Native forests which have been logged are more susceptible to bushfire, according to a new study by UTAS Professor David Bowman.
With Tasmanians increasingly under threat from climate-fuelled bushfires, now is the time to end native forest logging to strengthen climate resilience and community safety.
Decades of intensive native forest logging and burning across the island has resulted in one in five wet eucalyptuses being regrowth, less than 40 years old. These are more flammable that old growth native forests, which retain more moisture and act as a natural fire break.
Tasmanian communities, particularly on urban fringes and in regional areas, are increasingly under threat from climate change fuelled bushfires. Native forest logging is intensifying the threat. It’s simply reckless to continue with it.
The Liberals need to start taking the threat of climate impacts to Tasmanians seriously. Continuing to fail to act is to condemn current and future generations to severe, unmitigated bushfire risk.
In a climate crisis, we just can’t keep logging biodiverse, carbon-storing native forests.
It’s time the Liberal Government stopped propping up the destruction of Tasmania’s precious old growth forests with millions in public subsides, and acted to protect these places for their intrinsic value and their contribution to community safety.
