VicForests' changes to the Timber Release Plan (TRP) inconsistent with the Code of Practice for Timber Production
The currently proposed amendments to the Timber Release Plan (TRP), as they apply to the Rubicon State Forest and the Marysville State Forest contravene five mandatory actions required by the 2014 Code of Practice for Timber Production (the Code). A new TRP should be prepared that is consistent with the Code.
These were the headline pointers in the January 2018 RFPG submission to VicForests regarding its latest amendments to the TRP.
RFPG rejects all the proposed changes to the TRP; indeed we reject the whole TRP as it stands.
RFPG has repeatedly advised VicForests that the TRP as it stands is wholly unsustainable, purely from a timber supply perspective, and much less sustainable from the point of view of ecology, tourism and heritage.
The principles of the Code which are contravened by the TRP, as it stands concern:
- the perpetuation of native biodiversity;
- impact on water quality and quantity;
- adverse visual impact in landscape sensitivity areas;
- the application of the precautionary principle
- the consideration of the advice of relevant experts and relevant research in conservation biology and flora and fauna management in planning and conducting timber harvesting operations.
Read the sequence of RFPG submissions regarding the TRP:
