On Saturday June 9 2018, 80 people walked into one of Victoria's largest logged areas on the steep mountain slopes of the Rubicon State Forest highlighting extreme logging in breach of industry regulations.
See letters in the Alexandra and Eildon Standard of 25 June (pages 2&14) from Lea Jelinek and Nick Legge which provide further description and background - here. See also photos below.
DELWP is currently investigating whether these trees are pre-1900 and should not have been logged, but even if not that old, with old-growth making up less than 1% of the ash forest area in the Rubicon State Forest, such big old trees should be protected as the quickest way to hasten the future return of old-growth. (Posted 26/5/2018.)
What logging doesn’t kill, the regeneration burn can make up for. The burn seen in this coupe (Super Ted) escaped and has killed most of the surrounding retained forest. (Posted 26/5/18.)
Ill-considered forestry policy endangers more than wildlife, writes Nick Legge.
[The following piece was published in
The Age on 13 May 2018.
Download PDF version here.]
Last week’s injunction granted by the Federal Court stopping VicForests from logging certain areas in the Central Highlands until a court hearing next year is a ray of hope for those seeking an ecologically sustainable approach to native forest logging.
Rubicon Forest Protection Group Inc. promotes the significant biodiversity, scenic, historic and cultural heritage values as well as the exceptional tourism, education and recreation opportunities with their associated economic benefits.
Video here. Posted on Youtube by Trevor Hedge, 1 March 2018
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.
The RFPG Submission (29 Jan 2018, in full here) focuses principally on the Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement (CH RFA) but the issues we raise here are relevant to the four other Victorian RFAs.
This submission addresses matters arising from 2009 to 2014, but as the review is also to form the basis of decisions on revising and extending the RFAs, we also address matters arising since then.
Local residents together with WOTCH citizen scientists, recently discovered a high density of Greater Gliders in the mixed eucalypt forest about to be logged, just upstream of the popular Snobs Creek waterfall and rapids, and Victoria’s most important fish hatchery.
Snobs Creek fish hatchery produces a variety of fish for release throughout Victoria for recreational fishing. However, its continued operations depend on the purity of water, natural water flow and temperature of Snobs Creek.
