DEAR News Of The Area,

AS children growing up in the Kalang Valley in the ‘70s my siblings and I witnessed first hand the devastating impact of excessive logging upon the river.

Following the intensive bulldozer logging of the ‘60s and early ‘70s we had huge floods in 1975 and 1976 which carried huge quantities of gravel and silt as well as numerous large logs and branches.

When the floodwaters receded, the results were plain to see: big log jams and huge deposits of sediment blocking the river channel in many places.

Then, for years and years, during dry spells, the river dried out and went underground at these deposits and the remaining pools turned stagnant and discoloured from orange & brown algae blooms, rendering the water unfit for drinking or bathing and starving much of the aquatic life of oxygen.

Furthermore, the logs acted as battering rams, breaking and tearing at the soft alluvial banks, setting off an erosive process that washed away much productive river flat, to be replaced by gravel beds.

This erosion is still occurring in many spots.

On our property we have managed to get it largely under control through years of remedial work, most of it by hand, with spade and wheelbarrow, but most people have done nothing as it is a large and daunting task.

We lost at least three acres of our best land while some others lost closer to ten.

And of course no compensation or assistance was ever offered; we just had to wear it.

And now the timber industry and Forestry Corporation want to inflict the same on us again, only worse.

To us in Kalang it is our future well-being at stake and once again I plead with the powers-that-be to pull the plug on this inane, ill-advised plan to destroy our headwaters and associated tributaries.

We are not protesting for the fun of it or to be deliberately difficult, as some might think, but because it is vital and necessary to stop such a stupid activity before it becomes too late.

Regards,
P MEITHKE,
Kalang.