South coast anti-logging groups have held a walk-in protest in the heart of Batemans Bay to call for an end to the practice they see as "heartbreaking".
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Grass roots community groups gathered on the corner of Orient Street and Old Princes Highway in what is compartment one of Bateman State Forest and the premises of the Batemans Bay headquarters of Forestry Corporation on March 12 to call for an end to the logging of native forests.
Present were members from Brooman State Forest Conservation Group, Friends of the Forest Mogo, Knitting Nannas in the M.U.D (Milton Ulladulla District) and Manyana Matters Environmental Association.
Event spokesperson Nick Hopkins said the protest was about trying to promote the issue of the logging of state forests to the top of the agenda for the state election.
"Every day that trees have been felled in our public native forest is a sad day," Mr Hopkins said.
One of the world's longest environmental campaigns
The fight to stop logging in native forests stretches back to the start of operations at the Eden Chip Mill in 1969 and is one of the longest running environmental campaigns in the world.
"We've got no illusions [stopping native forest logging] is going to happen overnight, but in the last 12 months we've got a lot of traction and a lot more people are talking about it," Mr Hopkins said.
"It's constantly shuffling higher and higher on the priorities."
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He said while community support to stop logging had grown, there had been no slow down in logging action, which was why people were taking more and more, non-violent direct action.
Making logging a state-wide issue
The south coast protest on March 12 was in solidarity with action on the NSW north coast where protesters walked into and halted active logging operations in Doubleduke State Forest, near Yamba and Yarratt State Forest near Taree.
"We wanted to do something on the south coast in solidarity with them to promote the issue state wide," Mr Hopkins said.
He was encouraged to see multiple grass-roots groups coming together to send a message.
Knitting Nannas in the M.U.D. spokesperson Nanna Larri said the group was appalled to see logging continue in the area, especially after the Currowan Mega-fire and the massive extinction event in 2019-2020.
"We're asking everyone to listen to your Nannas and vote one for candidates who will save our south coast native forests," she said.
Mr Hopkins said he was turning a blind eye to Forestry workers driving past the protest from their headquarters to work in the forests for the day, because it would make him depressed.
"It's a heartbreaking sector for us to be involved in," he said.
"The time has come to end native forest logging."