By Callum Ludwig
The recent targeting of an Upper Yarra logging contractor performing fire reduction work in the Wombat State Forest near Daylesford has sparked outrage.
Vandals smashed glass, wrote messages condemning logging activity in the forest and caused other damage.
The contractor was performing fire-reduction work for Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) which utilises some targeted tree clearing to reduce fuel loads in state forest.
An FFMVic spokesperson said the health and safety of their communities, staff, contractors, and local wildlife is their first priority.
“We strongly condemn this deliberate damage to essential machinery used by our staff and contractors to reduce bushfire risk and rehabilitate affected areas of the Wombat State Forest. The matter has been referred to Victoria Police,” they said.
“The equipment damaged is used to improve emergency access, remove hazardous trees, clear storm debris and other works that are crucial to public safety and the health of the forest’s biodiversity.”
As part of the transition away from native timber harvesting in Victoria which began on 1 January this year, forestry contractors have been given opportunities to assist FFMVic in fire-reduction works, with the Victorian Government also offering VicForests harvest contractors secure five-year Forest and Fire Management Services Agreements, starting from 1 July 2024, to carry out bushfire risk reduction works for FFMVic.
General Manager of the Australian Forest Contractors Association Tim Lester said their view is that protesting needs to be done in a way that doesn’t damage property and doesn’t put people at risk.
“These are live worksites and they are potentially very dangerous places, invading someone’s workspace is the same as walking onto a construction site in Melbourne or into an office. If you wouldn’t do that and wouldn’t accept that in your own workplace, then this is not acceptable in these workplaces either,” he said.
“We understand that people have different points of view and they have different expectations around how forests need to be managed but the point is that forests need to be managed, just closing the door, locking the gate and ‘It’s now fine’ is not fine,”
“That is just a recipe for disaster, a recipe for fire and a recipe for the very things that people are trying to prevent, which is loss of habitat and loss of species, the big risks to threatened ecological communities and species are fire, invasive species and climate change.”
Yarra Junction, Warburton and Powelltown were announced as beneficiaries of $500,000 provided by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) to Yarra Ranges Council for a Local Development Strategy (LDS) in the townships as part of the transition away from native timber harvesting, which is expected to be complete in March 2025.
Mr Lester said it was incredibly disappointing that forest contractors were being targeted.
“This is our backyard, it’s the state’s backyard and it’s our job as a community, as a people to protect that and we protect that by taking care of it,” he said.
“Sometimes, as you do in your own garden, you need to come through and take out the things that aren’t working or aren’t there for what you’re actually trying to achieve,”
“The state has decided that we won’t use this as a resource and we won’t use it for the timber but it doesn’t change the fact that it still needs to be managed.”
Only a short distance from the Upper Yarra in Piedmont, Nationwide Trees was announced to be receiving a $775,000 grant from the State Government’s Forestry Transition Fund on Friday 10 May to construct a multi-use production and dispatch shed after having led the way in employing ex-native timber workings in roles throughout the business.
Mr Lester said it is also incredibly disappointing if people think the way to get their point across is to damage other people’s property.
“Protest all you like, but don’t damage people’s property, don’t put yourself at risk and don’t put the workers at risk,” he said.
The logging contractor from the Upper Yarra was contacted for comment.
