styx valley
Logging in Tasmania’s wilderness
The Styx Valley Forest is a pristine wilderness in south western Tasmania. It is home to the tallest hardwood trees in the world averaging over 80 metres. It is a unique ecosystem unlike any other. Many of the trees are over 400 years old. In 1996 only around 13% of these trees remain. A large area of south western Tasmania's pristine wilderness is world heritage and is therefore protected. Unfortunately the Styx Valley falls just outside the South West National Park and it is now under attack from logging companies.
The logging companies clear fell such areas in Tasmania and burn any remnant vegetation once they have removed any timber considered of value. The high quality timbers that are then removed are reduced to nothing more than wood chips that are then exported mainly to Japan.
From this rape and pillage of Tasmania's previously untouched, pristine landscape, Tasmania receives only AUD$10 per ton of woodchips.
Reference : http://weblog.greenpeace.org/tasmania/

GLOBAL RESCUE STATION, generation 1 [existing]
In an attempt to halt the clear felling of the Styx Valley a large group of activists formed human barricades to stop the entry of bulldozers and log trucks. The centre piece to the activists protest is the GLOBAL RESCUE STATION [GRS] perched within the canopy of a grand old Styx gum fondly named Gandalf. The GRS has been manned by numerous local and international activists since November 12, 2003. Made simply from 2 simple platforms suspended by rope from the branches of Gandalf The GRS has been the centre piece of the tactics employed by the activists.
Tactics are:
- to have a visible protest presence within the forest.
- provide a structure that, once manned, authorities would be reluctant [if not powerless] to remove.
-Through its manned presence it not only protects Gandalf but furthermore it protects a large area because if any surrounding trees were felled they may damage the GRS or Gandalf thereby endangering those activists present.
Now, with winter looming, the platform is being removed.
The proposed GRS Generation 2 protest structure is a more permanent and more drastic level of direct environmental protection.

GLOBAL RESCUE STATION, generation 2 [proposed]
GRS Generation 2 is a conceptual investigation that extrapolates the tactics employed by GRS generation 1.
GRS gen2 is designed to:
- spread its load over three trees, rather than the canopy of a single tree, thereby protecting a number of trees per structure.
- provide a structure to protect activists from the potentially threatening winter