🚀 go-pugleaf

Alert!!! Australian Old-Growth Forest to be Destroyed
Long-Standing Citizen Blockades Broken, 24 Hour Logging by Floodlight
Planned

Stop the logging of precious forests in East Gippsland and Weld Valley

Our colleagues in Victoria and Tasmania, Australia have asked us to
issue an
alert about imminent destruction of world-class rainforest in the Weld
Valley and in Goolengook, Victoria. Defenders of these irreplaceable
forests
need your help immediately!

The old growth forest at Goolengook is one of the last remaining intact
unlogged catchments, outside of reserves, on the East Coast of
Australia. It
lies adjacent to Errinundra National Park, in an area known as East
Gippsland.

Australia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world,
and
here are found the tallest flowering plants in the world.

The Weld Valley in Tasmania is another precious area, which like
Goolengook
(in Victoria) has been defended by environmentalists blockades. After 31
days of stopping work on a new road and bridge into the spectacular Weld
Valley, on March 6 community members were faced with a large police
operation to close camp. Forestry Tasmania officials and Police entered
the
area, declaring
the public forest around the new road an 'exclusion zone'. This means
that anyone found in the area is liable for fines of up to $2000 and/or
six months in jail.

At Goolengook, a blockade has been maintained for five years since the
state
government sent loggers in to destroy it on World Environment Day in
June,
1997. A massive fort built over five years is being dismantled and so
far
nineteen people have been arrested.

Both areas are home to threatened species which are allegedly protected
by
Australian law. Yet logging destroys the habitat of these species,
leading
to the intolerable situation where one arm of the Australian and state
governments are overseeing their protection, while another is killing
them.

Forty one state, national and international groups have already
requested
that the Victorian State Government implement 350 metre buffers around
all
rainforest in the State. Goolengook has warm, cool and the very rare
overlap
rainforest. A lot of this forest will be trashed because they are not
granting 350 metre buffers.

At Goolengook the police will be blocking roads 30 kilometers from where
the
logging will take place and commence 24 hour logging under spotlight,
protected by 150 cops. Anthony Amis of NFN Victoria said, "It's like a
military operation!!"

Friends of the Earth Melbourne is calling for an international boycott
on
all timber products exported from Victoria.

PLEASE WRITE Victoria Premier Steve Bracks
(steve.bracks@parliament.vic.gov.au) and Tasmania Premier Jim Bacon, c/o
Parliament House, Hobart 7000 Tasmania, Australia. Let them know that
the
logging in Tasmania and Victoria Australia is trashing precious
ecosystems
that must be included in the Gondwana Forest Sanctuary. Demand that the
Victoria and Tasmania Governments pull the loggers out immediately and
give
protection to the East Gippsland forests and Weld Valley.

By logging these forests at Weld Valley and Goolengook we are losing
irreplaceable forests of international significance.

for information on Goolengook's forests please go to;
http://www.jeack.com.au/%7Emartdy/Goolengook.htm

for updates on goolengook campaign go to www.geco.org.au

For information on the Gondwana campaign please see www.nativeforest.org
Phil Knight
Native Forest Network
PO Box 6151
Bozeman, MT 59771-6151
(406) 586-3885
pknight@wildrockies.org

The Gondwana Forest Sanctuary Campaign - working to create the world's
first
inter-continental forest preserve, to protect the world's southernmost
forests.
www.nativeforest.org/campaigns/gondwana/index.html
Phil Knight
Native Forest Network
PO Box 6151
Bozeman, MT 59771-6151
(406) 586-3885
pknight@wildrockies.org

The Gondwana Forest Sanctuary Campaign - working to create the world's
first
inter-continental forest preserve, to protect the world's southernmost
forests.
www.nativeforest.org/campaigns/gondwana/index.html

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Check out these NFN web sites:

NFN Northern Hemisphere www.nativeforest.org

NFN Southern Hemisphere www.nfn.org.au

The Native Forest Network is a global collective of forest activists and
NGOs who seek to protect undeveloped native forests worldwide. Native
Forest
Network helps to link local campaigns with global struggles, and
provides a
forum for debate and action on international issues such as the agenda
of
the WTO.