A law unto itself ?
The Forest Practices Act refers to material disadvantage but only for adjoining land-owners within 100 metres.
Prime agricultural land within the Huon Valley is being converted to plantations.
Although Forestry partakes in Waterwatch and Healthy Rivers there are set parameters for testing including silt. Chemical pollutants are not monitored.
Lucaston-Crabtree has considerable areas zoned semi-rural/residential but forestry is permitted as the surrounding hills are zoned rural.
North Forest Products are not bound by any neighbors' agreement only by the Act. We have no controls over aerial spraying, burn-offs or chemicals.
Local Planning Authorities, such as the Huon Council, are excluded from the decision making process for Private Timber Reserves. This means local economic, health, environmental, social, residential and busi-ness impacts are not considered in the granting of a PTR.
Perhaps you too are threatened by a private Timber Reserve?
For several years, logging operations statewide have been getting closer and closer to the places where we live. The past 2 years have seen a big increase in plantations taking over prime farmland, especially in the Burnie and now Huon Municipalities. Now it has reached the stage where some residents of Lucaston find that logging is planned right to their back fences.
Although adjoining landowners can object to Private Timber Reserve applications, less than 1% of objections throughout the state have been successful. * The Forest Practices Act is currently geared for these very outcomes. Support a review of the Act to allow local planning decisions to be made. Maybe then, we can have reasonable plantation development.
Clearfelling the headwaters of Bakers Creek or Mountain River will result in reduced summer stream flows for our agriculture. Clearfelling Lucaston will be plainly visible from our Gateway Tourist Information Centre at Grove. *Source: Sunday Tasmanian, 27 Aug 2000
Does a residential property with a direct view of the affected area suffer material loss?
Does a tourist enterprise such as a motel or restaurant suffer financial loss from fewer customers?
Does a property owner bordering a plantation suffer materially? As one resident has said, “I’d sell tomorrow but who would buy?”
What compensation will be paid to people who suffer financial, lifestyle or health losses?
In the Northwest of Tasmania, North Forest Products has bought up whole communities, bulldozed all infrastructure and obliterated whole towns and communities.
Stress is caused on all sides of the debate. A large part of this stress is probably due to a perceived lack of natural justice by all parties. The government has failed to provide an impar-tial adjudicator.
Forestry companies use herbicides, pesticides, animal poisons and chemical fertilisers on their plantations. These chemicals affect neighbors by leaching, drift and wandering animals. Lucaston does not have town water. Some draw water from the creek. Most collect tank water. How will aerial spraying and poisons effect the children in 20 years?
Other effects include increased heavy traffic on roads that are barely adequate for the school bus, and the long term effects of monoculture plantations on the native wildlife.
Now is the time to be involved to stop this happening in our valley. Don't wait until it happens to you too.
"Don't forget dear,the government says only two or three well seasoned logs"!!!
