The native forest logging industry and CALM want the public to believe that the rate of jarrah logging has decreased. They are wrong. While the volume of jarrah sawlogs produced may have declined, the area of forest logged to produce that volume has in fact increased.

In 1993, 14,290 hectares of jarrah forest were logged. In 1998, the most recent year for which figures are publicly available, this figure rose to 19,250 hectares. All the indications are that the figure for 1999/2000 will be as high or higher.

The figures CALM use for this 'reduced logging' claim are the figures for jarrah sawlog production. However, as well as ignoring the area of forest logged, they also fail to mention the 100,000+ cubic metres of jarrah charcoal logs and 'other' logs that are also produced every year, and this volume is in fact increasing, e.g:

Industrial charcoal logs (SIMCOA)
1989/90: 33,834 tonnes
1992/93: 68,505 tonnes
1997/98: 75,417 tonnes
1999/2000 (estimate): 85-90,000 tonnes

Source: CALM Annual Reports

The value adding myth
CALM claims that more that half (60%) of this year's jarrah sawlog cut of 324,000 cubic metres will be 'value-added'. That claim is also false.

In order to produce 'value added' products, the sawlogs must first be milled to produce sawn timber. Of the total jarrah sawlog volume extracted from the forest, only about 33% becomes sawn timber. The rest becomes charcoal blocks, firewood, sawdust and waste.

If, as CALM claims, 60% of sawn timber is 'value-added', that only amounts to 20% of total jarrah sawlog volume, i.e. 60% of 33% = 20%. So the truth is, a mere 20% of 324,000 cubic metres of high quality sawlogs is 'value-added', not 'more than half'.

Furthermore, CALM claims that 'strict and enforceable value adding requirements' will be written into log supply contracts. However, the recent contract (dated 24 March) for the supply of first grade jarrah and karri sawlogs to Blueleaf Corporation for its sawmill at Greenbushes does not have any such 'strict' requirements'. It only refers to a 'target' level of value adding, which cannot be enforced.

The sustainability myth
CALM refers to a study which, they assure us, confirms that the rate of jarrah logging is sustainable. Unfortunately, while CALM's methodology and calculations may be acceptable, the data CALM used are seriously deficient. It appears that in its calculations of growth and cutting rates CALM did not take matters such as salinity, waterlogging or the south-west's decreased rainfall into account.

If, as shown above, CALM has to log one-third more forest to produce a smaller volume of sawlogs, then obviously the cut isn't sustainable even in terms of volume.

As for sawlog quality, ask any sawmiller. Sawlog quality has been declining for years and will continue to decline, with sawlogs getting smaller and smaller as the huge old growth trees and their beautiful mature wood disappear, squandered on railway sleepers, charcoal, firewood and waste.

The contracts furphy
Industry, CALM and government defend the unsustainable logging levels on the grounds that contracts with logging companies must be honoured. However,

1.	The existing (sawlog) contracts are not being 'honoured' because industry has 'agreed' to take less than the amounts specified in the contracts;
2.	The Government can buy out contracts.
3.	The contracts contain force majeure clauses which allow CALM to reduce the volume of logs it sells without compensation under certain circumstances.