Locals from the Bulga Plateau have vowed to resist attempts by what they say is the State-owned logging corporation’s carnage in Bulga State Forest, and to that end this morning they blocked access to the logging zone.
At the time of writing, NSW Police have arrived at the blockade and there are discussions underway about safe removal of tripod – the protestor has been up on the tripod’s platform since dawn.
Long-time local forest campaigner Susie Russell, who was also the creator of the Trees Not Bombs café in post-flood Lismore, said the logging is totally unsustainable. ‘Logging has been systematically eating away at this special place for decades.
‘The community of NSW, the real owner of these forests, is the poorer. We lose the diversity of plants and animals that should be living here and that haven’t recovered from the 2019/20 fires.
Ms Russell said are, which is at the very top of the Hastings catchment will see the community lose the huge volume of stored carbon in the trees and the soil. ‘This at a time we need to stop emissions. We lose the integrity of the upper catchment, which as we face wild weather and extreme rainfall is key to slowing floods.
‘We lose the cultural heritage value. This area is on the walking track used by First Nations peoples for thousands of years as they moved between the western plains and the coast. In those days it was shaded by giant trees on either side and clean spring water was plentiful just below the ridge. The trees being left now are barely more than saplings.
Ms Russell said the Secretary General of the United Nations is urging the world to strong action to both defend nature and stop emissions. ‘Protecting our largest, oldest trees is absolutely critical, now more than ever.
‘If Dom Perrotet won’t stand up to the National Party cabal that make the resource decisions in NSW, we will.
‘It’s time for ordinary people, all of us to #StandUp4Forests and #SaveBulgaForest.’
The Nationals & their mates continue to use & abuse NSW. Slackness is their underbelly.
Gotta make all these paper straws now, so we need the wood.
Note to Police: Don’t remove them, play Tom MacDonald – People so stupid, Loud speakers, continuous loop, 24/7. Let’s see if they really mean it.
Where’s Premier Perrottet, another of those damn enviro protesters ” threatening our way of life” needing the locking up treatment.
Do forest protectors get 2 years worth of rest behind bars?
These young people should not need to risk imprisionment if our NSW Government were not so blinded by Greed. All of our lives have changed since the loss of three billion animals in the Black Summer Fires. End Native Forest Logging in NSW. Thankyou to the heroes calling out for us to save the trees, our waterways and the animals. Visiting the South Coast where the the tragedy of the fires is so stark. Listen to the young people its their future we are taking away with our failure to recognise change.
Caroline, 100%
This bizarre, long term hatred and fear of the forests and trees by the perennial groups in power started over 3,000 years ago with the deforestation of England. Scotland, Wales, Europe for agriculture, tool and weapons of war forging. Then on to the British Imperial Colonies, and just look at the results! In the Northern Rivers, upon British invasion, the thick, ancient forests were feared because that’s where the Aboriginal Tribes were able to retreat, and hide from the homicidal attacks by the Mounted Police, especially after their, and the Commissioners of Crown Lands’ creation under the 1939 Crown Land Act! (All in the documents!) After some 80% of the Aboriginal people were murdered, starved, poisoned, the so called “Crown Lands were available for lease and purchase, especially after 1856. (Documents!) Then the deforestation went apace, leaving only precious tiny remnants still in existence. What a stupid, disgusting tale of ignorance, land greediness and untramelled destruction, endorsed and enabled by “developer” Governments. Shame, shame, now defend what’s left!
There were no trees in Britain 12,000 years ago. Britain has been a glacier for most of this 2.6 million year ice age we are currently in. All European forests are new. Some trees were burnt up preventing the poor from freezing to death in the winter. Innovations in coal mining gave a new, cheap method for wealthy elites to keep the under privileged from sickness and a painful early death. Europeans have spent the last few months illegally cutting down the forests to have survival fuel for winter due to the closing of coal power stations, nuclear power stations, and the capping of their domestic gas wells. Many poor will still die this winter – many more next winter.
Message for Christian: Kathy wrote 3,000 years, not 12,000. Missed the point again, but good rant
No one’s quiet in this neck of the woods. Even the ‘flim flams’ have a go.
Good onya Susie and crew at the Bulga, and thanks again for your magnificent service in Lismore after the floods.
Forty years ago after the Terania Creek and Mount Nardi campaigns that lead to the establishment of the Nightcap National Park, we were told that all forestry would be from plantations on disused farmlands within twenty years. Still today, they continue to lie.
As usual, the usual “haters gotta hate”, but most people on the North Coast have long supported the end of destruction of all our native forests.
Ignore these perennial nasties, dear friends; now is the time for finally ceasing native forest destruction in at least south eastern Australia, and with Plibersek in Canberra, Kean in Sydney and D’Ambrosio in Melbourne, there may never be a better time to support the forests, with voices and bodies.