save the Blue Tier
logging protest
Beris Hansberry - photographed at the Lottah base camp.
The longtime Goulds Country resident and mother of two has been charged with trespass on the Anchor Road coupe on 15 April 2004.
Defendant was arraigned on 3rd June at St. Helens and on the advice of J. Avery, Q.C., acting pro bono publico, entered a plea of not guilty. Case was set over for further proceedings on July 7, 2004.
UPDATE 2004/07/07: committal hearings has been set for 16 September, 2004
UPDATE 2004/09/16: charges dismissed
beris' story
Like too many people I've spent too many years watching huge tracts of Tasmania's bush go to the chipmills, or dozed into windrows for burning. Every autumn I see our beautiful sky full of the particles of dead animals and plants.
After all the years of work producing a case for reservation - and a raft of documentation coming from submissions, research, field work, the support of botanists, zoologists, archaeologists and hydrologists - we are still being ignored.
The Anchor Road coupe is not the first to go; clearfelling has already happened on Sun Flats and Murdochs Road, Crystal Hill, Lehners Ridge and along the Halls Falls walking track.
Don't be fooled by Forestry Tasmania's and Gunns' assurances - there are 60 more coupes in the Blue Tier environs, and thirteen years of the Regional Forest Agreement (not everyone agrees) to go ..... without community resistance anything can happen.
We are a community of local people united by a just cause, and represent thousands of others who support us. We made our stand at Anchor Road because all our efforts through the "right channels" have been dismissed, and we've had a gutful!
Remember, "anything can happen when good people stay silent"
All of you out there - speak up for what you care about, or you'll see it slowly disappear.