Environmental groups raise concerns about logging 'by stealth'

Blake Nesbit stands by a towering mountain grey gum tree in a mosaic of native forest near Forty Mile Break in Noojee, in Victoria's East.

The tree is hollow-bearing, meaning it provides habitat for wildlife such as the endangered Leadbeater's possum, Victoria's fauna emblem and a critically endangered species.

The tree is also in an area of Gippsland where Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) is doing hazardous tree removals as part of its fuel breaks.

"This is a tree that our group watch and myself observed greater gliders emerging from its hollows on various nights," Mr Nesbit said.

"Just taking a quick look at the tree, I could tell it had suitable large hollows and could be hosting certain animals."

Since the end of native timber harvesting in 2024, Mr Nesbit and other volunteers from the Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOCH) group have noticed an uptick in the number of large, older trees being marked for removal by FFMVic.

Members of WOCH also reported a dead Leadbeater's possum after the removal of hollow-bearing trees.

A chorus of environmental groups have claimed timber is being extracted from state forests that does not need to be removed.

Jordan Crook has been involved in the timber industry for much of his professional career: first as an arborist, and now as a nature campaigner at the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA).

He said he was concerned unnecessary timber removal could be occurring out of sight, due in part to the state government's recently published State Forest Timber By-Product Framework.

Mr Crook said the end of native timber harvesting in Victoria had failed to protect the environment, and the VNPA had observed an "intensification" in timber removal from Victorian public land in recent years.

"This has been a part of fuel break operations, burn preparation and other operations where in the past the logs would be left in the ecosystem to play an important role," he said.

Warburton Environmental Inc filed a Federal Court case in May 2024 against the Victorian government to halt destruction of hollow-bearing trees in state and national parks.

The trial is awaiting decision, which has restricted fuel break renewal works in the Central Highlands.

'These works are not timber harvesting'

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) State Forest By-Products Framework was released in April.

It allows for the removal and, in some cases, sale of native timber debris from forests, as part of FFMVic's forest and fire management.

This includes about 7,000 tonnes of timber by-product auctioned by DEECA in May after a storm near Daylesford.

Before implementation of the framework, native timber was being removed from state-managed forests after the end of the native timber harvesting industry, including more than 500 tonnes of firewood from a fuel break in Gippsland, more than 1,400 tonnes of storm debris from public land near Mirboo North, and about 500 tonnes of by-product moved at Mallacoota after the Black Summer fires.

The framework states when by-product is sold, revenue will go to traditional owners.

The Victorian government has committed $1.5 billion to support the transition from native timber harvesting after years of bushfires, environmental no-logging zones and court decisions limiting Victoria's harvest supply.

According to DEECA, the program has offered alternative work in forest and land management jobs for forestry contractors, moving machinery and workers into forested areas for bushfire prevention works, response and recovery.

But the VNPA, along with some forestry academics, claim unnecessary destruction and removal of timber from national parks is still taking place across Victoria under the guise of fire fuel load management.

In a media release in May about the framework, the VNPA said the state government was allowing logging "by stealth".

'We want a good, well-managed forest'

Australian National University forestry academic David Lindenmayer has been a vocal opponent to the state government's approach to forest fuel load reduction and removal of native vegetation in the name of land management, and labelled the practice as "madness".

"This whole absurdity of having to manage every square inch in the country for so-called fire management, it's just ludicrous," he said.

But others refute his point, including former chief research scientist at CSIRO John Raison, who has co-authored a recent paper looking at sustainable management of native forest for wood production, along with other forest values.

He said concerns around the efficacy of plantation timber, along with forest degradation resulting from timber harvesting, threats to species biodiversity, increased bushfire risk, increased carbon emissions, and threats to water yield and quality were "almost all wrong", and that forests need to be managed.

"The reality is that our national, protected forest area is not in good shape," Dr Raison said.

He said feral animals, weeds and fire management posed a "major threat" to native forests in the future.

"Just having more protected forests without a good system of protecting from fire I don't think is a good idea. And one of the good things about the timber industry is that they had in place pretty good systems for trying to deal with fire," Dr Raison said.

"We want a good, well-managed forest. It's not simply a matter of just saying we'll no longer take timber out, we'll put it all into a big protected area. How are you going to manage it? How are you going to finance it? I think that's the big issue."

A DEECA spokesperson said any debris removed for safety, bushfire or forest health reasons "goes to a range of commercial, community or environmental uses such as firewood, forest of visitor assets, fish habitat or animal bedding".

The independent Conservation Regulator is then responsible for ensuring all forest and fire management works are undertaken in accordance with relevant legislation.

"Forest and fire management work is never conducted for a commercial purpose and is not logging," a Victorian government spokesperson said.

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