Earlier this month El Grande, Australia’s biggest tree and the world’s largest flowering plant, collapsed after a controlled burn a few years ago prescribed by Forestry Tasmania (the government’s forest management department) got out of control and burnt El Grande causing it to collapse earlier this week. They even admit it. So why not overhaul a forest management policy that has been greatly criticized by both the public (the reason any forest policy is enacted) and forest practitioners everywhere? 
The management that Forestry Tasmania uses is one that is favored by industry and loathed by local wilderness advocates. Once again, the fate of industry and government in bed together removes the people from the equation all together. The bottom line here is that, “At the hands of Forestry Tasmania and despite its official protection, Australia’s greatest tree is now Australia’s biggest log.”
“El Grande’s collapse is the last chapter in a sorry tale of mismanagement by Forestry Tasmania and a perfect example of the logging industry’s inability to protect the unique values of Tasmania’s World Heritage-value forests,” said Vica Bayley, spokesperson for The Wilderness Society.
Here’s the kicker: a forest industry website decided that the tree was fine after the fire incident and would continue to flourish demonstrating the “natural resilience” that eucalyptus have to wildfires. Whoops.
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Although the sword of Damocles is now suspended over our heads, we humans still continue with the destruction of our finite planet and aren’t even aware of it, because we are so immersed in our personal affairs and economic expansion. Sad,
Easter Island all over again.
How could we let something like this happen!?! It is just so frustrating and stupid that “mistakes” like this occur.
Real men love Nature.
Let`s start trying to save Mother Earth.
My heart breaks. Trees, our truest soldiers.
I’m heartbreaking to see loss of beautiful nature of forest.
:’(
Hey, any new work or campaigns on rainforests?
Sam, that question is getting old. You ask it on virtually every post. We’ve answered a dozen times. Figure it out for yourself now.
Destruction of forests is a crime against humanity and the whole earth. The forestry practices in Tasmania are not sustainable. Even the jobs created by this type of forestry will be short lived. Meanwhile the impact on the environment will last for centuries.