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 .......................................................................................