TAS: Massive tree declared dead by ForestryTas

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2003
TAS: Massive tree declared dead by ForestryTas

By Libby Sutherland

HOBART, Dec 10 AAP - A giant Tasmanian eucalypt believed to be Australia's largest
tree was today declared dead by authorities after being burnt in a forestry operation.

El Grande, which stood 79 metres tall with a girth of about 20 metres, fell victim
to a regeneration burn in Florentine Valley, north-west of Hobart, in April.

While conservationists issued a death certificate in May - claiming the 350-year-old
tree had been cooked in the blaze - Forestry Tasmania was waiting until spring to see
if the tree would regenerate.

"Spring has now ended and a group of forest scientists has conducted an assessment
of the condition of the tree," Forestry Tasmania general manager of operations Kim Creak
said today.

"Unfortunately, it is deceased."

He said Derwent District field staff involved in the regeneration burn had accepted
full responsibility and the accidental burning had resulted in new operating procedures
designed to protect giant trees.

Wilderness Society campaigner Geoff Law said the news of El Grande's death would reverberate
around the world, undermining the state's image as a clean, green, pristine destination.

"It is significant that Forestry has confessed to killing the largest known living
thing in Australia," he said.

"They have confessed to killing it through their own incompetence."

Although there are taller trees in Tasmania, El Grande topped the list of the state's
"most massive giants" with a volume of 439 cubic metres and was protected under Forestry
Tasmania policy.

Mr Creak described the loss of the tree as disappointing, but a "learning experience".

"What we've learnt from this mistake is that single trees cannot be adequately protected
in open harvested areas," he said.

"New procedures have been developed for all the taller, older forests, so giant trees
will be protected in groups and stands with natural vegetation buffers.

Mr Law said El Grande's demise strengthened the society's continuing push for tall
trees in the Styx Valley - some 30km away - to be protected in a national park.

The Styx has been the centre of a string of anti-logging protests, including an ongoing
tree-sit by the Wilderness Society and Greenpeace campaigners atop a giant eucalyptus
regnans in an area earmarked for logging.

"We can't afford to take any more risks with these giant trees," Mr Law said.

"It is not enough to entrust them to Forestry Tasmania with their record of failure.

"This underscores our determination to ensure this sort of destruction won't happen again."

AAP las/cjh/de

KEYWORD: TREE TAS NIGHTLEAD (FILE PIC AVAILABLE)

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