Rubicon Forest
Sunday 19 April, 2020

“VicForests is desperate to fulfil the Government’s log supply commitments notwithstanding the devastation wrought on the Rubicon Forest through over-logging, plus the 2009 fires, plus the ongoing risks of further fires, and climate change.” Ken Deacon, Convenor of the Rubicon Forest Protection Group said today.

“It is clear that fulfilling those log supply contracts is not compatible with good faith compliance with the regulatory regime governing Victoria’s state forests” Mr Deacon said.

“Snobs 13 along the iconic Snobs Creek in the Rubicon Forest in Central Victoria provides a case study of VicForests’ disregard of government policy, and of DELWP’s inability to police VicForests.”

“RFPG condemns VicForests’ for logging too close to Snobs Creek; condemns the illegal logging of steep slopes; and condemns the logging of old growth forest in this coupe.”

“The Minister must immediately sanction VicForests for its flagrant disregard of Government policy and the Code of Practice for Timber Production” Mr Deacon said.

These instances of lack of good faith, and of breaching the Code are outlined further below.

VicForests disregard for DELWP request to not log close to Snobs Creek

In a complaint to DELWP (dated 09/09/2019) RFPG pointed out that the zoning of Snobs Creek does not comply with Government policy which requires the creation of a ‘river zone’ at least 100m wide on either side of Snobs Creek, extending up to 300m wide depending on the local terrain and vegetation communities. This failure to comply affects all the 2019 TRP coupes along Snobs Creek, south of Snobs Bridge.

On 10 February 2020 we were advised by DELWP that a zoning amendment was under consideration by DELWP and that VicForests had been asked “to ensure that their planning for any coupes to be harvested takes into account any future zoning amendment”.

Unfortunately the Snobs 13 Operations Map shows the westerly boundary of the GMZ (now logged) to be barely 60m from the river.

This has been brought to the attention of the Minister but have, as yet, received no reply.

Illegal logging of steep slopes

The operations map of 15 April confirms VicForests’ intention to log the entire GMZ area in the southern half of Snobs 13 including approximately 2.5 ha which is steeper than 30°[1].

Regrettably, the Code of Practice for Timber Production permits slopes over 30° to be logged but restricts this to situations where the slopes make up less than 10% of the net (harvested) coupe area and the risk of mass soil movement has been properly managed.

The latest Operations Map shows the net harvest area of the coupe to be just 10 ha (not 20 ha as claimed in both the TRP and the most recent Operations Map) which means no more than 1 ha of the area steeper than 30° was available for logging[2].  However, around 1.7 ha has been logged. (Of course, if the net coupe area really was 20 ha the logging of this steep hillside could have been legal.)

Last minute revision of coupe plan to include enclave of old growth forest, rich in habitat trees – after safety exclusion zone declared

In a last-minute revision of the coupe plan for Snobs 13, released after logging had commenced, VicForests changed the status of a 1.5 ha patch of forest[3] from ‘proposed exclusion area’ to unconstrained GMZ[4], thus permitting it to be logged.

VicForests’ biodiversity inspection map (dated 28/02/2019) shows a concentration of habitat trees in this patch and satellite imagery suggests that this area is (or at least was) part of a 3 ha enclave of old-growth mountain ash that survived the 1939 fire.

According to the OCR’s interim rules governing logging of old-growth forest (November 2019), all old growth forest patches over 1 ha must be protected.

Logging of this area (albeit only part of it) despite repeated promises by the State Government that no logging of old-growth occurs is outrageous.