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The Styx Valley contains the tallest hardwood trees on Earth.

These forests are home to many native species of wildlife, including the Wedge-tailed Eagle, the Eastern Pygmy Possum, the Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo, Owls and Rosellas.

Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo pictured right.

See our page:

Australian Cockatoos

Many of the trees are taller than a 25 storey building and are over 400 years old. They are up to 5 metres wide (17 feet) at the base.

The tallest trees in the Styx are the mighty Eucalyptus regnans – the tallest hardwood trees and flowering plants on earth.

In Victoria, these trees are known as ‘mountain ash’, and in Tasmania as ‘swamp gum’.

Some of these trees are over 95 metres tall. They are second in height only to the famous coastal redwoods of North America (softwoods).

Most of the giants of the Styx are threatened by logging.

Between 300 and 600 hectares of the Styx Valley are logged each year.

The main form of logging is clearfelling and burning. The logging operations proceed by cutting down all the large timber and bulldozing the rest.

The useful timber, primarily destined for woodchips, is removed and the area is then bombed from the air with incendiaries that ensure the whole area burns. See the Greenpeace Japan link below.

Following reseeding, 1080 poison is laid to kill possums and wallabies that may graze on re-sprouting saplings. Other non-target species such as bettongs and quolls are also at risk of being poisoned.

What is 1080 Poison?

One teaspoon of Compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) could kill 100 people, and there is no antidote. It is colourless. It has no odour or taste, and it dissolves easily in water.

Compound 1080 is so potent that animals eating tainted carcasses up to a year later have been poisoned and become bait for future scavengers.

For more information on 1080 poison visit:

http://www.predatordefense.org/issues/1080.htm

Greenpeace Japan

Click on the following link to send to Japanese paper manufacturers (the biggest buyers of the resulting wood chips) in the world, asking them to stop!

http://www.greenpeace.or.jp/cyberaction/tasmania/form_en_html

and visit:

So where is Tasmania?

Separated from mainland Australia by the Bass Strait.. It has a temperate climate, beautiful landscapes and wonderful wildlife.

photo eucalyptus regnans http://www.ksu.edu/fungi/index.html