Protests in critically endangered Swift Parrot habitat that is being lost to logging are being carried out this morning in NSW and Tasmania.
Scott Daines, spokesperson for South East Forest Rescue, told The Beagle, "Logging has been halted in Mogo State Forest today by an activist suspended in a tree sit 25m high that is attached to logging machines.
"This action is in response to the continued heavy industrial logging of South Coast forests despite the devastating bushfires at the start of the year and despite the fact it is habitat for endangered species.
"An ANU report that came out last week estimates there are only 300 Swift Parrots left in the wild. The Swift Parrot breeds in large hollow trees in Tasmania in the summer and flies to New South Wales in the winter to feed on the flowering Spotted Gums. They are being driven to extinction by logging in both states.
“With 80% of the South Coast forests burnt in the bushfires the Government is still wasting the forests for woodchips and driving species into extinction,” said Scott Daines, spokesperson for South East Forest Rescue.
“This logging operation is the only one on the south Coast at present due to the fires and so its not a great leap to end all logging, enough is enough.”
“Nature loving locals are outraged at logging of swift parrot habitat following the ferocious fires the community had endured,” Friends of the Forest (Mogo) spokesperson Joslyn Van Der Moolen said.
“It is criminal that a feed nectar tree marked for protection for threatened species was pushed over in the logging operation.”
“With as little as 300 Swift Parrots left in the wild, now is a critical time to act and to end native forest logging.
Miranda Gibson, spokesperson for Forest Defence NSW, said. “In NSW and Tasmania people are taking action today to protect these endangered species, as the government continues to prop up and support this destructive industry that is decimating wildlife habitat.”
"We call on the government to step up to the plate and take action. Its time to prove that political will is not extinct and put an end to native forest logging for us and our children’s future."
