HILLS Nannas for Native Forests are rallying for the national ‘March for Forests’ on Sunday, March 22 at Forrest Place, Perth at 10am and are encouraging people to join them.

Long-term nanna, Wesley Huber is urging people to do it for the grandkids.

“If we don’t save the forest, it will be a tragedy for future generations so everyone should bring a friend so we can double our numbers,” she said.

Attendees are asked to bring a black or red umbrella to make a giant black cockatoo and march through Boorloo/Perth to help save the jarrah forest, as part of the many ‘March in March for Forests’ events happening around the country.

Event organiser Paddy Cullen said Alcoa wanted to massively expand bauxite mining in the jarrah forest for aluminium, and under pressure from Donald Trump, Australia has also agreed to mine bauxite in the forest for gallium used in US missiles.

“Scientists say the expansion of bauxite mining would destroy the homes of three species of black cockatoos which are all threatened with extinction and many other species in the most biodiverse temperate forest in the world,” she said.

“According to the Water Corp, this would be ‘a certainty’ to contaminate our water supply in large parts of the metro area and the south west. They say this would cost billions of dollars to repair, and the damage would be intergenerational.

“The government says Alcoa has been illegally clearing forests for years, but instead of taking them to court, has given them a free pass to keep clearing and says it is in the national interest. They have said they must spend $55 million on remediation instead of going to court, but scientists say restoration is impossible.”

She said 59,000 people made submissions to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to stop the expansion of bauxite mining.

“Now we need feet on the street (and umbrellas) to back that message and get the EPA and government back on track to save the forest,” she said.

“Mining must be phased out of the forest with a fair transition for workers in the same way as we ended forest logging in 2024.

“We are hoping a thousand people will join us and make a difference.”

For further information go to the event page.