The ObserverTree is a platform situated 60m above the ground in an old-growth Eucalyptus Delegatensis tree, in the heart of Tasmania’s southern forests, according to ObserverTree.org, Miranda’s website. On the 14th of December 2011 conservationist Miranda Gibson climbed a rope to the top of the tree and vowed to stay untill the forest is protected. Miranda’s upper canopy home is a tree under imminent threat, in a forest due to be logged any day now.
Up a tree, on the Internet
The tree top platform is fully equipped with the technology to communicate to the world. Her website, Observer Tree features Miranda’s daily blog about life in a tree sit, commentary on the state of the forest negotiations, updates on flora and fauna monitoring and video footage from the tree sit.
If logging commences Miranda will also, sadly, document the destruction of the forest around her, streaming these images out to the world, according to her website. The traumatic process of forest destruction that occurs every day in Tasmania is generally hidden from public view. Now these archaic practises will be fully exposed, allowing the global community to see for themselves what is really going on in Tasmania’s forests.
Committed Campaigner
Miranda is a qualified high school teacher, specialising in Study of Society and Environment and English. She has put her career on hold to dedicate herself to the campaign to protect Tasmania’s forests. In 2008 Miranda was one of two activists assaulted by logging contractors in a vicious attack that was caught on film and made international headlines.
Undeterred, Miranda has worked with other “Still Wild Still Threatened” campaigners to monitor wildlife in Tasmania’s threatened forests using remote-sensor cameras. Their work has documented the prescenece of threatened species including Tasmanian Devils and Spotted Tailed quolls inside areas scheduled for logging.
“Tree sitter” breaks Tasmanian record for longest time spent at the top of a tree
Check out Miranda’s site, OBSERVER TREE.
