By Jed Lanyon
A Supreme Court injunction has forced VicForests to temporarily halt logging activity in 13 coupes across Victoria, including in Toolangi, Marysville, Powelltown, Noojee and Warburton.
Conservation group Wildlife of The Central Highlands (WOTCH) won its case against VicForests in a bid to protect threatened species habitat from logging following the unprecedented summer bushfires.
WOTCH, represented by Environmental Justice Australia, argued that logging fire-affected threatened species habitat is unlawful until the conclusion of government bushfire biodiversity responses, which could place further protections on threatened species.
“We have brought this legal action so that threatened species like the Greater Glider and the Powerful Owl, which have lost much of their remaining habitat in the recent bushfires, are not pushed further towards extinction by logging,” Philip Marshall of WOTCH said.
“The 13 coupes protected today are home to threatened species affected by the bushfires and were already being logged or had chainsaws on their doorstep.”
VicForests said it was assessing the Supreme Court decision and that it would consider the outcome of the proceedings and make further comment in due course.
The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) called for the state government to act and warned that the timber industry was on the brink of disaster.
“The government can’t sit on their hands on this one. CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor said.
“If they don’t act, the industry will collapse and collapse quickly.”
The union referred to the issue as a loophole that was being exploited by anti-timber activists in the courts and urged the Victorian government to act.
WOTCH and other local environmental groups have now turned their attention towards coupes adjacent to those which fell under the injunction, including the Zinger coupe near the Kalatha Giant Tree in Toolangi and on Warburton’s Mount Bride.
“Vicforests are voracious. A week ago we were elated by the news that an area on Mount Bride called ’Apu’ – which we fought to protect from scheduled logging – had been added to a court injunction. Immediately after this announcement, Vicforests declared they would log an area just around the corner on Ezard track,” said Warburton local Nicole Fox.
A letter directed to the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, from Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum president Steve Meacher described the logging activity as ‘senseless desecration’.
“It is beyond bizarre that VicForests would now decide to commence destruction of this area of forest, important to two critically endangered and at least one listed species, while the full impacts of this summer’s devastating bushfires are yet to be assessed.”
A statement from VicForests said that harvesting would not affect the Kalatha Giant Tree and that extensive and detailed work had been undertaken to identify and protect forest values and the species’ habitats in the coupe.
“The coupe is almost entirely regrowth after the 1939 fires but contains some legacy trees from 1926 and 1906 fires. The coupe does contain some individual older trees which do not constitute old growth stands but these trees will be preserved and protected from harvest activities for the long-term,” the statement reads.
