DEAR News Of The Area,

THE latest State of the Environment Report is a damning analysis on biodiversity loss.

Ignored and treated with silence by the National Party, it’s an indictment of their ignorance.

No response from Forestry Corporation either.

This organisation is hell bent on over-extraction.

Sanctioned by the Nationals, their logging practices are driving Koalas and the Greater Glider to extinction.

On a product level, how do these organisations cope with evidence that millable log girth has been decreasing for more than fifty years.

Thanks to overlogging and little in the way of plantations, reversing the decline will take years.

I can hear the response to this letter from conservative readers.

Simplistic and avoiding the evidence, they’ll say “just another greenie”.

Well you uninformed ill read critics, choke on this.

I’ve worked in the industry.

I love the scream of the saw and the sight of timber peeling from the log to the bench.

What’s more, decades back, I regenerated a large block of overlogged forest for slow commercial use.

My thoughts on timber and ecology are backed by long term action and sweat.

I’ve earned the right to a strong written opinion.

I write this letter with hope that I’ll get a response from conservatives repelling the peer reviewed science from the authors of the State of the Environment Report.

Conservatives however, are timid with facts.

The ignorance that’s typified by both these organisations depends on silence.

When they use defensive words the essence is misleading and avoids mention of the extinction crisis.

The National Party and Forest Corporation are tainted by their ignorance and history.

Regards,
Warren TINDALL,
Bellingen.