Industrial scale clear-fell logging is NOW taking place in the Snobs Creek Valley. The Central Highlands are the most heavily logged area in Australia. The highly biodiverse ecosystem of mountain and alpine ash in the Rubicon State Forest has been virtually logged-out.
Lead beaters possum and Greater Gliders are widespread through the Snobs Valley. In one night 30 Greater Gliders were found in one of the proposed Vicforests logging coupes. These animals are listed as threatened species under the federal EPBC Act.
The three coupes currently being logged at Snobs are: Shackle, Snobs 13 and Snobs 14 and other sensitive coupes are also being logged at Torbreck and Bull fight (see map).
These are characterised by:
- Steep terrain.
- The Soil is rich and highly erodible once disturbed.
- The Land Conservation Council (1995) recommended that some of these coupes not be logged and be rezoned, however prior to rezoning by DELWP (Department of Environment, Land and Water) Vicforests commenced logging .
- The one and only State owned Snobs Creek Fish Hatchery which provides fish for Victorian waterways at the lower reaches of the Snobs Creek is threatened by increased turbidity, increased water temperature and reduction in water volume.
- Fishing is responsible for a large percentage of tourism in this area. Caravan parks, hotels, camping grounds and small business largely rely on this industry.
- The iconic Snobs Creek Waterfall is being neglected by the Shire. No safe area exists for tourist parking. This area is now used for log trucks to pass each other. The log trucks present an unacceptable risks for tourists on this road. The entire area is coated by grey road dust.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) Melbourne says:
‘If VicForests goes unchecked, our last Mountain Ash valley and ecosystem in the Rubicon State Forest will collapse, along with the Leadbeater’s Possum habitat. Mountain Ash trees absorb large amounts of carbon and mitigate against global warming and NOW they are being replaced by fire-prone regrowth and/or monoculture plantations.
We cannot afford to let this happen while we isolate during the Coronavirus emergency’.
Take action
People are called to take action by phoning or emailing the following and express concern about the logging occurring in the Snobs Creek Valley and specifically the Shackle, Snobs 13 and Snobs 14 coupes. Call on the government to immediately halt logging in these coupes.
Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Environment: lily.d’ambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au, 9637 9504
Jaclyn Symes, Minister for Agriculture: jaclyn.symes@parliament.vic.gov.au, 5783 2000
Daniel Andrews: Premier daniel.andrews@parliament.vic.gov.au 9548 5644 (Noble Park Office) 9651 5000 (Melbourne Office).
The Hon. Martin Pakula: Treasurer of Victoria. Email: martin.pakula@parliament.vic.gov.au Phone (03) 9547 6262/ (03) 8392 2221
Further information
For more information https://www.facebook.com/ForestsForeverFilms/
Rubicon Forest Protection Group. See website: http://www.rubiconforest.org/ or facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rubiconforest/
Lea Jellinek
Mountain Journal 
March 30, 2020 at 10:45 am
Interesting….
Q. Does the 2 person rule apply here? A. No, loggers work independently. Q. But what about the thousands reputedly employed in forestry? A. Most of them work in plantation harvesting. Q. So where are these logs going – sawmills employ more than 2 people don’t they? Or are sawmills an essential service? A. ….
March 30, 2020 at 10:54 pm
Well done Lea Jellinek, Cam Walker, and every person and organisation that is trying to save these native forests for future generations.
No government should be in the business of cutting down native forests.
Every government should be in the business of protecting native forests.
We must not get into any more interminable debates with VicForests about what is and is not chop-worthy. No more semantic swamps please.
The only points which needs discussion are;
* how quickly the VicForests corporation can be wound up (today would be good).
* how quickly every VicForests employee, contractor, and dependent saw miller can be re-employed under the Biodiversity 2037 Implementation Framework (tomorrow would be good).
The Wood Pulp Agreement Act must be repealed.
Dan and Lily, you must do the decent thing. Do it now.