More than 150 community members, from horse riders to BMX riders and young to old, turned out on Penguin Main Street under the Big Penguin to oppose logging in the Dial Range, while the government maintains the controversial industry can coâexist with recreation.
Sixteen‑year‑old Penguin resident Rose Welsh said it was important to protect local forests, where she spends time hiking with her mother.
“It’s important because we don’t want to see all the forests go bare,” she said. “We need it for our mountain bikers and our hikers, and it helps climate change with releasing oxygen.”
Rose was among the 150 people gathered at Penguin to protest planned logging in coupes in the Dial Range.
Protect Our North West Forests convener Ashley Bulgarelli told the crowd they were sending an “incredible message to our decision‑makers”. “That is that we care about the Dial Range and we are the majority, not the minority.” He said the group was backed by council, by economists and by the majority of the community who thinks the forests are “worth more standing”. “But sadly our major parties have their heads in the sand. They would rather send that forest that we can see to Asia as woodchips,” Mr Bulgarelli said. “We represent such a broad spectrum of the community. We are parents, we are retirees, we are small business owners, we are walkers, mountain bike riders, local business operators. We are not the minority.”
Independent Member for Braddon Craig Garland said logging these coupes would only leave costs and impacts, not benefits to the community. He called on Premier Jeremy Rockliff to acknowledge that the community doesn’t want the area logged, and to “not go there”.
In response, Minister for Business, Industry and Resources Felix Ellis said forestry, mining and public recreation have successfully co‑existed in the Dial Range area since the mid‑1800s. He said only five per cent of the Dial was available for logging as per the 2012 forest agreement. Mr Ellis said the sector is worth around $1.2 billion per year, and “our best‑practice approach to forestry management is the envy of many other jurisdictions around the world”.
Mr Bulgarelli said even though the first road had been laid in the new coupe there was still time to turn the plans around.