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Mt Stirling

Snow gum surveys at Mt Stirling

Snow gums are the iconic vegetation species of the Australian High country.

They are beautiful, vital for biodiversity and tourism, help hold snow pack which is released into river catchments, and hold deep cultural value for many people.

However, we are now seeing the beginning of ecosystem collapse across these forests – drought, dieback and successive fires have altered the structure, composition, and condition of snow gum woodlands dramatically.

During August 2026 we want to invite resort and mountain loving communities to join us for a couple of hours of citizen science to better understand the health of local snow gum forests. One of these surveys will happen at Mt Stirling alpine resort on saturday August 1.

Continue reading “Snow gum surveys at Mt Stirling” →

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Ski in party at Mt Stirling

From Friends of Mt Stirling:

Join us for a weekend of connection, community, and conservation at King Saddle Hut, Mount Stirling!

We’re teaming up with Friends of the Earth Melbourne (FoEM), long-time campaigners for the protection of the Victorian Alps, to bring you a weekend immersed in nature and collective action.

Together, we’ll walk through beautiful alpine bushland, learn from local ecologists about the current and emerging threats facing these fragile ecosystems, and explore ways we can care for Country—supporting both biodiversity and community well-being.

 

  • Kick off the weekend with a shared potluck dinner on Friday night—bring something delicious to contribute!
  • Bring your camping gear, warm clothes, dancing and walking shoes!
  • Hear from those working to protect and manage sustainably this area.
  • We will be organising some music for the Friday night for around the fire.

Bring along a friend! We hope to see you there.

 

This event is taking place on First Nations land. We acknowledge the Traditionals Owners and pay our respects.

 

Please be aware that there is an entry fee to enter the Mt Stirling resort, and the location is about a 3 km walk/ ski/ snow shoe to reach. You will need to be self sufficient in terms of camping gear, food and cooking equipment.

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Native forest logging stops in VIC high country on JAN 1!

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!” →

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Last minute logging still possible at Mt Stirling?

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’.

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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

There are details on our core areas of concern here.

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Last minute threat to the Little Dargo, Mt Wills and other mountain forests

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” →

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An end to logging in VIC: what does it mean for the forests of the high country?

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?” →

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Logging and riding don’t mix

Nature based tourism is an enormous part of the economy of many regional centres. Skiing, mountain bike riding, bushwalking, bird watching, camping, paddling, trail running all provide a growing part of the local economies of towns across the country where there are public lands with opportunity for adventure.

Sadly, logging and destructive land activities impact on many areas. The fact is that people don’t want to walk or ride through a logging coupe or open cut. But logging currently threatens a number of important nature and outdoor tourism activity.

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Logging will damage the Epic Alpine Ride at Mt Stirling

Mt Buller and Mt Stirling are famous for the fantastic bike trails that exist on both mountains. The Australian Alpine Epic route is described as ‘one of only a handful of IMBA Epic accredited trails in the world, the Australian Alpine Epic is a unique, tough and exhilarating journey’. It climbs onto Mt Stirling from the Delatite Valley before heading north past Mt Winstanley.

Sadly, now sections of the Epic ride will be directly impacted by logging operations on Mt Stirling – unless we stop it.

A large area around Mt Stirling is expected to be clear fell logged soon (starting any week now), including several coupes that will directly impact the Alpine Epic ride.

Continue reading “Logging will damage the Epic Alpine Ride at Mt Stirling” →

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Logging at Mt Stirling – what’s at stake?

With news that logging could commence on Mt Stirling as soon as this week, Friends of the Earth (FoE) activists visited the mountain over the weekend of November 18 – 20. Assisted by Friends of Mt Stirling and the Victorian National Parks Association, we visited most of the planned coupes and carried out night time surveying for threatened animal species in a number of them.

What we found was a rich diversity of forests and ecosystems, from mid elevation mixed species forests, areas dominated by alpine ash, and in the higher Number 3 area, proposed coupes that were a mix of older snow gums intermixed with alpine ash. While we did not spot either Greater Glider or Yellow-bellied Gliders (YBG), we found forests within the coupes with likely habitat for these species and an active YBG feed tree.

Continue reading “Logging at Mt Stirling – what’s at stake?” →

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Mountain forests miss out on protection

 

In November 2019 over 96,000 hectares of Immediate Protection Areas (IPAs) were announced by the Victorian government alongside the Victorian Forestry Plan which will see an end to native forest logging by 2030. IPA boundaries for four areas have now been finalised.

However, there has been no additional protection of forests threatened with logging in the Victorian high country.

Continue reading “Mountain forests miss out on protection” →

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Major logging operations to start at Mt Stirling

A considerable number of areas of forest on and around Mt Stirling are due to be logged soon (November 2022 onwards). This will have significant impacts on tourism (a number of the areas will be cut along the popular Circuit Road), will further fragment the important alpine ash forests on the mountain, and threaten the viability of older alpine ash and snow gum forests upslope due to the highly flammable nature of logging regrowth..

Continue reading “Major logging operations to start at Mt Stirling” →

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Is it time for the Mt Stirling Alpine Park?

There has been a long campaign for the Mt Stirling area to be managed as a national park by linking it to the Alpine National Park and handing its management to Parks Victoria. Things have been quiet on that front for a while, but now Friends of Mt Stirling (FoMS) have renewed the call to establish the Mt Stirling Alpine Park.

‘With the transition from Alpine Resort Management Boards (ARMBs) to Alpine Resorts Victoria (ARV) in October, and the development of a Masterplan for Mirimbah, we think it is a good time to re-visit the concept of the “Mount Stirling National Park”.

Continue reading “Is it time for the Mt Stirling Alpine Park?” →

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