THE Tasmanian Wilderness Society says it stands by statements that Gunns Limited's proposed $2.2 million Bell Bay pulp milll will be heavily reliant on native forests.

Gunns sustainability manager Calton Frame today called on the Wilderness Society to stop making inaccurate claims and rejected suggestions the mill would use 80 per cent native forest.

``We have continually stated that upon commencement the mill will use at least 60 per cent plantation fibre with the rest coming from new growth forest which has previously been harvested and regrown by the forest industry,'' he said.

``The mill will be a plantation-based mill, and within five years of operation we aim to be using 100 per cent plantation timber.

``We have given a guarantee that no old growth forests will be used in the mill.''

However, the Wilderness Society said it stood by its statements and said the all evidence and information currently on the public record supports their claim

that the Tamar Valley pulp mill will be heavily based on native forests for its entire life.

Wilderness Society spokesman Vica Bayley said the wood supply agreement between Gunns and Forestry Tasmania commits the supply of 1.5 million tonnes of woodchips each year for twenty years.

``Forestry Tasmanias projections show that there will only ever be a maximum of 500,000 tonnes of these woodchips coming from plantations.

``The balance, a minimum 1 million tonnes per year, must therefore come from native forests.

``The wood supply deal and Gunns own information clearly point to the fact that the pulp mill will be heavily based on the logging of native forests and that the mill will never be 100 per cent plantation-based, and this is backed up by Forestry Tasmania figures and pulp wood supply projections, Mr Bayley said.

``Unless Premier Bartlett instructs Forestry Tasmania to cancel the wood supply agreement for the pulp mill, millions of tonnes of Tasmanias publicly owned native forests will be fed into the mill for decades to come.''