With the usual antagonists once again ramping up their campaign against logging in Tasmania’s “Tarkine”, it’s important to understand the history of the region, writes Nick Steel.  

It’s a tiresome argument at times, but when discussing the area dubbed “the Tarkine” it is vital to appreciate the scale of the region they are talking about and the historical context of its declared boundaries.  

There is no doubt that Tasmania’s northwest is a stunning part of the world. It’s an area known for its wild coastlines, majestic rainforests and sweeping button grass plains. 

Much of that beauty is focussed on an area stretching from the Arthur River in the north to the Pieman River in the south and is bound by the west coast and the Murchison Highway.    

It’s a region with stunning natural, enjoyed by tourists, hikers, holiday makers, farmers, fishers, miners and foresters.  

Whilst known as the Arthur Pieman Reserves by generations of Tasmanians, the region has in recent decades been christened “The Tarkine” by environmental movement – trying to paint the area as pristine temperate rainforests days away from total destruction. It’s a name that seems to have stuck. 

The area stretches around 450,000 hectares. Three quarters of that area is, rightly, already classified under conservation tenures. 

But the truth is that the Tarkine is vast and diverse. Some is wild, windy coastline, some is beautiful button grass plains, some majestic rainforests, some shack communities and townships, some farms, some forestry and some of it mines. It is a beautiful area and Tasmania’s Northwesterners know there is a lot to see and a lot to take in. 

The small mining town of Waratah is within the Tarkine and the whole eastern border is flanked by the Murchison Highway. The town of Tullah borders the Tarkine, while it flanks the old mining towns of Roseberry and Corinna.  

There are significant farmlands within this boundary, in particular in a place called Temma, originally a mining settlement. Savage River and other mines are also within the stated boundary as are the Reece and Bastyan hydro dams and power stations.  

In forestry terms, less than 200 hectares is harvested per annum. That’s a total of 0.05 percent of the area and all forestry is from managed forests on the outskirts of those border farm pastures.  

Almost all the areas used for forestry have been harvested multiple times over the generations and will be again. It is simply native tree farming, the only difference between this type of farming and others is the length of the growing and harvesting cycle. 

But some would have you believe that the Tarkine is one tree away from destruction. That is simply not the case. The area known as the Tarkine is under no threat and all forestry and mining practices are strictly limited to agreed areas, areas that are miniscule in the scale of the vast protected areas. 

The reality is that the Arthur Pieman and surrounding areas are a great example of how mining, forestry, recreation and conservation have coexisted in harmony for more than 150 years, well before it was nicknamed the Tarkine and well before the current protesters moved in.  

That’s why it’s vitally important to call out the mistruths when environmental activists call for an end of all commercial activity in “the Tarkine”… once again. 

Nick Steel is the CEO of the Tasmanian Forest Products Association.