Blockade delays logging

Blockade delays logging

By Tyrion Perkins

CANBERRA — The Wilderness Society and Deua Action Committee blockaded loggers from an area of wilderness just south of the Deua National Park in NSW in mid-February. This area in the Narooma district had been nominated as wilderness for protection last year.

While the area is still under review, loggers moved into part of it. The Wilderness Society demands that these areas not be logged while under review.

The blockade, from February 15 to 19, stopped logging for most of the week. The question raised is why loggers moved to the nominated area when the rest of the Dampier State Forest is available to them.

Nicci Haynes of the Wilderness Society said, "This industry is not sustainable. Saw mills close not because protesters stop logging, but because areas are logged out. If we really want a sustainable industry, we have to move to plantation timbers."

From GLW issue 90