	Updated: July 28, 2009
Regions: Victoria Campaigns: Forests

One of Melbourne’s biggest water wallys exposed

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With the onset of Victoria’s worst ever drought and the approaching impact of dangerous climate change, the Wilderness Society today exposed one of Melbourne and Victoria’s biggest ‘Water Wallys’.

: By logging native forests in Melbourne’s water catchment areas, VicForests is wasting billions of litres of future water. Photo: The Wilderness Society Collection

The Wilderness Society's Victorian forests campaigner Luke Chamberlain said the group today launched an education campaign, with the aid of a new website called www.sicforests.com.au, to expose the environmentally damaging actions of the Victorian Government’s commercial logging agency VicForests.

"By logging native forests in Melbourne’s water catchment areas, VicForests is wasting billions of litres of future water," he said.

Scientific research has found that after logging a young forest uses twice as much water than older forests because young growing trees are thirstier than older trees"

Luke Chamberlain
Forests campaigner - the Wilderness Society, Victoria

"So this means in our catchment areas where VicForests has logged, we are losing up to 50 per cent of the water that would have otherwise entered our dams and rivers. Studies in the Thomson catchment show that a massive 20,000 mega litres of water could be saved per year if logging was phased out.

"In a time when we’re all doing our bit to save water by having shorter showers and not watering our gardens, VicForests continues to log our water catchments and undo all our good water-saving work, making them one of Melbourne’s worst water wallys."

Mr Chamberlain said the water loss and habitat damaged caused by VicForests' logging was not even justified by the profits made.

"As a Government Business Enterprise, Vic Forests’ responsibility is to return to the Victorian taxpayer a decent profit for logging our native forests," he said.

"But since VicForests was established in 2004, its financial performance has been dismal: it has either made a loss or has been propped up by government handouts and taxpayer subsidies to pay for roads and forest management.

VicForests does so poorly financially because it sells our valuable trees for a measly $2.50 per tonne. So while a few company directors and Japanese paper companies make a killing, every Victorian is paying for it both financially and environmentally."