Yarra Ranges in temporary logging ban while East Gippsland bushfire wildlife investigation is done
Logging in 13 areas across the state — including the Yarra Ranges — is on hold as experts investigate how threatened animal species were affected by recent bushfires. And it came after a volunteer-run group took the fight to the Supreme Court.
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Logging has been halted at more than a dozen sites across the state — including the Yarra Ranges — while the State Government investigates the impact of the East Gippsland bushfires on threatened wildlife.
Last week the Supreme Court approved a temporary injunction to stop government-owned VicForests from felling trees in 13 designated logging areas, until official investigations discover how the fires affected certain animals and habitat.
The greater glider, powerful owl, sooty owl, smoky mouse and alpine tree frog all live in the affected areas.
The temporary injunction is for logging areas — also known as coups — in Toolangi, Marysville, Powelltown, Benalla, Noojee, Heyfield and the Upper Murray.
The 13 coups named in the injunction are Castella East, Propeller, Brumby, Pony, Rumba, Pumba, Kumba, Apu, Dowse, LaTrobe, Wales, Princess Di, and Rock a Rhyme.
In weighing up the costs of a temporary ban, a Supreme Court judge Kate McMillan said any loss VicForests suffered paled in comparison to the potential threat of irreversible environmental damage to the fire affected threatened species.
“All five of the threatened species have been identified by the State Government as on the path to extinction,” Ms McMillan said.
“It goes without saying that once these species are extinct, there is no going back.”
Friends of the Earth spokeswoman Chris Schuringa said it was an excellent outcome in a “David and Goliath”-type battle.
Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum president Steve Meacher said the group WOTCH (Wildlife of Central Highlands) applied for an injunction at the end of January to protect the forest that contained species that also lived in East Gippsland.
“Because of the fires they’ve lost animals and habitat, so the importance of the habitat in the Central Highlands is greater than it ever has been,” Mr Meacher said.
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“Logging should not continue in coups in the Central Highlands where those threatened species lives at least until the impact of the bushfires is better known.”
A VicForests spokesman, who did not want to be named, said the organisation was assessing the Supreme Court decision.