Liam Oakwood reports on the scale of logging in areas next to mountain ranges in southern lutruwita/ Tasmania. As he notes: ‘In the shadow of the mountain ranges of the deep South a steady defence of life on Earth is being mounted’.
Continue reading “Logging impacts mountain areas in southern lutruwita/ Tasmania”
On January 1, 2024, all native forest logging on public lands in the east of the state will end. This is a wonderful win for forests, animals, landscapes and the climate, and comes after decades of hard work by many thousands of people.
In recent years Friends of the Earth (FoE) has been campaigning to protect areas of high conservation forest in the north east of the state from logging. We are proud to have played a significant role in the long campaign to gain an end to native forest logging in the east of Victoria.
Here is a brief summary of the recent campaign in the north east and the high country.
Continue reading “Native forest logging stops in VIC high country on JAN 1!”
Join the Friends of the Earth Melbourne forests campaign at Patagonia Melbourne for an evening to hear all about our Alpine campaign and where to next.
We’ve been raising awareness through community events about the special Alpine regions, highlighting the incredible outdoor and nature values that are at risk due to the impacts of logging.
With the state government’s recent announcement that it will end logging by Jan 1 2024, there is now a good chance that we can expand protections for these areas, safeguarding their future and adequately addressing the needs of vulnerable ecosystems in a rapidly changing climate.
There is still much to do: we will need to listen deeply to the aspirations of First Nations people, influence government decisions in coming months, and continue our advocacy and citizen science work in the high country.
Please join us on October 11 to be educated and inspired to take action to protect the mountains and forests that we all love.
The evening features some great short films and updates on what’s happening in the Alps.
John Morgan is a plant ecologist from La Trobe University who has a passion for documenting high mountain floras, their dynamics over long timescales, and how they are faring in the face of invasive animals, less snow and increasing frequency of fires.
Image: John Morgan
The Australian Alp – Taylor Bennie-Faull
Mt Feathertop’s striking beauty holds a special place in the hearts of the Australian backcountry snow community. As one of the only mountains here that resembles its northern hemisphere counterparts, The Australian Alp tells a story of the profound impact it’s had on a group of keen explorers.
Taylor is a documentary filmmaker based out of Melbourne who seeks to empower viewers through connecting them to the deeper emotions of storytelling. He’s been active in outdoor sports from a young age which has fostered his love for the natural world and ways to reduce ecological footprints. His aspiration is to use his documentaries as a means to engage others with the environment.
This gorgeous 12 minute film is a homage to one of our favourite mountains.
Cam Walker from Friends of the Earth will open the evening. Cam has been working on a range of issues in the Alps for many years, and co-write the Icon at Risk report which outlines threats to the Alps. He recently wrote this piece for the Patagonia blog Roaring Journal.
Register your attendance, see you there!
This is a free event but we ask you to rsvp for catering purposes.
Continue reading “Loving the Vic Alps- FoEM X Patagonia event”
The 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, significant areas of the high country are still included in an updated Timber Release Plan (TRP) which could be logged before the January 1 cutoff date.
We are watching a number of key areas, including Mt Stirling, the headwaters of the Little Dargo, and Mt Wills area to ensure that no last minute ‘cut and run’ logging occurs.
It is good to note that Alpine Resorts Victoria is saying that proposed logging at Mt Stirling ‘may not proceed given the cessation of logging by January 1, 2024’.
The road to the planned coupes on Mt Stirling will be closed until the end of winter. But if you are up in the mountains, please keep an eye open for any last minute logging. And let us know if you see anything: cam.walker@foe.org.au
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.
Continue reading “Last minute threat to the Little Dargo, Mt Wills and other mountain forests”
In March, Friends of the Earth (FoE) campaigners visited north eastern Victoria as part of a longer trip highlighting threats to the landscapes of the high country. While we were focused on the threat posed to native forests by logging, locals in the Upper Ovens wanted to show us some of the current harvesting of pine plantations in the area.
While pine (Pinus radiata) plantations have been located across the north east for decades, and provide valuable timber and local employment, the logging practices in many instances are appalling. This led to FoE making a series of recommendations to the land manager, Hancocks Plantations Victoria (HVP), about how to reduce the environmental impacts of future harvesting.
As part of it’s state budget process for 2023/24, the Victorian government has announced that it will bring forward the shut down date for native forest logging across the state from 2030 to January 1, 2024. This is a huge development, and follows an intensification of environmental campaigning, a series of court cases that stopped logging in significant parts of the state, and a new environment minister following the re-election of the Andrews government in November 2022.
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.
The full details on ‘what next’ – that is, how the shut down will be managed and what logging will occur before January 1 – are yet to be released. This is expected in coming weeks. There will also be an ‘expanded transition support package’ of $200 million ‘in support for workers and their families to transition away from native timber logging earlier than planned’.
Continue reading “An end to logging in VIC: what does it mean for the forests of the high country?”
The Alpine Ash forests of north eastern Victoria have been devastated in recent decades. As was noted in a report from Erin Somerville for the ABC,
“Fires destroyed many of them in 2003.
Then in 2006 and 2007 they were hit by the Great Divide fires.
The Harrietville fire pounced in 2013.
Gippsland fires flared in 2017.
Then, Black Summer.
Onslaught after onslaught of fire — ghostly black and grey skeletons of thousands of ash trees still jut sharply from the steep north-east Victorian landscape”.
Despite the impacts and potential lose of these forests at a landscape level, logging continues in the area.
Continue reading “Logging of fire damaged forests near Mt Pinnibar”
The fires of 2019/20 burnt huge areas of north eastern Victoria. The remaining unburnt forests are more important than ever. One of these areas lies in the headwaters of the Little Dargo River, just south of Mt Hotham. It is a pristine area, without roads, and containing mature forest, much of it dominated by Mountain Gums and Alpine Ash. It is an area of state forest that lies right next to the Alpine National Park.
The state government logging agency, VicForests, intends to log a total of 11 “coupes”, or sections, of mature forest in the upper Little Dargo River. These coupes are located in a series of clusters, where separate sections of bush will be harvested, creating a large zone of cleared land over time. Extensive roading networks will be needed to access the coupes.
There is a growing community campaign to oppose this destruction. In 2022 and 2023, Friends of the Earth, in conjunction with the Treasure family, who have grazed cattle on the Dargo High Plains for generations, have hosted a number of walks to show people the headwaters of the catchment and surrounding area. Over the cup weekend (November 4 – 7) we will be hosting another free guided walk.
The walk itself will happen on the sunday (November 5).
The Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) is the country’s premier long distance walking trail. The 700 km long track crosses the Australian high country from Walhalla to the outskirts of Canberra. More and more people walk the track each year and it is becoming increasingly well known around the world, attracting walkers from Australia and overseas. It is a great example of the sort of nature based tourism that the alps are famous for. Walking, camping, skiing, trail running, mountain biking and paddling all continue to grow in popularity across the alps. People do not visit in order to see logging coupes (and a growing number of logged higher elevation areas are failing to regenerate, slowly transforming much of the landscape into a wasteland).
However, as we pointed out recently, logging now threatens the area between Victoria’s highest mountain, Warkwoolowler / Mt Bogong and the refuge of old growth snow gum woodlands on the summit of Mt Wills. Four planned logging areas will cut across a section of the AAWT as it leaves Big River Saddle and climbs onto Mt Wills, creating a large clear cut across the track (details here).
However, this is not the only section of the AAWT which is scheduled to be subjected to logging. From Mt Wills, the AAWT heads south, drops into the Glen Valley, and climbs onto the next range to the east. As it curves back south, a series of three coupes, with an area of about 130 hectares, will cut right up against the track.
Victoria’s highest mountain, Bogong (Warkwoolowler in the Waywurru and Dhudhuroa languages, meaning the mountain where Aboriginal people collected the Bogong Moths) is protected in the Alpine National Park.
Most people approach the mountain from the Kiewa Valley or across the Bogong High Plains. There is another route on the eastern side, following the appropriately named Long Spur to Mt Wills. This is all high elevation woodland and forests, and is the route by which the famous Australian Alps Walking Track (AAWT) leaves Bogong as it heads towards the Snowy Mountains. The 700 km long AAWT crosses the Alps from Walhalla to the outskirts of Canberra, and follows Long Spur from Bogong to Mt Wills before turning south and dropping into the valley of the Mitta Mitta River.
Mt Wills itself is a magical ‘island in the sky’ of isolated snow gum woodland, largely dominated by older trees. While it is connected by the long and high ridge back to Bogong, mostly the land around the mountain falls away to deep river valleys and forests that are initially dominated by Alpine Ash.
Now logging threatens the area between Bogong and Mt Wills.
Continue reading “A wander up Mt Wills & logging along the AAWT”
It appears that logging operations are about to start in the upper Jamieson River in the Victorian high country, to the south east of Mt Buller. The operations, covering a coupe which is 40 hectares in size (coupe 380-503-0003) will occur right up against the edge of the Alpine National Park, just south of Mt Lovick. This is one of a cluster of coupes which are scheduled for logging. It also includes a significant roading operation to upgrade the existing track.
Please scroll down for updates.
Continue reading “Logging to start soon in the Upper Jamieson Valley?”
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