Environment Tasmania played a critical role in progressing the high stakes Tasmanian Forestry Agreement, otherwise known as the Forest Peace Deal, which saw hundreds of thousands of hectares of native forest protected from logging.

These negotiations, which involved other conservation groups such as the Wilderness Society, unions and forestry industry representatives,  commenced against a backdrop of decades of “Forest Wars”in Tasmania. They resulted in the protection of the tall wet forests in the Styx, Upper Florentine, and Weld Valleys, much of which is now secure in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

In addition, forests across takayna/Tarkine, the Blue Tier, Eastern Tier, Ben Lomond, and turrakana/Tasman Peninsula have been spared from logging. Work continues to ensure permanent protection for these forests despite the fact that a change of State Government in 2014 led to the scrapping of the Peace Deal. The protection of these forests would not have been possible without the detailed assessment of those areas undertaken by forest activists that were a critical part of the Peace Deal process.