Batemans Bay Forest Forum

Saturday was a busy and exciting day for lots of reasons. Forest Forum, Dunn and Lewis opening and of course On Stage 2010.


The Forest Forum in Batemans Bay that I attended for the morning was an inspiration to start writing letters to the new government to try and force action on the issue of native forest logging, which is still happening here in the beautiful Shoalhaven. So many reasons why logging for woodchip is wrong wrong wrong.

I was inspired by the fact that the Greens are in a strong position in both houses of government federally and I believe that if the independents can see a convincing argument that has good outcomes for regional/rural Australia they may be supportive.

The other piece of news that I unaware of was the statement from Gunns Pty Ltd believe that they have lost the battle with environmentalist for native forests and will move to plantation based business.
It is a significant statement on many fronts but means that more pressure has to come on government to make sure that we do not loose native forest cover to be replaced by plantation- we would end up with a disaster similar to the palm oil story in neighbouring countries.

I have written a short paper on the native forest woodchip industry and will post it tomorrow as background material for anyone who wants to write to government and put some pressure on. Its amazing how pester power works - I have seen first hand how council has made decisions based almost solely on pester power..
will also aim to put up a sample letter and some contacts for you all to use.