By JESSE GRAHAM
WESTERN Metropolitan Region MP Dr Rachel Carling-Jenkins has praised the timber industry around the Yarra Ranges area, following a visit to Powelltown last month.
Dr Carling-Jenkins, of the Democratic Labour Party visited the Powelltown area to meet with VicForests and Victorian Association of Forest Industries (VAFI) representatives, for a showcase of how the industry works from start-to-finish.
In a written release, Dr Carling-Jenkins praised the industry, but criticised $4 billion worth of wood product imports annually “to meet demand.”
“Despite our forest industry ranking among the best in the world for quality, sustainable practice and environmental management, it struggles for government support and faces constant misinformation being promulgated by groups including the Greens,” she wrote.
Dr Carling-Jenkins said that many rural communities, such as Powelltown, were “highly reliant” on the industry, which she said generated $4 billion worth of economic activity.
Acknowledging controversy over the critically-endangered Leadbeater’s possum, she said that habitat was protected “even without sightings” of the animal.
She also cited a 30 per cent reduction in ash forest harvesting since the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, along other recommendations and actions started by the former Victorian Government, following the Leadbeater’s Possum Advisory Group (LPAG meetings).
Other recommendations include a two-year moratorium on logging in 15,000 hectares of land anticipated to have possums and moving from clear-fell harvesting to retention harvesting in 50 per cent of ash forest coupes.
Dr Carling-Jenkins’ release said that six per cent of Victorian forests are considered “available and suitable” for harvesting, though only 0.04 per cent was harvested in 2013-2014.
“Harvesting takes place on a 60 to 120 year rotation,” she wrote.
“Planning considers many factors and around 30 per cent of the available area ends up excluded to protect streams and habitat, or because of steep slopes.”
However, the Federal Government has called on the Victorian Government to take more action on protecting the possum, following the possum’s up-listing to critically endangered earlier in the year.
A VicForests spokesperson said the $4 billion of wood product imports that Dr Carling-Jenkins mentioned is Australia-wide, not only in Victoria.
A spokesperson for Victorian Environment Minister Lisa Neville echoed some of Dr Carling-Jenkins’ comments about the current protection for the possum, citing “fast-tracking“ colony surveys, VicForests installing remote cameras to look for possum colonies and infrared camera surveying.
The spokesperson said that an Industry Taskforce will be established to find a “consensus, best practice approach on these matters.”
“The Taskforce will involve government, industry and science working together to reach common ground on the issues facing the industry, such as job protection, economic activity and protection of our unique native flora, fauna and threatened species such as the Leadbeater’s Possum,“ they said.
