The Tasmanian Greens stand in solidarity and admiration of the actions taken by Aboriginal community leader Ruth Tipruthanna Langford and community campaigners defending old growth forests at West Kunanyi.
Ruth was arrested upholding her cultural obligation to protect country. Country that was never ceded by Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and country increasingly being destroyed by Forestry Tasmania and the Liberals.
Over the past two days, Forestry Tasmania’s clearfell operations have been halted on their mission to decimate the precious remaining old growth forest at Russell Ridge on the West Kunanyi range. These forests contain rare, ancient yellow gums, a species that rarely reach the sizes seen in this coupe – a species Forestry Tasmania considers only good for woodchips.
Russell Ridge is also covered in lush rainforest species and is home to rare and endangered wildlife.
Campaigners from the Grass Roots Action Network, the Wilderness Society and the Bob Brown Foundation have joined Ruth to halt the logging machines. The Greens applaud and support their actions.
With the planet heating, increasing the pressures on nature, it is past time to stop the smashing and burning of Tasmania’s irreplaceable old growth forests. These places are critical homes for Tasmania’s threatened special plants and animals.
In a place like West Kunanyi, which has already seen so much destruction, remnant patches of old growth such as at Russell Ridge have inestimable value and need to be permanently protected.
