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Yesterday morning, activists from Still Wild Still Threatened halted the logging of old growth forests near the headwaters of the Styx River while over the weekend, Giant Garrett was joined by Giant Wong in a long awaited visit to the threatened forests of the Lower Weld Valley.

The Huon Valley Environment Centre welcomed the 6 metre high Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong to the threatened forests of the Lower Weld Valley over the weekend. The visit coincided with huge Forestry Tasmania burn-offs in the area.

"'Giant Garrett' and 'Giant Wong' have come to witness the climate impact of Tasmania's outdated logging practices. They were greeted in the spectacular Weld Valley by helicopters dropping incendiaries on giant clearfells and mushroom clouds sending vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere", HVEC spokesperson Will Mooney said.

"These scorched and smouldering clearfells are climate crime-scenes" Mr Mooney said.

"This burning season, the vast carbon stocks in our old growth and native forests are again being unlocked and released into the atmosphere. Forestry Tasmania's own research shows that current logging regimes will see a loss of 6 million tonnes of carbon from the total carbon pool by 2020. Yet, the elected representatives who should be ensuring a climate friendly future have foolishly endorsed these polluting practices" said Mr Mooney.

11 forest activists halted logging in forestry coupe TN47C near the base of Mount Mueller yesterday morning to protest against the continued destruction of Tasmania’s unique old growth forests. An activist is currently perched in a treesit high up in the canopy of this ancient forest, which is located 100 metres from the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

“We are calling on Peter Garrett and Penny Wong to take immediate action against these ongoing climate crimes and protect Tasmania’s irreplaceable old growth forests” said Still Wild Still Threatened spokesperson Ula Majewski.

“Some of our most significant carbon sinks are being destroyed and burnt at a disturbing rate, rendering Tasmania’s forestry practices an international disgrace once again. The ongoing devastation of these unique ecosystems is a critical global issue. Protecting Tasmania’s ancient forests is a simple, cheap and intelligent climate change solution” said Miss Majewski.

All images by Peter van der Pasch.

www.huon.org www.myspace.com/stillwildstillthreatened www.coolforests.org