cutting into the national estate forests.

If the $1 billion pulp mill project goes ahead, it will consume 1.8 million tonnes of pulpwood annually. However plans for the mill have been frustrated as the Forestry Commission and the Australian Heritage Commission prepare for talks on a joint study of the state's national estate forest.

Minister for forests Tony Rundle has agreed to talks but says he is concerned about the prospect of further areas being "locked up" to industry.

Defending the Tarkine, Peg Putt of the Tasmanian Conservation Trust said that APPM should focus on plantations rather than plan to use native trees of national importance to "feed through a pulp mill". She was skeptical of the joint study being of any benefit to the state's forests.

In an effort to show that profits always come before protection of the environment, APPM chief executive John Morgan admitted that the pulp mill project would not necessarily be in jeopardy if substantial areas of the Tarkine were protected. However, he said, the extra cost of drawing wood from more distant forests would affect its viability. "What you always find with these things is that the cost goes up", he said.

The Tasmanian Wilderness Society has been campaigning for protection of the Tarkine forests and can be contacted on (002) 349 366.

From GLW issue 71