AUSTRALIA: Otways logging talks underway
© 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
November 20, 2001
Conservationists and logging industry representatives are holding talks on which parts of the Otways can be logged during summer.
Otway Ranges Environment Network spokesman Simon Birrell says while the ground is still too wet for timber workers, loggers could go into the forest within weeks.
He says the negotiations are focusing on which areas can be logged without the threat of protest.
"There's been discussions for a reference group about phasing logging out of the Otways," he said.
"Conservation groups undertook to discuss the phasing out options in context with not logging very contentious high-conservation places in the Otways while that transition out of native forests occurs."