PROTESTORS complaining the McGowan government hasn’t lived up to its pre-election promise to stop logging in high conservation value forests will gather at Parliament House this Wednesday at noon to present a 10,000-strong petition.

The WA Forests Alliance says it has plenty of proof that old-growth forest in the South West is being clear-felled, aided by changes to the rules which mean fewer areas qualify for protection.

• Barrabup Forest is a flashpoint for conservationists who say rule changes have quietly opened the door to old-growth logging in WA. Photo courtesy Barrabup Conservation Group

The flashpoint is the Barrabup Forest near Nannup, where logging was put on hold after complaints it contained old-growth forest.

A review by the state’s parks department found 43 hectares of protected forest had been overlooked and it was subsequently taken off the Forest Products Commission’s books for logging. A further 1.2 hectares of old-growth jarrah had been destroyed when a road was pushed through for the logging trucks.

The Forestry Products Commission says more than 62 per cent of the state’s native forests have been set aside in reserves and all old-growth forest protected under WA’s Forest Management Plan which was adopted in 2013.