South West Forests Defence Foundation

South West Forests Defence Foundation (SFDF) is a group that has been involved in the conservation of the jarrah and karri forests of the South West region of Western Australia for more than four decades.

It was formed at approximately the same time as the government of Charles Court expressed interest in exploiting forests in the south west for woodchipping. Around the same time, the forests of the Darling Scarp were being allocated for removal for the mining of bauxite. Another group, the Campaign to Save Native Forests, worked in co-operation with the SFDF on publishing critiques of the environmental conditions for the woodchipping at Manjimup.[1] The SFDF continued to take issue with industry and government plans for karri forests on the south coast region,[2] and it was not until the late 1990s that the region was given limited protection from forestry by the creation of national parks and reserves.[3]

  1. ^ Western Australia. Forests Dept .The Manjimup Woodchip Project. [Como, W.A.] : Forests Dept., 1975.
  2. ^ Environment Minister Peter Foss condemns South West Forest Defence Foundation court action against logging near Walpole] in Timberlines (Newsletter of the Bunnings Group of Companies), Jul. 1995, p. 1
  3. ^ Lines, William J. (2006) Patriots : defending Australia's natural heritage St. Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7022-3554-7