Veteran forest campaigner becomes 12th Bulga arrest

Veteran forest campaigner Susie Russell was arrested yesterday in Bulga State Forest. She was the 12th arrest in the local community’s campaign to protect the Bulga forest.

Ms Russell had attached herself to the giant logging machinery until she was cut off.

‘Every hour those machines don’t work is 50 trees saved,’ she said. ‘Our community will throw itself at the machines for as long as we can. We don’t want to give up any chance to save this precious forest and the Greater Gliders and Koalas that live there.

‘I have no doubt that our actions are on the right side of history.

‘All the science, all the reports, all the experts, say that if we want to repair the damage to our planet, we need to start by not doing more damage. That is the most straightforward and cheapest way to make progress.

‘Removing hundreds of thousands of trees from the top of the catchment is insanity,’ said Ms Russell.

‘The trees hold the land together. When the intense rain events come and the soil washes downstream, and the rivers silt up and the floods are extreme, no doubt those currently overseeing the destruction will wring their hands and lament.

‘I am sickened at the inertia of the environment departments and their ministers, at state and federal level. They have no vision, and no appetite for action. They are keeping their seats warm while their support base evaporates and the damage intensifies.

‘Those of us putting ourselves in arrestable situations trying to stop the carnage, would much rather be planting trees or running youth programs or removing weeds.

‘The irony is that all those programs are being constantly undermined by the continued damage done in the name of a few jobs, or votes.

‘The money subsidising the destruction could be much better spent on… we all have a long list,’ she said.

Logging in Bulga State Forest is expected to continue for months, with 2000 hectares in planning.