WA old growth forest loss continues
PERTH — Behind the smokescreen of the state government's revised regional forest agreement (RFA), which halts logging in an additional 9000 hectares of old growth karri and karri/tingle forest, the WA Conservation and Land Management department (CALM) and the logging industry continue to clear-fell old growth forest.
Many thousands of hectares of old growth jarrah and karri forest are scheduled for logging this year. Since the original RFA was signed, not one more hectare of old growth jarrah has been protected.
Spectacular forests — including Boorara (near Northcliffe), Carey and Easter (south of Nannup), Lowden (near Donnybrook), Darradup and Hilliger (near Nannup) — are being destroyed.
The logging industry realises these forests could be out of reach after the next state election, which will take place sometime in the next 12 months. It knows the community has no interest in protecting clear-felled areas, so it is taking out some of the biggest and best areas in the time it has left.
This rush to fell forests is leading to misuse and waste on a massive scale, the spread of dieback disease and the continuing loss of wildlife habitat.
A rally is being organised by The Wilderness Society, the WA Forest Alliance and the Conservation Council of WA at Parliament House at 12.30pm on March 14.