The Tasmanian Government has announced the make up of the group which will identify areas to be protected under the forestry peace deal.
The Premier, Lara Giddings, told Parliament the six-member group would be led by Professor Jonathan West and will start work immediately.
It will assess 572,000 hectares of native forest under a process agreed to by all peace deal signatories.
Ms Giddings says signatories have also ticked off on the appointments.
Two independent schedulers have also started investigating if logging in the 430,000 hectares of native forest marked for assessment can go ahead elsewhere.
“This work is already underway and advice will be provided to both Governments I’m told by October the 10th.”
“This advice will be shared with the signatories and the independent verification group to inform decisions on where harvesting can be rescheduled.”
Environment groups and state-owned Forestry Tasmania are clashing because the company insists it needs to keep logging within these forests to meet contractual obligations.
The Premier says signatories to the forest peace deal have promised to accept the umpire’s decision on forest protection.
The verification group must report to Government by the end of the year.
