Fashion designer Liz Davenport with a Carnaby's Black Cockatoo. Picture: Ian MunroActivists who spearheaded a grassroots campaign to protect old-growth forests ahead of the 2001 State election have again vowed to make logging a key issue at the March election.
Environmental campaigners, once again led by Perth fashion designer Liz Davenport, met yesterday to start a hard-hitting campaign against a plan by logging interests to sell up to 800,000 tonnes of native timber a year from South West forests for plywood, paper pulp and biofuel.
The draft Forest Management Plan, which the Barnett Government is considering, presents scenarios including increasing karri woodchipping by up to 50 per cent and increasing the logging of marri trees, critical for the endangered Carnaby's black cockatoo, by as much as 37.5 per cent. The plan is out for public comment until November 7.
Ms Davenport said just as the community achieved a ban on logging of old-growth forests a decade ago, supporters could again be rallied to resurrect the influential campaign.
"We did it before and we can do it again," she said.
Forestry Minister Terry Redman said the current level of logging was sustainable.