How To Save Our Native Forests

After running takayna Trail, Explorer Beatrice is determined to share how imperative saving our native forests really is.

We Are Explorers acknowledges that this adventure is located on the traditional Country of the Tarkiner People who have occupied and cared for the lands, waters, and their inhabitants for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them as the Traditional Custodians and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

Running With Giants: takayna Trail

In February last year, I joined 160 other runners on takayna Trail, an annual ultra-trail running event in the northwest of lutruwita/Tasmania, on the traditional lands of the Tarkiner People. I’d heard that the Tarkine was truly amazing, but nothing could prepare me for the magnificent beauty of this ancient rainforest.

I’ve been lucky enough to run in some pretty wild and beautiful locations over the years, but this run is like no other. The trail winds its way through centuries-old trees, some of which span 4-5 metres in width, towering up into the sky. Every step is softened by deep layers of moss, leaves, fallen branches, roots, and fungi, all working their magic under the carpet of the forest floor.

Tarkine rainforest | Photo by @robblakers

I was completely blown away. There are so many species of plants and beautiful little critters that call this place home. At times I almost felt like I should tiptoe in areas not to wake the sleeping giants or step on a rare mushroom. There’s something in the air there, a soft quiet and stillness, deep within the thickets of the forest, that feels like you’re back at the beginning of time.

takayna/Tarkine is Australia’s largest temperate rainforest and the second largest in the world. It stretches over 450,000 hectares of untouched wilderness, button grass plains, and mountains covered in ancient trees. It’s home to over 60 species of rare and endangered wildlife, including the quoll, Swift parrot, and Tassie devil. takayna is one of our last truly wild places on earth.

This piece is about the trail, the rainforest, the threats it’s facing, and how running for wild places can be a catalyst for change.

Posing with the legend himself, Bob Brown (middle) | Photo thanks to @calumnhockey

takayna Trail has a deeper purpose than your standard trail run. The aim of the event is to raise funds and awareness to help protect the Tarkine by bringing more than 100 runners each year into direct contact with the magic of this place.

Founded in 2019 by Simon Harris, the event was inspired by the Patagonia short documentary ‘takayna’ which tells the story of the destruction going on. The run provides an opportunity to experience the unique beauty of takayna on foot, running alongside trees centuries older than European settlement in Australia.

An experience made poignant by the knowledge that, if all things proceed as planned, and the mining company MMG succeeds in its ambitions to log the area, these trees won’t be standing in years to come.

It’s a grim reality, but the event also provides an opportunity to do something about it. A wonderful mix of runners, from beginners to top athletes all connecting and spurred on by a common cause; to help protect the future of this forest.

Each runner raises funds to support the Bob Brown Foundation, which is on the front lines protecting takayna and lobbying for political change to achieve long-term protection. I was a late shoo-in, signing up on the spot after watching The Giants when it premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival.

The film follows the life of the giant old-growth trees in the Tarkine, along with the life of activist Bob Brown. It broke my heart to see the destruction going on, but also lit a fire in my belly for action. Running the takayna Trail felt like something really tangible I could do. Seeing takayna on the big screen is one thing, but being there in real life is truly life-changing.

Getting to the Rainforest

Months before the event kicks off, there is great comradery from fellow runners all sharing ideas and training inspiration. It’s the only group chat I was excited to get involved in. From training runs, fundraising events, and kitchen table conversations, the lead-up to the race is a wonderful time to build awareness around what’s going on and how people can support it. And then finally we were off to Launceston before the big weekend.

I was heading over from SA with a good friend who was also running the event along with a bunch of other South Aussies. It had been great to see the impact the event had on the mainland.

We’d hoped to get to Tassie without flying, as it didn’t sit well to jump on a flight on our way to protect a pristine rainforest. But, the ferry was booked out (and twice the price of a flight), which also ruled out driving or catching the train (also double the price).

So instead, we both decided the extra money would be better spent going to the Bob Brown Foundation, along with doing the bare minimum by offsetting our flights with GreenFleet. We were booked, and then we were off.

High Spirits and Mixed Emotions

The race was magnificent, and spirits were high. For the majority of the race, I trotted along with my good friend and co-creator of takayna Trail, Simon Harris. We navigated through fallen branches and tall Sassafras, reminding each other to ‘look up’ between navigating muddy puddles and tree roots.

To take in the expansive view of the forest and gaze up at the big eucalypts and hundred-year-old Huon pines. We weave through the forest and then suddenly you round a curve and pop out into an open pocket that follows a creek before tucking back into the sheltered tunnels of overhanging branches and dense undergrowth.

Up muddy paths, over tree roots, through thickets of bush and thick undergrowth, with brief windows through the trees out to the horizon.

Photo thanks to @calumnhockey

Along with the ups and downs of the trail, I rode a wave of mixed emotions throughout the whole run: feelings of awe for the beauty of this magic place but also of sadness and frustration that it’s still under threat.

Running To Protect Wild Places

At the finish line, Bob Brown himself gave a big hug to every single sweaty runner. We’d all just stumbled out of one of the most beautiful places on earth, right in our backyard. Covered in mud and scratches, but with a huge smile across everyone’s face. After a cold shower and hearty meal, my heart and soul (and belly) were full to the brim.

And the energy at the finish line and post-run celebrations add a whole other layer of goodness. Connecting with fellow runners from all walks of life, to support a much larger cause outside of the event and rally around the campaign is really special. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the scale of what’s going on, but events like this are a great example of how we can all come together to connect and collaborate on change.

Photo thanks to @calumnhockey

In the thick of the celebrations, ideas and collaborations of how we could spearhead the campaign were sprouting. In a crowded shed filled with collective post-running endorphins and like-minded folk, it’s easy to get excited. And the post-rainforest glow continued for days after.

But back home, I landed with a bit of a thud. As I was thrown back into the realities of life and all its priorities prying for my attention, I put my thinking cap on. How do we continue the momentum of the support outside of the annual event?

Why wasn’t this on national news every night? When we visited the blockade we drove through thick patches of rainforest before popping out into a huge open patch of scarred landscape.

After seeing the logging and destruction that is still going on, I was convinced that a lack of awareness was at the core of the problem.

In 1982, communities right across Australia popped champagne and hugged it out in celebration of the decision to stop the damming of the Franklin River. Environmental activists and protestors had worked tirelessly and successfully with the Australian Government to protect one of Tassie’s true beauties.

Surely, this time around, they just didn’t know about the destruction? Somehow, it had slipped under their noses? But now, after seeing the ongoing support for the campaign to protect the Tarkine, the decision-makers in Canberra would muster the political pull to protect this ancient rainforest? Or was I naively optimistic?

Hope on the Horizon With State Bans to Native Forest Logging

Only a few months after takayna Trail, there was some massive news that meant we might be closer to ending native forest logging in Tassie. The Victorian government, which had previously pledged to end native logging by the end of the decade, announced new plans to cease native forest logging by January 2024.

This is a HUGE win and a promising response to years of tireless advocacy from grassroots environmental groups and local activists. It’s worth a mention that it’s still unclear if all native logging will end, and there is concern that loopholes will enable commercial logging to continue under another framework, like ‘disaster logging’ or ‘salvage logging’ which Professor David Lindenmayer, a leading ecologist who specialises in forest ecology, argues can be even more damaging.

Photo thanks to Owen Hanson

But this is still a huge success and this decision will save hectares upon hectares of old-growth forest. As Chris Schuringa from the Victorian Forest Alliance puts it, ‘This is a monumental win for forests, for wildlife, for climate, and for the hard-working people who have spent countless hours surveying endangered species, preparing evidence for court cases, lobbying, and campaigning.

In addition to the big news in Victoria, WA’s ban on commercial native logging is coming into effect this month. These decisions are hope on the horizon for the Tarkine.

Why We Need To Protect Our Old Growth Forests Now More Than Ever

When we think of environmental and climate action we often visualise planting trees. Support for tree-planting projects is popping up everywhere, from Coldplay to Mastercard. This is a GOOD thing. Trees are massive carbon sinks, and reforestation is one of the best ways to restore ecosystems that have been degraded and deforested.

And it’s awesome to see companies integrating climate and nature repair into their products and services. But we need to protect our last remaining old-growth forests, along with their biodiversity and ecological and cultural significance, from becoming degraded and deforested in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong, I love planting trees. And we need to plant a lot of trees over the next decade (and kelp and crayweed forests). But the point I’m trying to make here is that we can’t just plant a bunch of trees to offset the destruction in our old-growth forests. It’s not about one or the other. We need both. We need mass restoration and regeneration of degraded land. And we need living, breathing, diverse, and intact native forests.

Rewild the Snowies project | Photo thanks to @thetantrap

To break this down, when we plant baby trees today, with the love and care they require and deserve, at best, 75% will survive. It will then take a typical hardwood tree 40 years to sequester approximately 1 ton of carbon dioxide. On average, we emit about 40 billion tons of CO2 every year. So we would, theoretically, have to plant 40 billion new trees every year (depending on the species) and then wait four decades to see the positive drawdown effects. We need to plant a lot of trees, yes, but we also need to protect our old-growth forests before it’s too late.

Deforestation and forest degradation are significant contributors to biodiversity and habitat loss in Australia, primarily driven by the agriculture, forestry, and land development sectors. Australia has the highest rate of deforestation in the global north and the highest mammal extinction rate in the world.

Despite the Australian government’s commitment to zero new extinctions, including the $224 million program to save native species, we are still losing habitat at an alarming rate. Bulldozing 52 hectares every hour, which is the size of 28 Sydney Opera Houses.

Yep. 28 of these in forests are destroyed per hour | Photo by Susan Kuriakose on Unsplash

If Australia is going to be real about taking action and following through on our ‘commitments’, we need to front up to the realities of what’s actually going on. As Tim Beshara from the Wilderness Society aptly puts it, ‘The alarm bells keep ringing, but the emergency response still lays dormant.’

Wood Chips, Pulp, and Climate Risk or a Big Old Solution

Nothing can beat the drawdown capabilities of forests (both land and marine), and whilst tech fantasies and dreams of carbon capture and storage are coming out of the wazoo, nothing beats mother nature. Along with no new coal, oil, and gas projects, the latest IPCC report  (the most comprehensive review of scientific knowledge of the climate crisis) overwhelmingly points to mass restoration, and protection of nature as critical.

Our ancient native forests are huge carbon sinks and crucial in the fight against the climate and extinction crises. Forest carbon sinks currently sequester around 30% of total global emissions annually. That’s massive.

Native forests really do the most | Photo thanks to @calumnhockey

What remains is either classed as ‘waste’ or primarily turned into woodchips, toilet paper, and pulp. To add to this madness, this is often classed as sustainable forestry. Massive trucks are driving into fragile ecosystems and removing the oldest trees, destroying habitats, and impairing any recovery. How is that sustainable?

Breakdown of how felled trees get used | Photo thanks to @patagoniaaus from their ‘End to an End‘ series

When you walk through a native forest (and please do), look up and around at the trees and the mix of curly, weaving trunks, and branches. Unlike their tall, uniformed counterparts in a pine plantation, these windy beauties aren’t great for the logging trays. Hence why so much biomass is classed as ‘waste’.

When you walk through a pine plantation, notice how eerily silent it is. There’s a reason for this. There’s a lack of biodiversity of species that live there. There’s a huge difference between native forests and mono-crop plantations, and we can’t underestimate the interconnected relationship between older and younger trees and microbes in the soil.

These mono-cropped forests, classed as biodiversity deserts, are a window into the grim reality of what ‘nature’ could look like if we don’t take serious action to protect what remaining wild places we have left.

Old-growth forest…

…vs a pine plantation | Photo thanks to @jonharris_photography

Action Comes in Many Different Forms

Running has always been a big part of my life. A way to unfurl, decompress, and process. Preferably in nature. Being lucky enough to grow up on Arrernte Country in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), my first introduction to trail running was pretty special. Hours spent exploring red desert paths and rocky outcrops across the expansive, ancient country. Check out ‘Running Out’ for a snippet of this beautiful place.

Read more: Did You Know You Can Trail Run in The Red Centre?

Nature and the outdoors have also always been a big part of my life. I learned to scurry up an old gum tree before I could walk, and family holidays, camping trips, and weekends were spent under the limbs of old giants in dry river beds, tall rocky gorges, and spinifex-filled ranges under an open star-heavy sky.

I can’t recommend takayna Trail more. But not everyone has the capacity or time to nip off to the middle of a rainforest and go for a jog. And there are so many other ways to get involved. Action on climate looks different for everyone, plus it’s a privilege to operate in the space of ‘action’ in the first place.

There are a lot of things wrestling for our attention and fuelling our collective anxiety at the moment. We’re living through a multitude of ‘crises’ and are all feeling the pinch. High costs of living, there are multiple wars raging, mental health, food security, and housing crises are all on our minds. Just like the intersectionality of the climate crisis, these pressures are often inextricably linked.

It’s a lot, and it’s so easy to get overwhelmed. But there’s also something all of us can do, and we need to streamline that focus together.

Photo by Li-An Lim on Unsplash

The deep-rooted cause of environmental destruction and the flow-on impacts to the community is the unrealistic fantasy of infinite growth on a finite planet. This system isn’t benefiting anyone except for an extremely small percent of the population who see eye-watering profits year after year.

Individual action is a great place to start and needs to be celebrated in all its many forms. It all counts, and it all matters, however big or small. And let’s also not forget that we are part of an extraordinary moment in history and part of a huge collective of incredible people working towards change. The best place to start is often right in your backyard.

Collective Action as an Antidote to Overwhelm

‘Don’t get depressed; get active’, Bob Brown encouraged the audience during the Q&A at The Giants premiere. Along with, ‘When things get tough, go op-shopping’. While treating yourself to a knitted jumper from Salvos will definitely help to ease eco-anxiety, at least momentarily, there is SO much we can all be doing. And every little bit really matters.

Hope, for me anyway, has always been a doing word. When things get tough, I get active, be it heading off for a long trail run to decompress and unfurl, or rolling up my sleeves and rallying my mates around a campaign.

Protecting our last wild places is something I care about deeply (I think we all do) and running in takayna is something I’m lucky and super grateful to have experienced. And to have the capacity, time, and means to do so.

Photo thanks to @calumnhockey

You’re there in the reality of what’s happening on the ground, getting stuck into something tangible, along with a bunch of like-minded folk to rally you along and share the emotional (and physical) load. You can step into the now, appreciate what’s here, and realise (and delight) in what’s enough – and not take that for granted. Because in the busy, all-consuming, constantly expanding and growing world we live in. It’s a great question to ponder. What is enough?

Bill McKibben’s advice when asked, ‘What can I do about climate change?’ is ‘Become less of an individual. Come together and push for solutions.’

The best way to take action is with a bunch of pals. With humility, courage, camaraderie, and consideration of all the other little critters and creatures that call this planet home. Nature isn’t just a nice thing to appreciate and spend time in, nature is also the foundation of the global economy and human existence. Nature is the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the clean water we drink.

It’s critical that we protect our wild places to mitigate the worst impacts of global temperature rise, and now is the time to stand up for our native forests and a safe climate future.

takayna Trail is kicking off again this year in late Feb, and registrations are full to the brim, but there are plenty of ways you can support the cause:

• Support takayna Trail 2024
• Sign the declaration to protect our native forests
• Get amongst it and go local
• Watch The Giants film or host a screening
• Save our big backyard
• Go shopping at Vinnies!

Read more: How Climate Change is Already Affecting Adventures, And What We Can Do About It

Feature photo by @calumnhockey