Historic Healesville meeting sends clear message to VicForests

On the 24th June, in an historic meeting in Healesville, around 350 people packed out the town's Memorial Hall to hear about the disappearing native forests in the Central Highlands.

Gunns in the spotlight at a recent meeting - Our Disappearing Forests - in Healesville, Victoria. Photo: The Wilderness Society collection

Speakers from the Wilderness Society, local environment groups My Environment and Healesville Environment Watch, the Save Mt St Leonard group and local councillors all spoke of the destruction of these forests from VicForests' clearfell logging practices.

The crowd heard about numerous breaches of logging codes, absence of environmental audits, the hidden truths behind wood chipping of native forests and just plain old local love of local forests. By the end of the meeting it was clear that VicForests is a major Achilles Heel of the Brumby Government.

The meeting took place at the same time that Murrundindi Shire council passed a motion calling for an immediate halt to current logging on the Bicentennial Trail and on Mt St Leonards in Toolangi.  VicForests has recently intensified its logging in this region. The shire council motion further demonstrates the ongoing conflict caused in the community by VicForests clearfell logging.

Meeting attendees were surveyed in the weeks following, and many have pledged to help support the campaign to get VicForests' clearfell logging out of the Central Highlands' native forests.