Dear Phil

The author doesn't have the space in his original article to cover every conceivable question the activists might fire at him.
On page 3 of the Comments MW Poynter explains that 74% of Tasmania's forests ARE PERMANENTLY reserved.

Once again you have proved the authors assertion that nearly all complaints aimed against the native forestry industry are baseless and unfounded - stemming from bias and ignorance of the wilfully uniformed.

Tis true, tis pity, pity tis tis true: I cannot get the thought of those monumental piles of wood chips on the wharf at Burnie out of my mind. Perhaps the first(and last) sight of Burnie the passengers on those cruise ships enjoy are those impressive mounds of wood chips.
I used to think that the word" sustainable" when used in relation to forest 'managemen't of our publicly owned native forests meant forest practice geared to ensuring the ongoing viability of the forests, including recognition of their v alue as carbon sinks. Until I learned that sustainability is about preserving the management status quo.
Why is this Forest Agreement so scary a proposition to many of the above comment posters?

Gran, it might not have ocurred to you that the wood chips are going to be made into products which people are going to use. In most applications these will have a long life and the carbon contained therein will not be returned to the atmosphere.

On the other hand, if the material is left on the forest floor, even if it just rots and is not burnt, a lot of the decomposition products ultimately become CO2 and add to the amount in the atmosphere. Growing trees do not last forever, as has been pointed out on many ocassions, in the natural environment they ultimately die, rot away or are burned in wild forest fires.

David

A family member was given the Anna Krien book Into the Woods for Christmas
After the recipient, normally a slow and carefully comprehending reader, finished the book inside a week I picked it up and consequently I would urge all contributing to this discussion to read it.
For anyone not familiar with how things are done in Tasmania, this is required reading.
Oh, and a happy 2011 to all.
gran