Tarkine forest threatened

By Ben Courtice HOBART Moves by the federal government to shore up its environment image before the next election have amounted to next to nothing for the Tarkine wilderness area in Tasmania's north-west. The forests of the Tarkine and the Great Western Tiers have been left out of the list of areas to be protected. A joint Commonwealth and state task force found that 92% of wilderness areas in Tasmania were already reserved from timber harvesting above the Commonwealth benchmark of 90%. However, this 92% includes large areas of button grass, Macquarie Harbour and Lake Pedder, and areas subject to mining activities. In the meantime, construction of the Heemskirk Link Road through the Tarkine, already $5 million over budget, is opening up the area to further logging and introduced pests. Large areas of the Tarkine's rainforests are to be logged in the next two to three years. As part of the campaign to save the Tarkine, the Wilderness Society has called a rally at 12.30pm on October 18 at Parliament House. Phone 349 366 or the Tarkine Tigers on 341 103.