‘Commonsense’ call

A contributor to the original Forest Agreement has called for an informed debate and said environmental groups had misrepresented the logging industry.
Geoff Biggs says he stands by that plan but that some elements, such as fire prevention, have not been followed through.
He challenged Yarra Ranges councillor Samantha Dunn’s claim at the public meeting last week that the timber industry in Yarra Ranges accounted for just 91 jobs.
Mr Biggs is a born and bred Toolangi resident with past family links to the timber industry.
He was a Healesville Shire councillor when he was a member of the consultative committee for local government that put together the forest management plan for Central Highlands.
“What you get at these meetings is a lot of half-truths,” he said.
“I can think of five mills where you would get that number of people (in this region) and then you have businesses like the tyre and hydraulics businesses, and dress shops – when people have jobs they have money to spend.”
On claims that logging had a detrimental effect on tourism Mr Biggs said there was more tourism in the area in the ’40s and ’50s when there were more log trucks on the roads. He said native forests had proved to be sustainable over many years.
“Victoria has some of the best managed forests, or had done until recently,” he said.
He said the effects of logging were short-term. “The look is only temporary in these small areas,” he said. “People have to see the reality.”
He said the proposed coupes on Mt St Leonard would put pressure back on the Toolangi area for a few years, but said the emotional response of people opposed to logging led to misrepresentations of the industry and the effects on the environment and communities.
“We have pristine forests around here that have been logged for the past 100 years,” he said.
“It’s time commonsense prevailed.”