Gerry Georgatos
Forest Rescue Australia (FRA) has heightened its protest actions halting Warrup logging on an almost daily basis - however at the price of arrests. A Forest Products Commission (FPC) spokeswoman confirmed that protestors had entered work areas on three separate days in the last ten days and on two occasions had locked themselves on to two logging machines while work continued in other parts of the operation.
On Monday 19, FRA protestors entered the Warrup logging area and one protestor managed to lock himself on to a logging machine for 15 hours.
FRA coordinator, Simon Peterffy said he was disappointed at the arrest of protestors. He said usually the police moved on the protestors and preferred not to arrest anyone. "On Monday, disappointingly the police swooped and arrested a number of folk who were only doing their civic and just duty to protect the forests and the numbat colony. We never do anything criminal, that's not us," said Mr Peterffy.
Mr Peterffy said that five protestors were charged by Bridgetown Police on the Monday, including #@2#&! - retrospectively, for trespass. "We did not trespass, no-one told anyone to leave, and we will refuse bail conditions and take this straight to a hearing."
The police confiscated $2,000 worth of video equipment and film footage - "They should not have done this, and with this is our evidence-gathering and evidence of the Forest Product Commission's wrong-doing, they're the ones breaking all the rules," he said.
Mr Peterffy said that the protestors are here to stay and that they should not be underestimated in terms of their vigilance to put themselves right on the line to protect the forests and threatened species. "If we don't then who will? We have set up a base near Bridgetown and there are more than 20 FRA activists there at any one time." He said that resources and donations are coming in from many sources including state and federal politicians.
"We have saved forests in these parts before, in 1998 and in 2002, so people can't go around saying that what we do isn't right or doesn't get results when in fact some of the forests left for them to enjoy and view is because of us, past and present activists," he said.
FRA coordinator Simon Peterffy said logging in Warrup is endangering the largest remaining numbat habitat in the south west. The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) refutes this - a spokeswoman said that measures are taken to protect numbat habitats and numbats are not harmed.
On Monday March 12 the FRA activists entered Warrup to stop the logging and that they confronted the small team of contracted loggers. Mr Peterffy said that a couple of the workers tried to 'intimidate' the activists by driving a bulldozer towards them. The FPC has an on site FPC supervisor to manage operations.
"(One of our activitists) managed to 'lock on' to a log loader. A young female activist thumb locked herself to the front of a machine which effectively stopped work for the duration of the 'lock on'," said Mr Peterffy.
On Wednesday morning, March 14, Mr Peterffy said the FRA returned to Warrup. "Three activists 'locked on' to logging machines." This brought logging to a halt for several hours till Bridgetown police arrived.
"Three activists locked on to a slider and a loader, stopping work, costing the FPC profits, saving the numbat habitat for another day," said Mr Peterffy.
"The loggers have started to think this is all a big game, using their machinery like toddlers, Tonka trucks... intimidating protestors who are using non-violent protest to prevent ecocide," he said.
Mr Peterffy said the FRA will make complaints to various authorities and that the FRA will upload a 6 minute YouTube clip of the confrontations.
10 truckloads of logs leave Warrup each day. The FPC has confirmed that it is half way to the production of 3,000 tonnes of logs from Warrup in this twelve week effort.
Comments
Re: Protestors halt Warrup forest logging, however many arrests
This so-called "peaceful" protest has gone on too long. I saw some recent footage of protesters in front of logging machinery and if that sort of behaviour by the protesters continues, frankly it's just a matter of time before one of them gets seriously hurt if not killed.
I call upon the police and/or WorkSafe WA to take whatever steps are necessary to remove these people from the harvesting site permanently.
For goodness sake, this is Australia, not an anarchist third world country.
Our forests are well managed. We can all do without a bunch of "ferals" upsetting the lives of law-abiding citizens.
Ferals?
... and every now and then we start to wonder who the real Ferals are?
Wikipedia definition - A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species.
NOTE: "The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species."
This sounds like a perfect description of Foresters and the logging industry to me and a generally good description of white settlement in Australia.
The warriors of the new forest wars (your interpretation of a feral) are trying their best to prevent the Ecocide of Australian native species.
They'll go down in history as the heroes of this social revolution, like those in past social movements such as the union movement, women's suffragettes, black rights activists in the US/South Africa/Australia and anti-war movements.
I hope you enjoy being on the losing side Woodsman. If you don't like being a Feral and on the wrong side of natural Australian ecosystems, go back to Europe!
"Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy, it is absolutely essential to it". - Howard Zinn
Every successful social revolution has had to break laws that are used to justify the unjustifiable and are used to advantage power holders who are abusing their power. The environment movement is no different.
Essentially, for these movements to succeed, they've been forced to break laws (usually minor laws) to prevent far greater harm and bring about positive social change.
Stop the loggers and save our endangered wildlife
* Stop the loggers and save our endangered wildlife - http://ccwa.org.au/content/save-our-cockatoos
* 12 good reasons to stop logging our native forests - http://www.waforestalliance.org/12-good-reasons-stop-logging-our-native-...
People are arrested for disrupting lawful actions - good
Mr Frosty sounds like you want to live in a cave and not be part of this society. just remember that we survive because we use natural resources. At the forests are being used sustainably - these forests have all been cutover before.
Where does your income come from Frosty? Let's face it if you live in this society it comes from using these resources; let's make sure we use them wisely.
How can you complain about forestry when all the animals that were originally in the forest remain after 150+ years. It is in the agricultural land and range lands were species have been lost.
Society makes choices and these people, it seems, have gone outside the agreed rules and deserve to be arrested. Let's not end up name calling but if I decide that I dont like something you are doing and start obstructing your behaviour I am sure that you would seek police support. Causing injury to people is not acceptable and this is being done every day in the forest by the activists. The rescue mob should think about how their actions are affecting others, and think about genuine non-violent behaviour to get their point across.
Re: People are arrested for disrupting lawful actions - good
Where is your evidence that there is injury being caused to other people by these activists? That is an absolute lie!
On the contrary, there appears to be film footage of activists being threatened and assaulted by loggers, which is quite common by loggers against forest activists.
Logging machines are being held up and locked on to, that much is obvious. Neither the contractors or Forest Products Commission are being stopped from cutting down plantation pine and plantation bluegum and earning an honest living.
Forest Rescue are doing real NVDA and they're good at it, that's what scares the crap out of the power holders who are abusing their power - the WA State government, Forest Products Commmission and the WA Police.
By the way, I LOVE technology but I'm all for SUSTAINABLE use of it. I'm currently on a computer that's at least 5 years old and its about to die by the look of it. I'll be replacing it with another computer that's a 5 year old business machine and it'll be run by a completely FREE operating system, Ubuntu Studio.
I don't own a car, I ride a bike, car pool and use public transport. I borrow a car occasionally. I live a meagre lifestyle and haven't had a 'real' holiday for over 10 years.
Logging of native forest is not sustainable by present highly industrialised (and low jobs) logging techniques and the forest is far more valuable as carbon storage, water and rain purification and production, oxygen production, soil improvers, vital components in other various nutrient cycles, threatened species habitat and places of spiritual nourishment and general recreation and relaxation.
There is no man-made system that can compare with or replace these biological life support systems that have evolved over billions of years.
Protesters wear beige
Sure good to hear you are not a big user, but you still use much more than the average person in India. And that wealth comes from mining- . Unsustainable in the extreme.
Doing nothing is not an option - humans need resources. Should we get them from unsustainable or sustainable sources?
It is a valid opinion to say I dont like cutting down trees, but dont pretend that it isn't sustainable.
The problem with the greens is they use all sorts of arguments to cover up the fact that its just their personal opinion that they dont like logging.
Science has shown that the biodiversity of well managed jarrah forest recovers very rapidly and is soon very similar to undisturbed forest.
It is a simple fact that all the species that are claimed to be at risk because of harvesting - they all live in regrowth forest, they have all survived many cycles of previous harvesting.
It's true that careful management is needed still and there is much to be learned - but it's not a case of stop the world I want to get off.
Re: Protesters wear beige
Logging of native forest is not sustainable by present highly industrialised (and low jobs) logging techniques and the forest has been overcut/over extracted and is now suffering badly from the combined impacts of Human-Induced Climate Change = dramatically reduced rainfall, dieback = spread by a mechanised logging industry and other human agents, other serious fungal attacks killing off Marri trees. The forest simply cannot recover under these circumstances in the short to medium term to provide for logging.
The forest is far more valuable than the wood it provides - as the best carbon storage known to man (besides leaving it in the ground), water and rain purification and production, oxygen production, soil improvers, vital components in other various nutrient cycles, threatened species habitat and places of spiritual nourishment and general recreation and relaxation.
These are ecosystem services we take for granted and are not given a value in our current economy and if they were, they would certainly well exceed the simple value of the timber and jobs it provides.
Logging native forest has had it's day and it is now end-times for the industry. Plantations and an expanded agro-forestry industry can supply all of our domestic wood needs.
Re: Forests are far more valuable than the wood they can provide
Logging of native forest is not sustainable by present highly industrialised (and low jobs) logging techniques and the forest has been overcut/over extracted and is now suffering badly from the combined impacts of Human-Induced Climate Change = dramatically reduced rainfall, dieback = spread by a mechanised logging industry and other human agents, other serious fungal attacks killing off Marri trees. The forest simply cannot recover under these circumstances in the short to medium term to provide for logging.
The forest is far more valuable than the wood it provides - as the best carbon storage known to man (besides leaving it in the ground), water and rain purification and production, oxygen production, soil improvers, vital components in other various nutrient cycles, threatened species habitat and places of spiritual nourishment and general recreation and relaxation.
These are ecosystem services we take for granted and are not given a value in our current economy and if they were, they would certainly well exceed the simple value of the timber and jobs it provides.
Logging native forest has had it's day and it is now end-times for the industry. Plantations and an expanded agro-forestry industry can supply all of our domestic wood needs.
Re: Protesters wear beige
I know mining is unsustainable and so is our current population growth, agriculture and many other industries.
That's why I like what Scott Ludlam has said here and why I vote for the guy:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/blog/theburningissue/pos...
The Greens have many other sensible strategies to deal with the current Climate Change emergency and unsustainability crisis, that's why I vote for them. They're the only hope we have left.
We're gonna crash but I'd rather it was a controlled crash under a Greens government than a complete and utter fireball disaster with crew and passengers wiped out under other political parties.
Re: Protesters wear beige
I agree with you Schomberg that there is still much to be learned but you also say..."Science has shown that the biodiversity of well managed jarrah forest recovers very rapidly and is soon very similar to undisturbed forest".
My concern with this comment is the definition of "well managed," "very rapidly," and "soon" and "very similar" and chuck in "sustainabile" as well! - these are all pretty vague sentiments. I would love to have a copy or the links to the studies you have read if they are freely available? Here's some below I found interesting:
One is a review of several studies about the impact of disturbance on Jarrah forest fauna and looks at some case studies including the impact of logging on red-tail forest Cockatoos:
"Why the integration of demographic and site-based studies of disturbance is essential for the conservation of jarrah forest fauna" (Grant Wardell-Johnson, Michael Calver, Denis Saunders, Simon Conroy, Barbara Jones).
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:9246/jarrahfauna.pdf
And the other study is: "Short-term impacts of logging on understorey vegetation in a jarrah forest". (Burrows, Ward and Cranfield, 2001)
http://www.forestry.org.au/pdf/pdf-members/afj/AFJ%202002%20v65/AFJ%20Ma...
Regardless of whether the forests will/maybe grow back in the long term to a similar plant species diversity/structure, etc, given they have the privilege of being "well managed" as you say, in the meantime, regrowth forest just isn't going to provide what certain animals need now!
Land for Wildlife say it takes about 100 years on average (and dependent on tree species and animal requirements) for eucalypt trees to form suitable hollows for fauna. Animals that are dependent on tree hollows such as Carnaby's, Red tail and Baudin's Black Cockatoos, Numbats and Brush tailed phascogales (some Nationally Endangered (Carnaby's and Red-tail Cockatoo) and all Rare or likely to become extinct by WA Government) and the other 39 species of vertebrates that are known to use tree hollows for breeding or shelter in WA forests can't wait that long! Many of these species are in serious decline. For example, Carnaby's Cockatoos are long-lived, they raise very few chicks in their lifetimes and their breeding rate is not replenishing their populations. The last 50 years has seen a 50% decline in the population and their range has been reduced by up to one third. Also, check out the Great Cocky Count figures from 2011. It is not true to say that all species claimed to be at risk from harvesting have survived many cycles of previous harvesting!
Go look through a forest after logging and check out the damage yourself. Go and visit the wildlife carer's that get given or collect the injured wildlife after logging of which many of those animals will never be released back into the wild. Go and see how many creatures use the pissy amount of habitat trees and shelterwood that is left in the forest copes after logging. And then go to that forest that was logged a year later after the post-harvest burn and see what did survive the logging survive that and then we can go there 20 - 30 years later to see what survived the logging and the burning and has set up home in the shelterwood that is left survive the next phase of logging. I'll see you there. I'll be wearing beige.
Re: Protestors halt Warrup forest logging, however many arrests
Sorry Frosty, you are so wrong, wrong, wrong.
You should be thankful you live in a wealthy democratic country where your little group's silly actions are tolerated to the extent they have been to date.
I cannot understand why you don't understand that sustainable harvesting does not harm the environment. Do you ever read peer reviewed scientific articles that prove this? Don't you believe that no species has ever become extinct due to harvesting of timber in our southwest? Don't you accept that our timber industry is one of the few truly sustainable industries in this State?
If you were genuinely concerned about planet Earth, you would be locking yourself onto a rising water table in the wheatbelt, or onto an excavator mining bauxite, or a water bore on the Gnangara mound.
Somehow I don't think these real issues worry you because you have become totally brainwashed by your own rhetoric.
Re: Protestors halt Warrup forest logging, however many arrests
I'm sorry Woodsman but you are wrong, wrong, wrong.
And I think you should think yourself lucky that we're not on opposing sides in Afghanistan or Iraq and forest activists only use Non-Violent Direct Action techniques to such good effect. I'm certainly thankful of that.
Foresters are like deniers of human-induced Climate Change, stuck in the past where no amount of new scientific evidence will change their minds.
And the evidence that shows logging is good for the forest - comes from industry agencies and scientists who have a vested interest and professional career and ego to protect. Any other good science is cast aside as fringe science or inconclusive.
Asking the forest industry if logging is good for the forest is like asking the nuclear industry or the genetic engineering industry if their products are good for society. When vested interests are trying to sell a product the answer will always be "of course it's good for you/us/the environment!"