By JESSE GRAHAM
OH POSSUM is right.
A group of four anti-logging protesters gathered earlier today at Fernshaw picnic ground along the Black Spur for a cheeky demonstration.
The group gathered at about 11am and stood by the roadside, bearing signs promoting the Great Forest National Park (GFNP) proposal and against logging in the area.
After observing a number of laden logging trucks travelling towards Healesville, the group stripped off and covered themselves with their signs after noon, when hearing a heavy engine roaring around the corner.
However, the truck driver greeted by the naked protesters was for Bark King, a Montrose-based mulch business.
The group cheered as the truck passed, before putting their clothes back on and gathering for lunch, while they waited for other protesters to arrive.
Demonstration organiser Sharron Wallace told the Mail that the protest was organised after a similar event in July last year, in the Toolangi State Forest.
In that demonstration, protesters also stripped off to promote the GFNP proposal, which involves establishing a national park in the Central Highlands – a measure that would bring an end to logging in the Toolangi area, which is the home of the critically-endangered Leadbeater’s Possum.
The proposal is being fiercely debated between environmental groups and proponents of the timber industry, and the future of the possum is yet to be discussed by an Industry Taskforce being organised by the Victorian Government.
Ms Wallace said the last year’s protest was not well-observed by tourist traffic, as it was held deep in the forest, whereas the picnic ground was in the middle of the busy Black Spur on the brink of the weekend.
“This is an ideal spot, because people come up and down here all of the time,” she said.
She said the event would continue until 4pm today, and that she expected more people to arrive as the day went on.
