The recent announcement that native forest logging will end in eastern Victoria on January 1, 2024 is great news for the forests of the high country.

We wrote a brief piece explaining the implications of the announcement here.

As we noted in that story, this means the state will be spared another six years of intensive logging and allow us to start the generations long work of restoring a landscape that has been deeply impacted by intensive logging and repeat fires in recent decades.

However, the state logging agency VicForests has just released an updated Timber Release Plan (TRP) which has many coupes in the high country and north east which could be logged before the January 1 cutoff date.

At a time when many contractors are thinking about ‘what next’, pushing logging crews into high conservation areas will drive conflict and potentially lead to protests. This is an inflammatory move from VicForests.

The amendment to the Timber Release Plan includes:

  • the addition of 184 new coupes
  • 12 coupe boundary changes
  • 2 coupe driveway additions.

These include the coupes in the areas of special significance Friends of the Earth has identified, including:

  • Around Mt Stirling
  • The headwaters of the Little Dargo River, and
  • Near Mt Wills

You can find details on all these areas here.

This means these areas are at imminent risk of logging. While Mt Stirling is safe at least until early November because of the seasonal road closure, the other two locations could potentially be logged (the Little Dargo is accessible via the Jones Creek logging road which is just south of the seasonal road closure of the Dargo High Plains road and the Big River logging road is accessible during winter).

You can find details on the TRF here (scroll down to find a map with all the coupes).

BELOW: forest area included in the TRP, just north of Mt Stirling.

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