The forest campaign – in pictures

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This story was initially produced as a photobook for personal use, to document the journey and enormous community effort that went into gaining protection for the Strathbogie Forest. But now that it’s done (the book), it seems a shame not to share it.

Watch the slideshow above, or click this link (The-Fight-to-Protect-the-Strathbogie-Forest) to view full-screen (use the top right buttons for options).

Below is the image on the back cover of the book. It was taken by J. R. Donald at the very beginning of the 20thC. from a low peak near the Strathbogie township, called Majors Hill. Looking east, Mt Strathbogie, 1044 m asl, is the peak on the horizon, 20 km distant. In the foreground the early Strathbogie township is making its claim, surrounded by a panorama of tall, ring-barked eucalypts – a testament to what was once a forest extending from horizon to horizon. This image reminds me how rapidly we newcomers have changed this landscape, of what has been lost and the importance of protecting what remains of our natural world.

Victoria’s native forest industry – the numbers just don’t stack-up

Victoria’s ‘forest industry’ is a multi-billion dollar industry that is currently thriving and looking to expand. Yet, some politicians and commentators seem to delight in declaring that thousands of jobs will be lost, that entire towns will shut down, that this is an attack on rural life, it will gut the rural community and Orbost and Hayfield will be ‘wiped out’. All because of the Victorian Government’s recent announcement of new areas of protected forest and a native forest logging phase-out by 2030.

To help understand the Victorian forest industry and the role of native forest logging, SOSF member Brendan Nugent (brendannugent@hotmail.com) has collated the below information. References are listed at the end.

Employment

The native forest logging sector is a small part of the Victorian forestry industry.

There are only 500 FTE jobs directly employed in the native forest logging industry (Deloitte, 2017) and will be assisted with a $120 Million transition package, compared with 20,000 in the Victorian forestry industry (VAFI, 2017). This is just 1 in 40 Victorian forestry jobs.

Around 1,500 people are employed in processing manufacturing that use some proportion of wood from native forests (Deloitte, 2017). Over 850 of these 1,500 jobs are at the Australian Paper mill in Maryvale which already sources a majority of its wood from Victorian plantations and supports over 5,500 jobs across Victoria (Australian Paper Sustainability Report, 2018).

In North East Victoria the forestry industry is already based in plantations and is large employer in the region with many hundreds of people employed in the planting, management, harvesting and haulage of plantation wood. Major local businesses who rely on plantations include Alpine MDF, Alpine truss, Visy and D&R Henderson who alone directly employ 400 hundred people with the sawn timber, MDF products and laminated particleboard produced at their Benalla plant from plantations (D&R Henderson, 2019).

Victorians overwhelmingly want protection for native forests & an end to logging

That’s the outcome of a wide-reaching survey by the Victorian Government into the ‘Future of Our Forests‘.

The survey included:

• 126 face-to-face events across the state involving over 2000 participants.
• On-line participation from 2824 people
• 49 youth participants from 22 youth organisations
• 14 written submissions

Strathbogie Forest logging coupes – gone!

The Victorian Government has halted all logging in the Strathbogie Forest, according to a recent announcement by the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. Jaclyn Symes.

The government’s new Timber Release Plan (TRP) shows the removal of all logging coupes, covering 370 ha, from the Strathbogie Forest.

Without a doubt, this is fantastic news! With 74% of the Strathbogie Ranges’ original forests completely gone, we need to protect and carefully manage what we have left. With climate change on our doorstep, the 24,000 ha Strathbogie State Forest will become increasingly important to the health and well-being of regional towns and communities and catchment health. This announcement is a significant acknowledgement of the importance of the forest and validates the community’s five-year campaign to improve forest management and protect it’s important values. We applaud the Minister’s decision.

The Strathbogie coupes on the previous TRP.

The only coupes remaining on the TRP are those undergoing regeneration.

[click an image to enlarge]

In 2017, research conducted by Victorian Government scientists found that the Strathbogie Forest was a state-wide stronghold for the Greater Glider possum, a recently listed threatened species. The forest is also important for the survival of many other native plants, animals and vegetation communities (which have disappeared elsewhere in the ranges). The forest is acknowledged by government and experts as a critical climate refuge for the region’s flora and fauna.

We now encourage the government to take the next step and deliver permanent protection for the entire Strathbogie Forest.

Golden Mount, Strathbogie Forest.

Giant Messmate Stringybark – centuries old and surrounded by frineds.

 

Estimating the density of the Greater Glider in the Strathbogie Ranges

The report documenting the findings of the 2017 Strathbogie Forest Greater Glider surveys, conducted by DELWP’s Arthur Rylah Institute, has finally been released.

Main findings:

• The Strathbogie Forest supports a large and regionally important population of Greater Gliders.
• The Greater Glider population in the Strathbogie Forest has not suffered the declines that have occurred in the Central Highlands and East Gippsland, reinforcing the conservation importance of the Strathbogie Forest population.
• Government data shows that many parts of the Strathbogie Forest support Greater Glider numbers that exceed the high-density threshold that would lead to forest protection in other parts of the state.

Summary of results:

• Greater Glider population in Strathbogie Forest is ca. 70,000 individuals.
• The detectability of individual Greater Gliders is low, suggesting that raw spotlight counts may greatly underestimate densities.
• The three surveyed coupes (Barjarg Flat, Mr Hat and Tartan) have a Greater Glider population of ca. 500 Greater Gliders.
• Greater Gliders in the Strathbogie Forest occur at densities of 2 to 4/ha. [Extrapolating, nine remaining coupes (370 ha) on the TRP have a Greater Glider population of 740 to 1480 individuals.]
• Generally, hollow-bearing trees were larger in coupes (mean DBH 118 cm), than outside coupes (mean DBH 89 cm), [suggesting that logging coupes are targeting higher conservation value areas of forest].
• Higher numbers of Greater Gliders were found on transects with large trees, particularly trees >100 cm DBH.
• The results of the study indicate that higher quality habitat for Greater Gliders includes areas containing a high proportion of Blue Gum and Mountain Gum and with a high proportion of trees larger than 100 cm DBH.

Strathbogie Forest Greater Glider (Image Lance Williams)

Coupe Tour 2 – we’re doing it again!

On our coupe tour a few weeks ago, we visited only four of the nine coupes on the Timber Release Plan. This coming Sunday, we’ll try to visit the rest: Clog, Tallangalook Gully, Roger, Gyuana and Howe’s Creek. We know that at least three of these coupes, Roger, Guyana and Howe’s Creek, have high numbers of Greater Gliders.

Hey Dan Andrews – hands off Mr Hat!

And the other eight coupes due to be logged in the Strathbogie Forest – 369 ha in total.

The two coupes recently logged (underlined) and remaining nine coupes on the chopping block.

You’ve already logged some of the highest conservation value forest left in the entire Strathbogie Ranges and it looks like Mr Hat and Tartan coupes are next, yet both have been shown by government surveys to have high numbers of Greater Gliders. Scientific research has repeatedly demonstrated that healthy, intact, carbon-dense forests are one of the best and most cost-effective defenses available to avert dangerous climate change, yet native forest logging continues, here in the Strathbogie Forest and across Victoria.

Government policy on logging native forests is completely out of step with regional Victorian’s opinion and values. And that’s certainly true in the Strathbogies!

 

Plenty of support here for the Strathbogie Forest.

Mr Hat – a Greater Glider hot spot in the Strathbogie Forest.

Mr Hat coupe defenders.

Mr Hat and Community Protection Order.

And this Community Protection Order was seen nearby.

Mr Hat coupe is on the east side of Stan’s Tk in the Parlour’s Creek catchment, to the north-east of Parlour’s Creek coupe (logged in 2017). And it’s adjacent to Stan’s coupe, (logged in 2009). Government surveys found the equivalent of 20, 12 and 10 Greater Gliders per kilometer (equiv.) in the three survey transects – detection rates that protect  forest from logging elsewhere in Victoria!

Strathbogie Shire calls for end to logging

MEDIA RELEASE
October 17 2018

Strathbogie Shire Council calls for an end to logging and better protection of the Strathbogie Forest 

A regional local government Council has joined the call for the Andrews Government to end native forest logging and protect the Strathbogie Forest in new conservation reserve. The Strathbogie Shire Council moved a motion with a five to two majority at its Ordinary Meeting last night October 16, 2018.

Local trucking company owner and spokesperson for Save Our Strathbogie Forest, Shirley Saywell, has strongly welcomed the Council decision:

‘This is a tremendous decision by the Strathbogie Shire Council who have listened to community concerns about the ongoing destruction of our forests from logging’ Ms Saywell said today, ‘ Our community has been ignored by the Victorian government for too long. We now hope that the Andrews government takes action and moves to protect the Strathbogie Forest.’

The Council decision comes on the back of new community-funded report recommending protection of the Strathbogie Forest in a new conservation reserve.

‘This forest is too valuable to lose, and we call upon both Daniel Andrews and Matthew Guy to make strong forest commitments to protect our forests and invest in our community ahead of the Victorian election next month.’

‘A decision to protect the Strathbogie Forest by the Coalition or Labor, as part of a forests and conservation policy would receive strong support from communities across our region . It will demonstrate furthermore that regional communities’ forest concerns are being listened to. It will also provide opportunities for new jobs and economic growth in regional Victoria.’

Important facts:

The full Council Motion

1. Call on the Victorian State Government to cease native timber harvesting activities in the Strathbogie Forest.
2. Call on the Victorian Government to accelerate the transition from native timber harvesting in Victoria, to plantation-based timber supply with changes to taxation incentives, and advocacy to the Federal Government for changes to regulations to give plantation timber better access to carbon farming schemes.
3. Supportsthe establishment of a protected conservation area under the National Parks Act 1975, encompassing all of the existing Strathbogie State Forest and associated public land.
4. Promote the economic future of the Strathbogie Forest as focused on nature-based tourism and recreational activities and work with local groups and regional tourism bodies to achieve this.
5. Notify the Victorian Government Ministers responsible for Agriculture and Environment, as well as Local, State and Federal Members, of this resolution.

The full council meeting agenda can be viewed here

Other key information:

● The Andrews government has the worst record of any Victorian Government over the past sixty years in declaring new national parks.
● 74% of native forest in the Strathbogie Ranges has been cleared, with less than 2% of the Strathbogie Ranges permanently protected in formal conservation reserves.
● At 24,000 ha, it is the largest block of Public Land in the Strathbogies.
● The Strathbogie Forest is of statewide significance for the Greater Glider possum, listed  as a threatened species under the federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. The forest has one of the healthiest Greater Glider population known in all Victoria.

The Community-produced report recommended the following:
● that the Andrews Government enable the formal protection of the Strathbogie Forest  under the National Parks Act, encompassing all of the existing State Forest and other associated public land, as part of its election commitments in 2018.
● The statewide significance of these forests for meeting National Reserve System targets, Victorian Government protection commitments and for the future survival of the nationally endangered Greater Glider possum population requires their urgent protection in a conservation reserve.
● Formal protection of these forests for nature conservation also helps demonstrate the commitment of the Andrews Government to land settlement agreements being negotiated with the Taungerong Clans

For comment Shirley Saywell 0427246900

Just a reminder why this forest is worth protecting:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Australia’s environment laws are broken

With Greater Gliders in the news last week, we’ll take you back to a video released two months ago.

Greater Glider habitat and local jobs exported to China

… and cut for firewood.

Approaches to the landing are a bomb-site.

Vicforests’ ‘world’s best practice’ threatened species management

Snig tracks criss-cross the coupe

Barjarg Flat coupe contained some of the highest quality forest left in the entire Strathbogie Ranges and was home to the highest ever documented Greater Glider numbers in Victoria. So, how does the Victorian government manage habitat of this EPBC Act and FFG-listed species? Easy – they let Vicforests loose.