Multiple sources confirmed to The Australian that green and timber groups had agreed to protect more than 503,000ha of native forests while allocating 137,000cu m of sawlogs a year to industry. Sources: The Australian, Timberbiz, The Age
The deal followed more than two years of difficult negotiation and was being voted on by the boards of the conservation and industry groups involved in the process.
Barring last-minute revolts, it will be endorsed by state cabinet and the federal government and introduced into the Tasmanian parliament. This meets a deadline set by the Gillard government for $100 million in regional development funds linked to a successful forest peace deal, as well as at least $15m to buy out sawlog contracts.
The Australian confirmed the headline figure is 561,000ha although about 58,000ha of this will be subject to some logging.
Immediate protection will be granted to about 395,000ha of the forests most coveted for conservation, in areas such as the Styx, Weld and Upper Florentine, with their eventual inclusion in World Heritage areas and national parks.
A further 108,000ha will be added to reserves in 2015, as long as environment groups have kept to the agreement and cease campaigns against the industry.
In addition, 21,000ha will be logged once, but then rehabilitated and added to the new reserves, while 37,000ha will be selectively logged for specialty timbers only.
This means green groups have achieved 70,000ha less than their original conservation demand of 572,000ha, while the timber industry has shaved its sawlog demands from 155,000cu m a year to 137,000cu m.
The biggest surviving native forest company, veneer processor Ta Ann, is to renegotiate reduced contracts to ensure that its supplies come from genuine arisings of sawlog supplies.
The Liberal opposition, sections of the timber industry and some key independents in the state’s upper house are likely to firmly oppose the deal, arguing that it sells industry short.
The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association (TGFA) said the deal was no deal as it implied there was give and take and said it was a sell-out for every Tasmanian.
“It is unconscionable for a group of unelected environmental groups and industry representatives to be making decisions to lock up public resources in perpetuity,” TFGA chief executive Jan Davis said today.
“This is an outrage that the Legislative Council must throw out in its entirety.
“The 1600 private owners with forests covering private 27% of Tasmania’s native forest estate were given no say in this process.”
“It’s a final agreement that involves compromise, but in the end is win-win for everybody,” Wilderness Society’s campaigner, Vica Bayley said.
Terry Edwards, chief executive of the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania, said he had mixed feelings.
Coalition Forestry spokesman Richard Colbeck said that a Liberal Government would not recognize any new reserves contained in the “sham” IGA deal.
