VicForests lock down: Playing possum as more colonies found

VICTORIA’S 4000 timber workers and their communities are demanding an immediate review of logging bans around Leadbeater’s possum colonies, following a massive surge in sightings.

On the rise: Leadbeater's possum sightings.

VICTORIA’S 4000 timber workers and their communities are demanding an immediate review of logging bans around Leadbeater’s possum colonies, following a massive surge in sightings of the marsupial.

The Victorian Association of Forest Industries made the call in the wake of data showing the number of possum colonies sighted across Victoria’s Central Highlands had surged from 153 in 2014 to 688 late last year.

The possum has been used by environmentalists and the Greens to put pressure on the Victorian Government to phase-out native timber harvesting, and is widely believed to be driving the Government’s 10-month delay in issuing a timber release plan.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should the Leadbeater’s possum still be a factor in the timber industry’s future? Comment below

The delay is causing enormous uncertainty in timber communities from Powelltown to East Gippsland, as saw mills, haulage and harvest contractors await a decision on whether they have a future.

“This is not just about wood, but about families not knowing where they’ll be in five years,” Australian Forest Contractors Association general manager Stacey Gardiner said.

“People just aren’t buying new equipment. Innovation and investment are stifled.”

Meanwhile the timber industry continues to lose access to more mountain ash forest, as government agencies and community groups rush to identify more possum colonies.

Under State Government regulations a ban is placed on logging within 200 metres of any sighting, effectively excising 12.6ha of timber every time a possum is located and preventing any access roads to other coupes being built through the site.

An Australian Forestry Journal research paper by professional forester Mark Poynter shows possum sightings have led to a 60,000 cubic metre loss of ash-type sawlogs and even more hardwood pulp, which is vital to the Latrobe Valley’s Australian Paper mill.

“It’s acutely ironic that the industry is now being denied access to forests because there are too many possums rather than too few,” Mr Poynter said.

“The Victorian Government’s predilection for appeasing environmental ideology suggests it is happy for the livelihoods of rural workers and their communities to be ridden over roughshod by eco-activists.”

The number of sightings has grown in the wake of surveys by VicForests, the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning, Authur Rylah Institute, Parks Victoria, Zoos Victoria and the community, who have all gone in search of the state’s faunal emblem.

New possum detections are now so numerous that its critically endangered status is under review by the Federal Government.

Researchers have even found the possum for the first time in regrowth zones hit by bushfires, where previously it was thought they could only survive in fully mature untouched forests.

VicForests Biodiversity Conservation and Research Manager Tim McBride, along with two other ecologists, published ground-breaking study in CSIRO’s Journal of Australian Mammology in February, which shows possums are moving into regrowth zones.

The research team found Leadbeater’s possum colonies in four zones hit by the 2006-07 bushfires and another two in areas harvested for timber 40 years ago.

Rule’s View. Cartoon: Chris Rule

VAFI policy manager Tim Morrissey said the research highlighted the importance of comprehensive landscape-wide surveys across all public forests.

“VAFI believes a review of harvesting restrictions in the extensive core range of Leadbeater’s possum must take place immediately in Victoria,” Mr Morrissey said.

VicForests told The Weekly Times Mr McBride was unavailable for an interview.

One timber industry source, who regularly deals with VicForests, said the Government had directed the government-owned native timber business not to put out a media release on the recent increase in possum sightings.

VicForests refused to respond to questions on the issue.