IN MY humble opinion, local foresters and logging contractors seem to have had been greatly misrepresented as folk who must not care for the forests - otherwise why protest about logging?
And why would Labor Vic shut down a world class and sustainable industry?
This is madness in my opinion.
Sometimes the best friend a forest can have is a group of highly skilled foresters, contractors, and loggers - men and women who know the bush and know how to contain fires, operate bulldozers and forestry machines in treacherous terrain night and day in order to save the trees from wildfire.
Also in my experience and opinion, wildfires don’t seem to care one little bit for ecologists or protestors, which is probably why in my 20 years of working in forests l never witnessed an ecologist or protester demanding a wildfire stop.
l have witnessed the people from the timber industry work together with government agencies and stop wildfires though - food for thought for the great tragedy to come when Vic Labor destroy the friends of the forests.
Those friends with benefits like firewood, sawlogs, employment - and a community of bushies within a community many overlook, and some despise.
One closing thought, where will 2025’s firewood and hardwood sawn timber come from?
It can’t all come from Tassie or NSW.
Paul Hobby, longtime Mansfield bush worker
