11th May 2006

Media Release

Eagle Protests Face Full Police Onslaught

Five Tasmanian Forest Activists arrested in Styx and Denison.

Protesters protecting crucial Wedge-Tailed Eagle breeding sites in threatened Tasmanian forest have faced a full police onslaught, as logging operations resumed in the Denison and Styx Valleys.

In the Styx Valley today, long-term tree sitter Peter Firth was removed from a 75 metre tree and arrested after a helicopter was used to drop police into his tree-sit. In recent days, four protesters in the Denison Valley have been arrested after halting logging machinery in a coupe near the Snowy Range.

Both protests had been established to protect crucial Wedge-Tailed Eagle nesting sites in forests bordering the Tasmanian World Heritage Area.

"With time running out for the iconic threatened species, the woodchip industry has, again, put profits ahead of the public interest by continuing to log near these crucial nesting sites," spokesperson Peter Firth said.

"It is unfortunate that protesters have had to put themselves on the line to protect these crucial sites. Unless the Tasmanian Government and the woodchip industry reconsider their treatment of eagle nesting sites, this majestic species could go the way of the Thylacine," Mr Firth said.

"The recent Howard-Lennon forest agreement has failed to provide a lifeline for such critically endangered species as the Wedge-Tailed Eagle. As high-conservation value forests on the border of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area continue to be cleared for woodchips, crucial habitat for Australia's largest bird of prey is being rapidly destroyed," Huon Valley Environment Centre spokesperson Jenny Weber said.

Contact

Jenny Weber 0427 366 929