From: The Mercury

Angry forester rejects eagles' nest 'untruths'
By PHILIPPA DUNCAN
12may06

IN a wet sclerophyll forest past Huonville, a lone birds' nest is causing quite a stir.

It sits in a tall tree, surrounded by forest so dense it dapples light, and is home to a rare breeding pair of wedge-tailed eagles.

A few kilometres away, up a hill and down a ridge, Tony Bennett and his crew use chainsaws to fell a 15ha coupe of native forest.

Even farther across more valleys and ridges, out of sight, is Weld Camp, home to a dedicated band of forest protesters.

Usually this is as close as the "greenies" -- as Mr Bennett calls them -- get to Barnback Ridge in the Denison State Forest.

But when Mr Bennett and his crew arrived to log the area last week, the protesters came too.

This week four protesters have been arrested, but not before their actions stopped logging for almost a week.

Mr Bennett has encountered cars and young women blocking roads, a protester perched on a tripod above a gate and, on Wednesday, men chained to his $250,000 tree harvesters.

"They claim they are protecting the nest," the third-generation logger said.

"But we're nowhere near it.

"We're down over the hill and two kilometres away -- not even in the line of sight of it -- and they know that.

"What's getting up my nose is the untruths and the crap."

Warrick Jones, one of the protesters arrested, said the action was to highlight the endangered eagles in the area.

"We are trying to stop them destroying the habitat of an endangered species," he said.

He said there were only 117 breeding pairs left in Tasmania.

"Small buffer zones given to them by Foresty Tasmania mean nothing when large swaths of native forests are being logged," Mr Jones said.

But Forestry Tasmania Huon District forest manager Steve Davis said the nest was in a 15ha fauna reserve, with the coupe 1.5km from the reserve's edge.

"This is well outside the required distance of 500m," Mr Davis said.

Mr Bennett said the loggers complied with all regulations.

"We have got just as much interest, if not more so, in the wellbeing of the forest and the species," he said.

"We don't need this hassle."