LOSING TASMANIA'S OLD GROWTH FORESTS
The following information has been taken from a brochure produced by the Australian Conservation Foundation. Being the biggest temperate rainforest in Australia and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, the sheer scale of the Tarkine region is breathtaking. It is a national treasure featuring vast tracts of ancient rainforest, threatened and endangered wildlife and untouched wilderness - something that should be preserved for future generations.
But shortly they will begin logging the Tarkine, which contains the largest single tract of cool temperate rainforest in Australia. Most people have never heard of the Tarkine region but it spans some 377,000 hectares with 177,000 hectares being temperate rainforest.
90% of the rainforest is classified as Old Growth and is largely populated by deep red myrtle beech - once prolific throughout North West Tasmania, but now heavily logged and woodchipped for over the last 40 years.
Example of clear fell logging Bound by the Arthur River, Pieman River and the Southern Ocean, the Tarkine region is a remarkably diverse landscape with spectacular ocean beaches, immense sand dunes and jagged rocky outcrops. It contains 54 species of wildlife, which are listed as either threatened or endangered. And the logging companies plan to introduce clear-fell logging right in the heart of the rainforest.
Once these and other native forests are gone - they can never be replaced.
