While millions of dollars are handed out in grants to a dying timber industry, our forests are dying with them. This video footage was taken by WOTCH over Melbourne's local forests and speaks for itself. Over the ridges or hidden behind small buffers it's happening on a large scale. It's not Indonesia, it's Victoria in 2017!
RFPG has proposed a series of far reaching tourist proposals to the Murrindindi Shire Council in a letter to the Mayor, Cr Margaret Rae, dated 19 April 2016. The proposals include:
1. Upgrade Tweed Spur track and Cathedral Lane/Chitty Ridge Track to 2WD standard to create a wonderful scenic drive linking the Cathedral Range State Park to the Rubicon State Forest
RFPG wrote to Minister D'Ambrosio on 22 July 2016 expressing concern regarding forest harvesting in the Rubicon State Forest (letter here).
The Rubicon Forest Protection Group provided a detailed briefing for Murrindindi Coucillors this week. Following Uncle Roy Patterson's welcome to country, local researcher Nick Legge provided an overview of the concerns of the RFPG.
The scale of logging in the Rubicon State Forest since the 1980s when logging re-commenced in earnest, is clearly evident in these Landsat images from 1997 to 2017. The satellite imagery (see Landsat the Movie here) shows the impact of the 2009 fires and the intensified logging which followed. Also view pdf version in browser (5mb).
7 Feb 2016, revised 26 May 2016
In its current submission to VicForests (revised version 26 May incorporating data recently provided by VicForests) the Rubicon Forest Protection Group demonstrates that the current rate of logging in the Rubicon valley and surrounding mountains is unsustainable.
