Environmental Organisations expose Brumby's flawed old-growth forest promises

The Wilderness Society (Victoria) Inc
Media Release
25 May 2009

An investigative report released today reveals that the Brumby Government is breaking a 2006 election promise by protecting paddocks and previously logged areas instead of Victoria’s ancient old-growth forests.

The investigation into the Victorian Government’s commitment to protect 41,000 hectares of old growth forest, carried out by The Wilderness Society (TWS), the Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), found 40 per cent of the areas identified for protection were a mix of cleared, logged or dry regrowth forests, not old growth forest.

VNPA’s executive director Matt Ruchel said Victoria’s leading conservation groups were calling on the government to create a real old-growth reserve system to protect Victorian’s stunning ancient pre-European forests, rather than a flawed system that protected a mixture of paddocks and logged areas.

“The government’s promise to '…immediately protect the Goolengook Block and the last significant stands of Victoria’s old-growth forests currently available for logging under the National Parks Act’, could be an important contribution to conserving old-growth, but it is totally flawed by the areas they have chosen to protect,” he said.

“It is clear from our investigation that the maps released at the last election, showing the areas the government had elected to protect, were based on flawed ecological advice because they are clearly not old-growth and are not threatened by logging.

“It is unclear however, if this was done on purpose or was a mistake. What is clear, is that the government needs to act to rectify the failure and deliver on its promise.”

Luke Chamberlain, TWS forest campaigner, said while the government continued to procrastinate, its commercial logging agency VicForests was making matters worse by continuing to log high conservation value old-growth forests including the iconic Brown Mountain.

“Forests like Brown Mountain are giant stores of carbon. Protecting them is not only critical to tackling climate change, it is also crucial to securing the future flow of water into our rivers and dams. The state government and VicForests continue to threaten these values by ruthlessly logging our ancient trees,” he said.

“Premier Brumby must show leadership and protect Victoria’s old-growth forests by pulling VicForests into line and creating a real reserve system.”

ACF’s forest campaigner Lindsay Hesketh encouraged the government to make its definition of old-growth forest scientifically accurate and ensure species were not threatened by protecting only fragments of habitat.

“It’s important the government’s definition of old-growth forest includes all negligibly disturbed mature forests, consistent with the long standing recommendations of ecological science,” he said.

“Rather than the proposed fragmented assortment of semi-cleared areas the government should make sure species are protected across their entire range. In a time of climate change, protection of a connected network of native forests is crucial to ensure the survival of some of Victoria’s most endangered species.”