Two Nights in an Activists camp - Eden NSW



We decided to spend two nights this week down at Eden with the group of activists who have been directly standing up to the woodchiping industry and the operation of the South East Fibre Exports woodchip mill and loading facility at Eden.

Along with our family we had a friend and five additional kids ten of us in total. The young people are keen to save our native animals and plants.

During the last week I have been asked the question- why protest-why participate in actions?
So I thought I should try and articulate what my thoughts are on the issue.

Woodchipping is a crime.

It directly contributes to the extinction of plants and animals.
Its a waste of valuable forest resources which should be nurtured to help Australia combat climate change.

It is unnessecary to cut down trees to make paper and cardboard products when we could be creating an alternative and local fibre industry.



We spend millions asking other countries to stop logging their native forests yet we are unwilling to do it ourselves.

 'OUR' tax dollars are propping up an industry that is not profitable.

We need to leave something in reserve for future generations.

There are other points to be made but you get the picture.

Activism comes in many forms for many signing a petition, making a  $ $ donation, attending a rallly are the limit.

I decided to take my action via the political process as I thought I could make a difference.

Some take up the cause at the 'front line' risking their lives, getting arrested, being subjected to violence and harrasment.

All these forms of protest are valid and needed to make sure that the issues around a 'cause' are making it into the mainstream, into peoples everyday as some are easily brushed over and lost in the dross.

Sometimes the only way to get attention is to conduct actions that make the headlines and that is exactly the intention of the crew that assembled in Eden this week.

Monday: a tripod was raised on the road and stopped the unloading of log trucks for 13 hours creating a que of trucks that backed up to the Princes Hwy and beyond.

Wednesday: Tripod raised again and work stopped for more than 3 hours.

Those at the tripod on Wednesday were assaulted by truck drivers. Mill workers also attempted to harass people camped nearby by trying to blockade them from leaving.


Thursday: A peacefull game of cricket at the entrance to the mill-play often stopped to allow log trucks to pass

Friday: 4 arrestted- two of which had been locked on to loaders - meaning the mill was seroiusly disrupted.

Timber industry workers were made aware that their industry is a damaging one and that people aren't scared to make a statement and take the industry on.

So were did we fit in the picture- hopefully we provided moral support at least  letting those willing to go hard know that others do care about the issue.

 We exposed friends and children to people they may not normally meet- an education for them to find people who are passionate about the forest issue and understand deeply the importance of its existance.

An education for us to talk to others and to retell their story to others unable to make it.
To do the best we can to make sure that the issue is not forgotten, spreading the word etc.
 So if you happen to be reading this and find it interesting-SHARE IT on especially to people who dont have a clue that the 'Forest Wars' exist and that people are making courageous up front decsions every day to put their selves on the line.

To the 'forest ferals' that I met-I salute you all and am committed to doing my bit in this battle to stop the stupidity that is woodchipping.

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.

Logging at South Brooman State Forest.

South Brooman Forest Monday 1 February 2010
Carbon Sinks Threatened Species Bad Public Policy.

I got a call from South East Forest Rescue to come and have a look at what was happening in forests in my own back yard at Brooman. When I turned up, I was faced with the typically devastating scene that forestry practices produce. This compartment didn’t have the usual roadside buffers as the access routes were not used and some were blocked so the logging operation came right up to the road and reports allege that creek buffers had been ignored and logged as close as 5 meter's.

It used to be a Spotted Gum forest with rainforest gullies evident by the ferns that were destroyed under the fallen canopy.

It used to be a feeding ground for threatened and endangered bats, who would come in each evening to feed on blossom.

 Bats fly long distances to reliable feed sites and if these are removed, the bats do not have the energy to return to the roost. The colony at South Brooman is believed to be coming from Yatte Yattah on the northern side of Milton. Grey and Red headed flying foxes have been recorded at Yatte Yattah.

It has been alleged that NSW Forestry were not interested in improving a buffer zone to allow the bats their usual feeding place, and that someone within the logging crew fired shots so that the bats would not land and fee allowing logging to continue.

When I questioned the NSW Forestry spokesperson about the logs going to wood chip, I was told I was wrong and that they would all be prime saw logs. It is hard to swallow this explanation when there is much evidence to prove that mill quality logs are chipped and exported to Japan for paper and cardboard making.

Our forests need protecting- they may not conjure up the grand images like those of the Stix, Florentine or any other of the iconic Tasmanian forests, but they are the lungs of the coast- storing carbon, purifying the air, providing habitat for a diverse biota.

NSW has enough plantation pine to satisfy the need for construction timber and wood chip there is no need for the ongoing commercialisation of native forests it’s an industry that according to the auditor generals department lost $14million in 2007/2008.

Like many NSW government departments Forests NSW operates in a blanket of secrecy that requires skilled use of freedom of information to uncover detail. With contract detail hidden away under the 'commercial in confidence' code. This is all designed to stop or hinder public scrutiny into the affairs of Forestry.

NSW Forests are a public asset; we need to be able to scrutinise the management actions and the logging practices. Forests need to be managed as carbon sinks which will generate a different income stream in a carbon constrained world. The NSW and Federal governments need to put their heads together and offer a forestry retraining / buy out package, just like the dairy and fishing industries and retrain forest workers to be custodians rather than loggers. With a $14 million dollar loss, surely it makes sense to stop wood chipping our precious forest assets.

Tasmanian Forest defenders take heart in Forestry bungle!

This year we visited Tasmania and spent some time at Camp Flozza- a protest camp set up to keep Forestry Tasmania accountable for their actions in some of Tassies most devine old growth forest. We took part in a mass action that took us into the area that was being decimated for a  road that will create greater access to the ancient forest. Over the last 2.5years many protesters have been arrested for trespass- seems today there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Read the following Media Release from Still Wild STill Threatened

Conservationists convicted of trespass in the Upper Florentine valley will be contacted and urged to appeal against their convictions, according to Still Wild Still Threatened.


The organisation that spearheaded protests in the old growth forests of the Upper Florentine said that more than 90 charges of trespass have been laid and gone before the courts since February, 2007. Still Wild Still Threatened will put a call out via the internet sites Facebook and Myspace, as well as email contact lists, to the 90 plus people arrested in the Upper Florentine for trespass, including many international visitors, urging them to get legal advice to appeal against their convictions.

This follows the revelation that Forestry Tasmania bungled the exclusion zone boundary and gave wrong information to the police, resulting in the trespass charge against Derwent Valley grandmother Lynda Blyth being dropped. The police have also communicated that trespass charges against others accused of trespass would also be dropped if they fall into the same category as that of Ms Blyth, who was arrested over 200 metres from the exclusion zone.

“Dozens of people have stood up to the Government, Forestry Tasmania and the logging industry to defend the ancient forests of the Upper Florentine and they have been wrongly accused of breaking the law,” said Natalie Keene, Still Wild Still Threatened spokesperson. “Many have been wrongfully convicted because the police blindly accepted the word of Forestry Tasmania.”

"Those wrongly convicted should have legal and other costs incurred through their arrests and trials reimbursed by Forestry Tasmania," Ms Keene said.
The Upper Florentine exclusion zone has been in place off and on according to the bungled boundaries since April 2006. Since then, there have been a constant community presence and numerous protests resulting in over 90 charges of trespass.
"Forestry Tasmania should apologise to all the members of our community they have wrongly accused of breaking the law," said Ms Keene. "We demand that the Tasmanian Government put in place a more effective watchdog for Forestry Tas, whose incompetence continues to be exposed." Ms Keene said.

"Premier Bartlett has egg on his face because he blindly accepted Forestry Tasmania's claims that people were breaking the law. We hope this development will encourage him to be less gullible - and more clever - in his approach to the forest issue." said Ms Keene.