Sustainable Timber Tasmania has removed several native forestry coupes that encountered extensive community opposition from its harvesting schedule, but environmental groups remain concerned that they have been offset with new coupes added elsewhere.
The state's public forestry enterprise updated its Three Year Wood Production Plan this month, detailing its proposed native forest harvesting then native reseeding - including techniques and forest type - until mid-2024.
Harvesting is still planned this financial year for two native coupes covering 85 hectares alongside Krushka's mountain bike trail at Derby, where road clearing was carried out earlier in the year. One will undergo aggregated retention in which clumps of trees are kept, and the other is listed for seed tree retention, where occasional single trees are kept.
The remainder of the coupes will be clearfelled.
A nearby 50-hectare coupe in the Mutual Valley, which contained extensive tree fern glades and old growth mixed rainforest, has been removed from the schedule altogether despite earlier plans for clearfelling this financial year.
Blue Derby Wild co-ordinator Louise Morris said they were seeking more information about whether the coupe had been removed permanently from the schedule, as well as further ecological details about the Krushka's coupes.
"It's just a reprieve, really," she said.
"We have concerns that logging in the Krushka's coupes, and Atlas in 2023, will impact Main Creek that sits on the border, and where we've found Astacopsis gouldi (Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish).
"We're also looking at the presence of stag beetles.
"We understand that STT is looking to log the two coupes as soon as its dry enough."
The Blue Derby mountain bike trails will see an influx of competitors and spectators for the Enduro World Series in April, with logging works expected to be complete to within about 50 metres of parts of the Krushka's trail.
Several coupes elsewhere in Northern Tasmania were added for the year, including a 42-hectare area of extensive eucalypt forest comprising 93 per cent mature habitat north of Golconda Road at Golconda, but not considered to contain old growth according to STT datasets obtained by The Examiner. It's scheduled for seed tree retention.
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A new 70-hectare native forest coupe between Pipers Brook and Retreat roads will be harvested using seed tree retention in the coming 12 months, containing 98.6 per cent mature habitat, the vast majority of which is medium to high density and 2.7 per cent old growth.
Another new coupe added for 2021/22 with almost 100 per cent mature habitat was a 50-hectare area of eucalyptus forest just south of Pioneer, also for seed tree retention.
Fingal residents can expect an increase in forestry activity to the south, near Dickies Ridge Forest Reserve, with mature trees harvested and sawlogs retained in two regeneration coupes covering 235 hectares by mid-2022. A 47-hectare native eucalypt coupe to the immediate south with 78 per cent old growth is still in line for shelterwood retention in the coming 12 months, in which all trees are harvested apart from those "required to provide shelterwood".
Two 50-hectare native eucalypt coupes were added south of Lefroy around Bridport Road for 2022/23, both containing high levels of masked owl habitat.
For the same period, a 30-hectare native coupe with 64 per cent old growth was added west of Mersey Forest, along with a 27-hectare coupe entirely covered with mature habitat near Sugarloaf Forest Reserve.
STT encountered extensive opposition to its plans to harvest a coupe in the Florentine Valley near Maydena due to the prevalence of mature leatherwood. This coupe has now been removed from the schedule.
Another supposedly cancelled coupe was at the Castle Forbes Forest west of Franklin in the Huon Valley, which was subject to a petition to Parliament earlier this year.
The petition with 730 signatures, sponsored by Franklin Greens MHA Rosalie Woodruff, detailed concerns about the potential removal of old growth hollow-bearing trees that could be habitat for the swift parrot and masked owl.
Wilderness Society Tasmania campaign manager Tom Allen said these were likely offset with additional coupes elsewhere.
"There's a whole bunch more that have gone back on that are contentious," he said.
"The analogy is that it's like burning the deck chairs on the titanic."
Mr Allen said they had concerns about the Wentworth Hills in the Central Plateau, where four more coupes were added covering 230 hectares for 2023/24 with extensive old growth and mature habitat values.
Information in the three-year plan is subject to alteration as STT prepare Forest Practices Plans for individual coupes pre-harvest, a spokesperson said.
"The final actual coupe and harvest boundaries and operational specifications are determined following the completion of detailed field surveys, evaluation of natural, biodiversity and cultural values and stakeholder consultation," the spokesperson said.
Additional coupes could also be added after publication.
STT did not respond to questions about the extent to which old growth is retained, and how much consideration it gives to "mature habitat" when selecting coupes.
When asked about why certain coupes were added or removed, STT only provided a response for the Mutual Valley coupe which it says was excluded for "operational reasons".
STT claimed it works "alongside local council, tourism operators and the mountain bike community" in regards to its logging activity near the Derby mountain bike trails.
The government business enterprise has a legislated requirement to make 137,000-cubic-metres of eucalyptus and veneer logs available annually.