Friends of the Forest Mogo recently hosted NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, where he discussed the benefits of retaining the country's forests.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
"An industry that causes this much damage and views nature as waste is an industry that has no social license to operate," he said as he viewed recently-logged native forests just outside Mogo.
"There's so much more gain from keeping our forests than destroying them."
He met with around 20 people who gathered to mark National Tree Day, which was was co-founded in 1996 by Planet Ark and Olivia Newton-John and has now grown into one of Australia's largest community tree planting and nature protection event.
Mr Shoebridge said logging state forests close to settlements like Mogo was a lost opportunity for recreational trail building.
He said a town like Mogo could gain a financial benefit from being a mountain biking centre in the same way Scottsdale in Tasmania and Woolgoolga in northern NSW had become.
"It would be an economic boost for the area, growing businesses and jobs, but the forests have to be maintained as they are - beautiful and natural - they can't be chopped down," he said.
"There's simply no justification for this sort of destruction of native forests."
Mr Shoebridge said the future of forestry in NSW and Australia was a future based upon plantations as that was where the jobs were.
"That's how we can sustainability harvest timber, and that's how we can protect these beautiful native forests and the animals and plants that rely on them for survival," he said.
"We also need to expand the hemp industry.
"The fibre from hemp can replace much of the timber that's currently being taken from native forests.
"Too many of our trees are being wasted, turned into pulp for disposable packaging and paper."
