$20,000 attack: activists drill holes in logging vehicle tyres

Road making and logging vehicles parked deep in the Wombat Forest have been attacked, in a suspected attempt to stop salvage work.

The side walls on all six tyres on Mark Hutchings' grader had been drilled through, as well as a window smashed.

Vandals have caused $20,000 of damage to a logging skidder, grader and tractor being used to salvage windblown trees left lying in the Wombat State Forest floor since storms swept through the region last year.

On arriving at the site last Friday road contractor Mark Hutchings found holes had been drilled in the side walls of all six of his grader’s tyres, worth about $2000 each.

Rocks had also been used to smash windows on the grader and a tractor Mr Hutchins had at Bullarto South site, 10km from Daylesford.

The vandals also drilled two holes in one of the tyres on Colin Robin’s logging skidder, which will cost $5000 to replace.

Vandals drilled two holes in Colin Robin's logging skidder's tyres, which was filled with water.

Mr Robin and Mr Hutchings suspect it was a premeditated attack by environmental activists, given they went to the site armed with a cordless drill.

“We’ve had vandalism before, but this was targeted – vandals don’t drill into tyres,” Mr Hutchings said. “Nothing was stolen.”

As for why they didn’t drill holes in the tyres of all logging vehicles on site, Mr Hutchings suspects it may simply have been a case of the drill running flat.

Mr Robin said whoever drilled holes in the skidder tyre may also got an eye-full of high pressure water, which is used to fill the tyres and add weight to the skidder.

As for salvaging the timber Mr Robin said he was still waiting on VicForests to give approval to start work, following

The Weekly Times understands a recent Supreme Court ruling by Justice Melinda Richards means VicForests must resurvey all coupes where it harvests timber for any signs of Greater glider possums, including the storm damaged sites in the Wombat Forest.

VicForests must survey storm ravaged sites in the Wombat Forest for greater glider possums. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Very little of the estimated 500,000 tonnes of fallen timber from last year’s storms has been salvaged to date, despite fire experts warning it is ticking fire bomb that threatens Daylesford and other towns within the region.