Prime Minister Tony Abbott was right last week to describe foresters as the ''ultimate conservationists''. He said he would seek to delist 74,000 hectares of Tasmanian forest marked for World Heritage protection.

Those working in the timber industry know that the long-term sustainability of forestry resources is in their best interest. Without these resources, their businesses and jobs would not be viable.

The people who use these natural resources are in a better position to care for them than distant bureaucrats and government departments. This move will take control of the forest land from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which will this year meet in Qatar, and hand it back to the local Tasmanian industry that has cared for the land and created its conservation value in the first place.

The Greens and other extreme environmental groups were quick to express their outrage at the Prime Minister's comments. These groups have long taken the dogmatic approach that conservation is a synonym for prohibition - the only acceptable way to conserve the natural world is lock it up and prohibit its use.

Any move towards development is quickly criticised as an ''assault on the environment''.