NOBODY should under- estimate how angry many of the people in my electorate are about the unjustified listing of the Western Tiers as part of the World Heritage Area.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But now they are trying to figure out what comes next.
Cheated out of being consulted, and now kept in the dark about the exact consequences, they are having to wear all sorts of grief from last month's decision not to de-list the Tiers: a decision made in minutes in the Persian Gulf by UNESCO delegates who have most likely never been to Tasmania, egged on by green activists with brochures full of hubris and spin.
I've bushwalked most of Tasmania, and I love the Tiers and know them intimately.
So do most local people - which is why they don't agree with the minority who think the decision is terrific.
For 200 years they have used the area for sustainable timber harvesting, maintaining huts and walking tracks, and other recreational purposes, and a walk soon reveals plenty of human disturbance: stumps, skid-ways, old sawmills, plantations, roads - you name it.
The Tiers' excellent condition testifies to their passion and care, plus Forestry Tasmania's good management.
And no timber production was allowed above 800 metres in any case.
All this means, quite rightly, that there will never be any respect for the decision.
But let's look to the future.
The state and federal governments could start by telling us where the WHA begins and ends.
We don't have any detailed maps showing its boundaries with private land, even though several hundred properties back right on to it.
What we do know is that there will be no buffer zone between the WHA and the private properties.
This is likely to mean trouble, expense and time-wasting for adjoining landowners who face the incursion of weeds and vermin, which a perpetually over-stretched Parks and Wildlife Service naturally cannot control.
It may well also increase the danger of wildfire spreading from the WHA - and of course outrage would greet any proposal for a fuel-reduction burn there, despite potentially catastrophic damage to the very values for which the area has been listed in the first place.
Managing the area, not to mention the daily activities of local people, is also likely to be made more difficult by road closures following from the listing.
At least they should be subject to public comment.
And lastly, the proximity of the WHA may interfere with development on any or all of those many hundreds of properties.
It will certainly not make gaining planning approval any easier.
And at worst, it will mean that a farmer seeking to develop new infrastructure in the shadow of the Tiers could meet with abuse from keen protesters in far-off cities whose invective is sharper than their wit.
Here again, guidelines need to be drafted, discussed and put in place - soon.
All this is a high price to pay for letting a clique of veteran greensters fulfil their teenage dreams.
But sadly, that's politics. And it's state, federal and local politicians who must plan for the consequences.
Greg Hall is the MLC for Western Tiers