DOCSLIB.ORG

Old Trees, New Realities

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Old Trees, New Realities Old Trees, New Realities The social construction of nature and the remaking of reality in the struggle for old-growth forests in Tasmania Håvar Willadsen Masters Thesis Department of Social Anthropology University of Oslo May 2009 Fig 1(top of front cover): Upper Florentine Valley For my family Fig 2 (bottom of front cover): Logged coupe following a regeneration burn II Abstract This thesis presents and analyzes the highly contentious issue of old‐growth forest logging in the Australian island state Tasmania. The thesis is based on material collected through a fieldwork conducted with an environmental organization in Tasmania between January and July 2008. The main objectives of this thesis is to uncover why the forest practices in Tasmania are so fiercely contested, and to explore the strategies and the techniques employed by the environmental movement and the forest industry in their respective argumentations. The dispute is discovered to comprise a nexus of intertwined dimensions: political, economic, cultural, emotional and existential dimensions come together and interact in complex ways. Through a discussion of the elaborate use of symbols, which I argue is pervasive in the Tasmanian environmental conflict; I find that nature is rhetorically constructed in ways that support certain forms of interactions between nature and society. Through metaphorical associations and processes of rescaling, connections are evoked between the Tasmanian forest dispute and highly moral narratives of both a religious and a cultural kind. III IV Acknowledgements I will like to express my deep gratitude to the environmental campaigners in Tasmania, among which I was warmly welcomed. All the help and goodwill is greatly appreciated. I feel privileged to have been able to experience your dedication, your wonderful sense of humor and the vibrant atmosphere that you create around you. Above all, I remember and cherish your tolerance and consideration. Special thanks go to my house‐parent for the last week of my stay. Thank you so much for all your help and openhandedness. My supervisor, Marianne Lien, has been a strong support for me throughout the writing process, both academically and emotionally. Thank you for all your wonderful help and for being such a warmhearted person. Without exception, I have left our conversations and meetings with motivation and optimism, as well as with a strengthened confidence. Big thanks also go to Aidan Davison for opening his home to me and for sharing his extensive knowledge about Tasmanian environmentalism, and for being someone I could lean on and talk to in times of distress during my fieldwork. My friend Verena Broske has helped me with proofreading and deserves many thanks for providing me with helpful comments to improve my language. From the moment you became my neighbor in Tasmania, you have made my life brighter and more joyful. Many are the moments when you have brought a smile to my face or warmed my heart. My parents, Aud Elisabeth and Tor Åge, and my sister, Kristin, have been with me through every day of the master project, never more than a skype‐ or phone‐call away. Thank you for all your love, for prioritising our family and for always being there. I am greatly blessed for having you in my life. Thank you to Bård for all your help with my car so I could focus more on writing, and thank you even more for being a positive part of my sister’s days. Finally, Inga Therese Becker deserves a significant part of the honour for the realisation of this thesis. The meticulous way by which you have read through my paper and the large amounts of time and effort you have put into improving it is far beyond every expectation and truly amazing. I am overwhelmed by all your help and greatly indebted to you. Your genuine and warm nature is a constant source of inspiration and motivation for me. You are very dear to me. Thank you for being you. V VI Contents Abstract..........................................................................................III Acknowledgements ........................................................................ V 1: Introduction.................................................................................1 Contested landscapes ..................................................................................................... 1 Main objective of the thesis............................................................................................ 2 Theoretical perspectives ................................................................................................. 2 Socio‐natures...................................................................................................................... 2 An enlightened parallel ...................................................................................................... 4 Symbolic work and meaning .............................................................................................. 4 Methods .........................................................................................................................7 Participant observation...................................................................................................... 7 Anonymity .......................................................................................................................... 9 Outline of the thesis........................................................................................................ 9 2: Historical background ................................................................11 Tasmanian landscapes .................................................................................................. 11 An emerging movement................................................................................................... 11 Wilderness........................................................................................................................ 12 Lake Pedder .................................................................................................................. 13 Industrial decline.............................................................................................................. 15 Regrouping ................................................................................................................... 15 Franklin River................................................................................................................ 17 3: The Wilderness Society – the organisation.................................20 Organisations – what are they and how to study them? ............................................... 20 The Wilderness Society – structure and values.............................................................. 21 The Wilderness Society – working methods .................................................................. 24 The Tasmanian campaign centre................................................................................... 26 John .............................................................................................................................. 29 VII Cathy ............................................................................................................................ 30 TWS Tasmania job descriptions..................................................................................... 32 Daily life at the campaign centre................................................................................... 35 Not just a job .................................................................................................................... 36 The update lunch.............................................................................................................. 40 Concluding remarks ...................................................................................................... 41 4: Forests and forestry...................................................................43 Nature and politics ........................................................................44 Tasmanian state forestry .............................................................................................. 45 Tasmania’s forests ........................................................................................................ 46 Journey into the Styx Valley – Valley of the Giants........................................................ 47 The Japanese connection .............................................................................................. 48 At the gate .................................................................................................................... 49 The Tolkien Track .......................................................................................................... 50 A giant experience ........................................................................................................ 51 Connection to the past.................................................................................................. 53 Trespassing? ................................................................................................................. 54 A strategic forestry?...................................................................................................... 55 A diminishing trend....................................................................................................... 56 The rise of industrial forestry .......................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Visitor Learning Guide
    VISITOR LEARNING GUIDE 1 Produced by The Wilderness Society The Styx Valley of the Giants oers the opportunity to experience one of the world’s most iconic and spectacular forest areas. For decades the Wilderness Society has worked with the broader community to achieve protection for the Styx and we want to share it, and some of its stories, with you. This guide is not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the Styx, Tasmania’s forests or World Heritage. Rather, it is designed to share a cross-section of knowledge through simple stories that follow a common theme on each of the identified walks. With its help, we hope you will learn from this spectacular place, and leave knowing more about our forests, their natural and cultural legacy and some other interesting titbits. The Wilderness Society acknowledges the Tasmanian Aboriginal community as the traditional owners and custodians of all Country in Tasmania and pays respect to Elders past and present. We support eorts to progress reconciliation, land justice and equality. We recognise and welcome actions that seek to better identify, present, protect and conserve Aboriginal cultural heritage, irrespective of where it is located. Cover photo: A giant eucalypt in the Styx Valley, Rob Blakers. © The Wilderness Society, Tasmania 2015. STYX VALLEY OF THE GIANTS - VISITOR LEARNING GUIDE TO ELLENDALE MT FIELD FENTONBURY NATIONAL PARK WESTERWAY B61 TYENNA Tyenna River TO NEW NORFOLK TO LAKE PEDDER & HOBART & STRATHGORDON MAYDENA FOOD & ACCOMMODATION There’s some great accommodation and food options on your way to the Styx. Westerway • Blue Wren Riverside Cottage • Duy’s Country Accommodation Styx River • Platypus Playground Riverside Cottage Styx River .
    [Show full text]
  • Influence on the U.S. Environmental Movement
    Australian Journal of Politics and History: Volume 61, Number 3, 2015, pp.414-431. Exemplars and Influences: Transnational Flows in the Environmental Movement CHRISTOPHER ROOTES Centre for the Study of Social and Political Movements, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK Transnational flows of ideas are examined through consideration of Green parties, Friends of the Earth, and Earth First!, which represent, respectively, the highly institutionalised, the semi- institutionalised and the resolutely non-institutionalised dimensions of environmental activism. The focus is upon English-speaking countries: US, UK and Australia. Particular attention is paid to Australian cases, both as transmitters and recipients of examples. The influence of Australian examples on Europeans has been overstated in the case of Green parties, was negligible in the case of Friends of the Earth, but surprisingly considerable in the case of Earth First!. Non-violent direct action in Australian rainforests influenced Earth First! in both the US and UK. In each case, the flow of influence was mediated by individuals, and outcomes were shaped by the contexts of the recipients. Introduction Ideas travel. But they do not always travel in straight lines. The people who are their bearers are rarely single-minded; rather, they carry and sometimes transmit all sorts of other ideas that are in varying ways and to varying degrees discrepant one with another. Because the people who carry and transmit them are in different ways connected to various, sometimes overlapping, sometimes discrete social networks, ideas are not only transmitted in variants of their pure, original form, but they become, in these diverse transmuted forms, instantiated in social practices that are embedded in differing institutional contexts.
    [Show full text]
  • Iconic Lands: Wilderness As a Reservation Criterion for World Heritage
    ICONIC LANDS Wilderness as a reservation criterion for World Heritage Mario Gabriele Roberto Rimini A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Environmental Studies University of New South Wales April 2010 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My gratitude goes to the Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies, John Merson, for the knowledge and passion he shared with me and for his trust, and to the precious advice and constant support of my co-supervisor, Stephen Fortescue. My family, their help and faith, have made this achievement possible. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….…...…… 8 Scope and Rationale.………………………………………………………………………….…...…………. 8 Background…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 22 Structure…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... 23 CHAPTER II The Wilderness Idea ……………………………………………………………………........ 27 Early conceptions …………………………………………………………………………………………..... 27 American Wilderness: a world model …………………………………………………….....………………. 33 The Wilderness Act: from ideal to conservation paradigm …………………………………........…………. 43 The values of wilderness ……………………………………………………………………….…………… 48 Summary ………………………………………………………………………………………….…………. 58 CHAPTER III Wilderness as a conservation and land management category worldwide …………......... 61 The US model: wilderness legislation in Canada, New Zealand and Australia …………………………… 61 Canada: a wilderness giant ………………………………………………………………………..…...........
    [Show full text]
  • A Review of Natural Values Within the 2013 Extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
    A review of natural values within the 2013 extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Nature Conservation Report 2017/6 Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Hobart A review of natural values within the 2013 extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Jayne Balmer, Jason Bradbury, Karen Richards, Tim Rudman, Micah Visoiu, Shannon Troy and Naomi Lawrence. Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Nature Conservation Report 2017/6, September 2017 This report was prepared under the direction of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (World Heritage Program). Australian Government funds were contributed to the project through the World Heritage Area program. The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Tasmanian or Australian Governments. ISSN 1441-0680 Copyright 2017 Crown in right of State of Tasmania Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright act, no part may be reproduced by any means without permission from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. Published by Natural Values Conservation Branch Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment GPO Box 44 Hobart, Tasmania, 7001 Front Cover Photograph of Eucalyptus regnans tall forest in the Styx Valley: Rob Blakers Cite as: Balmer, J., Bradbury, J., Richards, K., Rudman, T., Visoiu, M., Troy, S. and Lawrence, N. 2017. A review of natural values within the 2013 extension to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Nature Conservation Report 2017/6, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Hobart.
    [Show full text]
  • Senator Bob Brown - Australian Greens
    Senator Bob Brown - Australian Greens Bob Brown, born in 1944, was educated in rural New South Wales, became captain of Blacktown Boys High School in Sydney and graduated in medicine from Sydney University in 1968. He became the Director of the Wilderness Society which organised the blockade of the dam-works on Tasmania’s wild Franklin River in 1982/3. Some 1500 people were arrested and 600 jailed, including Bob Brown who spent 19 days in Risdon Prison. On the day of his release, he was elected as the first Green into Tasmania's Parliament. After federal government intervention, the Franklin River was protected in 1983. As a State MP, Bob Brown introduced a wide range of private member's initiatives, including for freedom of information, death with dignity, lowering parliamentary salaries, gay law reform, banning the battery-hen industry and nuclear free Tasmania. Some succeeded, others not. Regrettably, his 1987 bill to ban semi-automatic guns was voted down by both Liberal and Labor members of the House of Assembly, seven years before the Port Arthur massacre. In 1989, he led the parliamentary team of five Greens which held the balance of power with the Field Labor Government. The Greens saved 25 schools from closure, instigated the Local Employment Initiatives which created more than 1000 jobs in depressed areas, doubled the size of Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage Area to 1.4 million hectares, created the Douglas-Apsley National Park and supported tough fiscal measures to recover from the debts of the previous Liberal regime. Bob resigned from the State Parliament in 1993 and Christine Milne took over as leader of the Tasmanian Greens.
    [Show full text]
  • The UTG Journal Issue No
    The UTG Journal Issue No. 2 about the GST distribution (via Grants Commission) to Tasmania.2 With the forthcoming state elections another comment that Dick made, which is just as relevant today, Don’t be disturbed by silly arguments that the Editorial: Dick Jones U.T.G. kept so and so out of Parliament and aren’t we ashamed! (tut!) - The same Dr. Richard (Dick) Jones gave some very misleading argument is being used today; thought-provoking election speeches. For in fact, we have been lobbied by example, following his 1975 Senate Tasmanian Green supporters not to Election speech in an Editorial The reform as a political party. Examiner 1 commented that UTG had produced more ideas relevant to UTG has changed since the 1977 UTG Tasmania than have all the other parties State Conference, following 10 election combined. campaigns over 5 years (1972-77), Dick declared at this conference that: Our In this speech Dick pointed out that: business is to fight elections. Tasmania’s own party represents no sectional interests; (and) unlike some The fact that the newly re-formed UTG independents, we wear no disguises. has not formally re-registered as a political party does not mean we are not The United Tasmania Group became a political - we are even more so than political party because the two major before and, depending on the outcome of parties were putting aside democratic the next State election, we may register principles, in Tasmania. again, particularly as we now have The United Tasmania Group works financial backing. and breathes by a New Ethic, which The United Tasmania Group is Tasmania’s binds our members to work together (only) own party.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2013 Stewards of the Forest
    Research and Development Branch annual report 2013 stewards of the forest Research and Development Branch Forestry Tasmania is a REGISTERED RESEARCH This work is copyright. Apart from any use AGENCY (RRA) under the Commonwealth permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may Mission Industry Research and Development Act 1986, be reproduced by any process, or any other To provide research, development and for the purpose of performing contracted exclusive right exercised, without permission information services to support Forestry research and development (R&D) for eligible of Forestry Tasmania, 79 Melville Street, Hobart, Tasmania and clients companies claiming the 125% R&D tax Tasmania, Australia. Vision concession under Section 73B of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. Research is carried Cover Photograph: Robyn Scott, Leigh Edwards To be recognised for excellence in forest research out in the forestry, botanical, zoological, and Kristen Dransfield establishing a trial and development horticultural, soil and water sciences. For more in Tiger block (Florentine Valley) to explore information, please refer to the Commonwealth alternative regimes in hardwood plantations. Pictured above: Attendees at a variable Government Ausindustry Agency website at Photograph by Ralph Wessman. retention silviculture and landscape-scale www.ausindustry.gov.au management field day held in the Styx Valley in February 2013. Photograph by Leigh Edwards. CONTENTS Forestry Tasmania Manager’s Report 4 Published Papers, Reports and Presentations GPO Box 207 Hobart, Tasmania 7001 Refereed Journals 41 Phone 1800 - FOREST Research Highlights Reports and Other Publications 41 www.forestrytas.com.au Monitoring damage of chronically thin crowns 5 [email protected] Conference proceedings 42 ABN 91 628769 359 in mid-rotation E.
    [Show full text]
  • Reimagining the Visitor Experience of Tasmania's Wilderness World
    Reimagining the Visitor Experience of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area Ecotourism Investment Profile Reimagining the Visitor Experience of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area: Ecotourism Investment Profile This report was commissioned by Tourism Industry Council Tasmania and the Cradle Coast Authority, in partnership with the Tasmanian Government through Tourism Tasmania and the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. This report is co-funded by the Australian Government under the Tourism Industry Regional Development Fund Grants Programme. This report has been prepared by EC3 Global, TRC Tourism and Tourism Industry Council Tasmania. Date prepared: June 2014 Design by Halibut Creative Collective. Disclaimer The information and recommendations provided in this report are made on the basis of information available at the time of preparation. While all care has been taken to check and validate material presented in this report, independent research should be undertaken before any action or decision is taken on the basis of material contained in this report. This report does not seek to provide any assurance of project viability and EC3 Global, TRC Tourism and Tourism Industry Council Tasmania accept no liability for decisions made or the information provided in this report. Cover photo: Huon Pine Walk Corinna The Tarkine - Rob Burnett & Tourism Tasmania Contents Background...............................................................2 Reimagining the Visitor Experience of the TWWHA .................................................................5
    [Show full text]
  • Dealing with Hung Parliaments
    Chapter Four Dealing with Hung Parliaments The Honourable Michael Field My credentials to speak on this topic are that I was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for more than twenty years, from 1976 until 1997, at various times serving as a minister, Leader of the Opposition and Premier of Tasmania. Especially relevant is that I was the Premier from 1989 to 1992 during the years of the “Labor Green Accord”. In 1989, in a 35-member House of Assembly, Labor won 13 seats, the Greens five seats and the Liberal Party 17 seats. Nearly three years later, under the threat of a No Confidence motion, the House of Assembly was dissolved and, in the subsequent election, Labor received just 28.9 per cent of the vote, the lowest vote Labor had received in Tasmania since 1910. Despite this thrashing, the remaining members of the Parliamentary Labor Party asked me to stay on as Leader of the Opposition. I saw my task as rebuilding our stocks, aiming to put us in a position to win majority government. In 1996, there was, indeed, a massive swing. Labor received more than 40 per cent of the vote. The Liberals continued to govern in a minority. This government was short-lived. In 1998, Labor won a majority under Jim Bacon’s leadership. I retired from the House of Assembly the following year. To put the context in which politics is conducted, I wish to describe some of the increasing pressures facing modern government. The biggest of these is coping with the speed of change.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lake Pedder Decision
    Hrasky, S. , & Jones, M. J. (2016). Lake Pedder: Accounting, environmental decision-making, nature and impression management. Accounting Forum, 40(4), 285-299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2016.06.005 Peer reviewed version License (if available): CC BY-NC-ND Link to published version (if available): 10.1016/j.accfor.2016.06.005 Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Elsevier at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2016.06.005. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher. University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ Lake Pedder: Accounting, Environmental Decision-Making, nature and impression management Sue Hrasky and Michael Jones University of Tasmania, University of Bristol Acknowledgements We wish to thank participants at the 15th Financial Reporting and Business Communication Conference, Bristol, July 2011, the 23rd International Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR), St Andrews, September 2011 and the 10th CSEAR Australasian Conference, Launceston, December 2011, for their helpful comments and suggestions. My thanks also to Claire Horner for her help collecting data. Finally, I would like to thank Glen Lehman and an anonymous reviewer Corresponding Author Department of Accounting and Finance University of Bristol 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK Email: [email protected] Phone: +44 (0)117 33 18286 Lake Pedder: Accounting, Environmental Decision-Making, Nature and Impression Management Abstract This paper looks at the role of accounting in a major environmental infrastructural project the flooding of Lake Pedder in Tasmania in the 1960s.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of the Australian Greens
    Parliament of Australia Department of Parliamentary Services Parliamentary Library Information, analysis and advice for the Parliament RESEARCH PAPER www.aph.gov.au/library 22 September 2008, no. 8, 2008–09, ISSN 1834-9854 The rise of the Australian Greens Scott Bennett Politics and Public Administration Section Executive summary The first Australian candidates to contest an election on a clearly-espoused environmental policy were members of the United Tasmania Group in the 1972 Tasmanian election. Concerns for the environment saw the emergence in the 1980s of a number of environmental groups, some contested elections, with successes in Western Australia and Tasmania. An important development was the emergence in the next decade of the Australian Greens as a unified political force, with Franklin Dam activist and Tasmanian MP, Bob Brown, as its nationally-recognised leader. The 2004 and 2007 Commonwealth elections have resulted in five Australian Green Senators in the 42nd Parliament, the best return to date. This paper discusses the electoral support that Australian Greens candidates have developed, including: • the emergence of environmental politics is placed in its historical context • the rise of voter support for environmental candidates • an analysis of Australian Greens voters—who they are, where they live and the motivations they have for casting their votes for this party • an analysis of the difficulties such a party has in winning lower house seats in Australia, which is especially related to the use of Preferential Voting for most elections • the strategic problems that the Australian Greens—and any ‘third force’—have in the Australian political setting • the decline of the Australian Democrats that has aided the Australian Greens upsurge and • the question whether the Australian Greens will ever be more than an important ‘third force’ in Australian politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Geology of the Maydena, Skeleton, Nevada, Weld and Picton 1:25 000 Scale Map Sheets
    Mineral Resources Tasmania Tasmanian Geological Survey Tasmania DEPARTMENT of INFRASTRUCTURE, Record 2006/04 ENERGY and RESOURCES Geology of the Maydena, Skeleton, Nevada, Weld and Picton 1:25 000 scale map sheets by C. R. Calver, S. M. Forsyth and J. L. Everard CONTENTS General remarks …………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 Parmeener Supergroup mapping (Maydena, Skeleton, Nevada map sheets) …………………………………… 6 Vegetation ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 Physiography ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Fold structure province ………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Fault structure province ………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 STRATIGRAPHY ………………………………………………………………………………………… 13 Proterozoic sedimentary rocks ……………………………………………………………………………… 13 Harrisons Opening Formation (Weld, Picton map sheets)…………………………………………………… 13 Turbiditic lithic sandstone, conglomerate and black phyllite (Phc) …………………………………………… 13 Black slate and phyllite with minor quartzwacke and diamictite (Php) ………………………………………… 13 Clark Group …………………………………………………………………………………………… 16 Clark Group correlate, Jubilee Range area (Skeleton, Nevada map sheets) ……………………………………… 16 Needles Quartzite correlate ……………………………………………………………………… 16 Humboldt Formation correlate …………………………………………………………………… 16 Clark Group correlate, Snake River Valley (Nevada map sheet) ……………………………………………… 19 Clark Group correlate, Gallagher Plateau area (Weld map sheet) ……………………………………………… 19 Orthoquartzite (Pcq) ……………………………………………………………………………… 19 Dolomitic mudstone and
    [Show full text]