DEAR News Of The Area,

OUR majority green leaning Bellingen Shire Council, via their relentless pursuit for the campaign to ban all native forest logging, face a huge dilemma.

There are three wooden bridges supposedly listed for replacement on Darkwood Road, supposedly with concrete.

We wait with bated breath, two have recently partially collapsed in recent months and remain in a sad state of repair.

I move now to a fourth, Hobarts bridge, wooden but still structurally sound, apart from all the cross decking, which is in serious need of replacing.

Two schools, a preschool of about 300 kids, plus many residents are upstream.

The dilemma for Council is that this decking can only be milled from mature hardwood native forests, and even then is hard to procure with no old growth now cut.

So therefore wouldn’t it be total hypocrisy to allow this decking to be replaced from trees that they are totally adamant must not be cut.

So therefore, without a total backflip and loss of all credibility they will have to capitulate and surrender to reality or let this bridge collapse into the river.

This bridge also provides access for koalas north to south.

There is no harm in having to eat a bit of humble pie, I know for a fact it doesn’t taste too bad.

Finally that recent claim published in the media that Newry State Forest, a small forest south of Urunga was the only unburnt forest on the east coast, and also on average 140 mature trees are harvested per hectare, (maybe regrowth but not mature) at an average return of 20 cents per tree.

Why this sort of false propaganda in a so called free society remains unchallenged beggars belief.

Regards,
Darcey BROWNING.