DEAR News Of The Area,

IN his letter “Timber industry rep’s full response” Steve Dobbyns said “Emotive claims that our native forests are being degraded and species driven to extinction ignores both the facts and the science.”

Are we not entitled to be emotional about the environment when it affects every single person living on this planet?.

Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest threats to our planet and Australia has the highest rate of extinction of mammals in the world.

People focus on trying to save certain species for example the whales and the iconic koala but there are numerous other endangered plant animal and insect species.

We don’t know which of these could provide important medical breakthroughs.

We need complex systems to keep the world resilient.

Logging damages entire ecosystems by removing old growth hollow bearing trees needed by so many native Australian wildlife.

It also opens up the canopy allowing noxious weeds.

The huge piles of biomass left on the forest floor after logging are a fire hazard and release carbon to exacerbate climate change.

Somehow native forests managed for millions of years just fine without the intervention of the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales.

The claim that logging them is sustainable and needed is greenwashing just like that spread by the fossil fuel industry.

Intact forests also reduce fire risk and protect waterways.

So let’s follow the real science like that found in Dr David Lindenmayer’s book “The Forest Wars” and let’s not be ashamed of being emotional when it comes to the saving of our native species and the future of our planet.

Regards,
Yvonne WADDY,
Valla Beach.