500 year old giant trees to die for Japanese paper mills *************************************************************** The 'secret giants' of the Styx Valley are the tallest trees in Australia and the tallest flowering plants on the planet. Called Eucalyptus regnans - they are second only in height to the famous coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempivirens) of California. A 60 Minutes report (19/11/2000) on the logging of old growth forest in Tasmania showed the Styx Valley - Valley of the Giants - is threatened by logging and woodchipping NOW. The animals living amongst these forests will lose their homes. These magnificent trees are destined to become woodchips for Japanese paper mills! See these incredible ancient giants - some of them 500 years old or more at The Wilderness Society - Tasmania website. http://www.wilderness.org.au/home/tasmania.html Also visit - Boycott woodchipping http://www.green.net.au/boycott/bwchome.htm Please write to the Tasmanian Government and tell them the Valley of the Giants (Styx Valley) is worth more in tourist dollars than a short term gain in woodchips. The Tasmanian Government plans to replace this splendid piece of natural heritage with plantation timber. They will preserve a small piece of the forest as a reminder of what it looked like. This is not good enough. Write to the Premier of Tasmania, (the Premier of Tasmania is the head of the State Government of Tasmania, Australia ) and demand that the last of the old growth forest be saved from logging. Premier Jim Bacon, The Premier's Office, Department of Premier and Cabinet 11th Floor, 15 Murray St, Hobart Tasmania, Australia or Premier Jim Bacon, Tasmanian Government, GPO Box 123B Hobart Tasmania 7001 AUSTRALIA E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: +61 3 6233 3464 Fax: + 61 3 6234 1572 I have enclosed the letter I wrote below. ****************************************************************** To:Premier Jim Bacon, Tasmanian State Government, Tasmania. [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Ms Marguerite Wegner P.O. Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 20.11.2000 Dear Mr Bacon, Please stop the logging of the Styx Valley in Tasmania. The Styx Valley deserves to be preserved for future generations. Sacrificing the trees of the Styx Valley for short term monetary gains from woodchip dollars and replacing the ancient trees with tree plantations shows complete lack of thought by the Tasmanian Government. Tasmania is in a wonderful position to harvest tourist dollars from such a spectacular wonder of the world as the Styx Valley. In the long term, harvesting tourist dollars will be more profitable for the Tasmanian Community than harvesting the irreplacable ancient trees of the Styx Valley. To allow the destruction of these ancient trees indicates foolhardy and short-sighted thinking by the Tasmanian government. Tourism can provide Tasmania with an increasing income and many jobs for local people. As an example of how some overseas countries value Tasmania as a tourist destination, here are some excerpts from a recent article in the Sunday Times 19/11/2000, Western Australia (Travel, pge 72) "Tassie takes the cake." "World-beating, multi-award winning Tasmania could just about be the best place in the universe." "Glowingly acknowledged in the world media, the island State reigns as the best temperate island in the world." "North America's top-selling travel magazine Travel and Leisure rates a Tasmanian tour in the top 100 great trips for the 21st Century." "Travel and Leisure also named Tasmania as one of the top ten places to spend Christmas." "One of North America's biggest selling newspapers The Chicago Tribune named the West Coast's Strahan the best little town in the world." "On the East Coast, Wineglass Bay was named one of the five Australian beaches in the World's Top 50 Beaches, compiled by Britain's The Independent newspaper." "Outside magazine went one better, naming the Freycinet National Park coastal strip as one of the World's Top 10 Beaches." We all know of the beauty of Cradle Mountain and the beautiful unspoilt wilderness that Tasmanians have fought so hard to preserve. All concerned Australians and concerned citizens from the rest of the world should be allowed to have a say in the fate of the Styx Valley. Such a place of natural beauty belongs to us all. I would love to visit the Styx Valley with my daughter in a few years time when she has finished her studies. The towering trees of the Styx Valley are an awe inspiring natural cathedral created by nature over hundreds of years. Please don't cut them down. Kind regards, Marguerite Wegner
