Australia: More on Citizen effort to save Chester forest
Forest activist Yvette Jennings, who is trying to save Chester forest near Augusta from logging, said she was saddened to see the destruction at Warren 6. Logging has begun in one of the most hotly contested sections of South-West karri forest almost eight years after Labor promised to put an end to cutting down old-growth forest.
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Previous post about Chester forest here:
http://forestpolicyresearch.com/2009/03/24/australia-one-arrest-in-direct-action-against-political-leaders-who-destroyed-chester-forest/
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Conservationists say discrepancies between the amount of oldgrowth
forest found in the coupe by the Conservation Commission and the
Department of Environment and Conservation raise concerns over
procedures to protect native forest. The commission found 27.5ha of
the coupe met the strict definition of old-growth forest, about 10ha
more than found by the department.
The Global Warming Forest Action Group’s Kim Redman said yesterday Warren 6 contained trees more than 200 years old. The block had been under scrutiny since then Labor environment minister Judy Edwards ordered an environmental review of the coupe after a public outcry more than three years ago. “We don’t think the DEC is doing its job,” Mr Redman said.
He said forest groups had found big swaths of old-growth forest that should have been identified by the DEC. The Conservation Commission confirmed it had found more than 206ha of previously undetected oldgrowth forest as a result of public nominations between 2004 and 2008.
This year, the commission has found a further 159ha of old-growth forest in two separate coupes near Bridgetown and Williams. But commission chairman John Bailey said the new discoveries were the result of increased public awareness and increased technological expertise to assess forest data, rather than procedural failures.