End of native logging in Victoria ‘a monumental win for forests’, say conservationists

UngulateNerd92

UngulateNerd92

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The shutting down of the industry six years earlier than scheduled comes after decades of conflict.

Native forest logging in Victoria will end in December, six years earlier than previously planned, after the state government decided severe bushfires and legal campaigns had made it economically and environmentally unviable.

The announcement by the Andrews Labor government in Tuesday’s state budget follows a landmark supreme court judgment last November that the state-owned logging agency, VicForests, had broken the law by failing to protect endangered species.

It triggered a shutdown of operations that contributed to Australia’s last white paper mill, located in the Latrobe Valley, ending production of office paper in February.

Government ministers said they had brought forward a previous commitment to phase out the industry by 2030 to “deliver certainty to timber workers, sawmill operators and their communities”. They pledged an extra $200m in the budget as part of a $875m transition support package for those affected.

Conservationists celebrated the decision, which comes after decades of conflict over the destruction caused by clearfell logging. In recent years campaigners have brought more than a dozen court cases alleging loggers had breached forestry laws.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...numental-win-for-forests-say-conservationists
 
Here is another relevant article.

After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria’s rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue

By the end of the year, Victoria’s trouble-plagued native forest industry will end – six years ahead of schedule. The state’s iconic mountain ash forests and endangered wildlife will at last be safe from chainsaws. And there will be no shortage of wood – there’s more than enough plantation timber to fill the gap.

Tuesday’s announcement by Premier Daniel Andrews is excellent news for forests, the state’s economy, and its threatened species. We congratulate the Victorian government for this decision.

Ending native forest logging is long overdue. For decades, we’ve known of how much damage it does to biodiversity. Logging vast areas of Victoria’s native forests over the past several decades has pushed many once-common animals, such as the greater glider, to become endangered.

Even now, the last remaining logging areas proposed under the state’s Timber Release Plan overlap directly with the areas of highest conservation value for biodiversity.

Our research has catalogued the damage done to produce low-value products such as woodchips and paper pulp. The industry never made economic sense. The state-owned logging company, VicForests, has been running at a loss for many years. The industry can switch to our abundant plantations of eucalyptus and pine.

After the chainsaws, the quiet: Victoria's rapid exit from native forest logging is welcome – and long overdue
 
Apparently "native logging" is something completely different in Australia then how I've heard the term before.
 
birdsandbats said:
I am used to hear it in-context of long-term sustainable logging by indigenous tribes - such as what happens in Wisconsin's Menominee Reservation.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, that makes sense now. The use of the term in Australia does seem drastically different then.
 
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