By JESSE GRAHAM
PASSIONATE protestors braved a cold morning in the Toolangi State Forest last week and wore naught but masks as part of a silent anti-logging protest.
Logging body, VicForests, however, has said it is taking measures to protect a newly-logged coupe under dispute.
Four protestors took part in a naked demonstration at around 10am on Tuesday 8 July on the side of Sylvia Creek Road.
According to the participants, the purpose of the action was not to disrupt work, block the road or lock onto machinery, but to try and send a message.
“Just as they are naked and defenceless, so too is the forest,” a statement from the group read.
“Just as we need to create a culture that protects women’s bodies from male violence, we need to create a culture based on conservation of nature.”
The participants wore nothing but masks, but covered their fronts with a sign, which read “Naked for the mother”.
The words “Great Forest National Park” were spelt out in individual signs along the ground before them, and the Knitting Nannas of Toolangi were seated nearby, knitting as the demonstration took place.
The group said the timing of the demonstration was to coincide with harvesting beginning at ‘Rusty’ coupe, which sits about two kilometres into the forest.
They said they believed the harvesting of the coupe was taking place before the Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group (LPAG) recommendations came into effect.
Under the recommendations, which were accepted by the government, logging must take place at least 200 metres from old growth trees that could contain the endangered possum.
However, VicForests’ Stakeholder and Planning General Manager Nathan Trushell said the buffer zone would be enforced in the coupe.
He said that a Leadbeater’s Possum was detected in a tree in 1988 by the Australian National University, and that the monitoring area in the coupe boundary would not be harvested
The site would also have a 50-metre buffer zone from logging.
Mr Trushell said the rest of the coupe did not meet the pre-harvest criteria of being a Leadbeater’s Possum habitat zone, but that the group would use its new logging model for it, anyway.
“Despite not meeting the criteria as habitat for Leadbeater’s Possum, the area is being harvested in line with the new Regrowth Retention Harvesting model that VicForests brought into effect on 1 July this year,” he said.
The protestors said they were aiming to increase activity in the lead-up to the state election in November.
