Our National Day of Action opposing Wood-fired Power stations in Australia (how crazy is that idea!?) on June 1 went extremely well. We had protests in Sydney, Melb, Hobart, Launceston, Orbost, Bega. I was a bit disappointed we didn’t make the TV news, but we had photos in the Telegraph and the Herald, so that is something.

As a result of the brave actions of a tripod sitter and the concerted efforts of campaigners, loggers moved out of an area gazetted as an Aboriginal Special Place in 1984.
Next day they moved into a neighbouring area.
The destruction from logging is immense. This from Harriett Swift ” It is not just the trees that are destroyed; the granite boulders are smashed, the delicate understorey of ferns and shrubs is flattened and the earth is laid bare and dusty.”

koala killing machinery

They have 7 machines in there: 3 mechanical harvesters, two bulldozers, one forwarder and one huge log loader (also for the old growth). How can koalas stand a chance?

Sacred to the Yuin people, this mountain is being logged for woodchips. It is also home to what may be the last colony of koalas on the far south coast. Logging for woodchips destroys the last chance they have of recovery.

A halt has been called on logging of Mumbulla tomorrow.The Environmental defenders office today approached authorities on behalf of an aboriginal man, demanding a stop to logging.

This part of the forest was set aside in the 1980s as an “Aboriginal Place,” but authorities conveniently overlooked this fact when approving the logging. This is in blatent disregard of the spiritual heritage of Mumbulla, and the wish of the aboriginal people that the mountain be preserved as a significant site.

A Young aboriginal man is issued with an infringement notice for trespassing.

YESTERDAY ON MUMBULLA

Yesterday a man was arrested during a tripod sit. The tripod was erected on the main road into the logging compartments on Mumbulla mountain, and logging was disrupted for the day.

The logging at Mumbulla has already had a devastating effect on the forest, and the home of what might be the last koala colony on the south coast. Sheer lunacy!

It’s really hard from the pics to get an idea of the vastness of the logging, but it is a massive operation. The giant mechanical harvesters can pull out a tree and strip off the bark in about 7 seconds I believe. There are at least three of these monsters up there, as well as bulldozers and other equipment.

And they talk about jobs! Millions of dollars worth of equipment and very few jobs. If they tried investing in sustainable industries like wind and solar they could create vastly more jobs AND save the forests!

Logging has begun in earnest in Mumbulla forest, home of the last known koala population between Canberra and the Victorian border. This from Harriett Swift, one of the protesters:
“We have been back in the koala forest again this week in a holding operation, slowing down the logging by delaying the arrival of the loggers in the forest.

The latest media release for the koalas. Heavy machinery is shoring up the roads for the logging trucks. It can be only weeks or days away from the start of logging. How crazy is this!! With Minister Sartor declaring that he cant break ‘logging agreements’ it seems as if nothing can be done.

Koala Crisis Deepens in South East Forests

The crisis surrounding the possible extinction of koalas in the South East Forests deepened yesterday, as conservation groups met with the NSW Environment Minister, Frank Sartor.

The preliminary DECCW Koala survey report was released last week

'Bearly' hanging on inthe south east forests

, and confirmed a small healthy recovering population of about 50 koalas in the Mumbulla forest on the NSW south coast. ForestsNSW has indicated that it intends to log this forest in March. Compartments in other forests, such as Yurammie and Tantawangalo which may contain small populations of recovering koalas are also due to be logged, and surveys on these forests will not be completed until later this year.