Climate and Forest activists are still taking stock of the decision announced in the State budget to end native forest logging at the end of this year. It is hard to believe we are so close to an end to native forest logging when people have been fighting for decades for this result.

EGCAN and Gippsland Extinction Rebellion have supported forestry protests calling for an end to logging and many of our members are long-term forest activists.

However, this has not been our core activity. Groups such as Environment East Gippsland (EEG), Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO) Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Gippsland Environment Group (GEG) have been at the forefront of this battle in our region, with other groups across the state working together. The new umbrella organisation, Victoria Forests Alliance (VFA) has encouraged collaboration and interaction between groups. FOE and GECO are celebrating their 30th birthdays this year and EEG has been fighting for more than 30 years. This has been hard, long term and dedicated activism supporting our forests and it has taken place across the state and indeed similar battles are taking place across Australia.

Gippsland Extinction Rebellion protest in 2022 focussed on the threat to native forests and biodiversity loss.

Activists such as Jill Redwood, and many others have devoted these past 3 decades to advocating for our forests. They have educated our communities, lobbied every part of government and when this has failed to get action, have bravely taken direct action. This has been tireless and often soul-destroying work. Coupe by coupe, activists have attempted to stop clear felling of increasingly rare stands of intact forest. They have conducted citizen science campaigns, which again help educate the community as to what is in our unique forests while providing evidence of what is actually being destroyed.

A recent successful tactic has been successfully challenging illegal logging activities, the logging of forests that contain endangered animals, plants and eco-systems. The government has conceded that they cannot log economically or legally.

This hard and detailed and often seemingly fruitless work seems to have paid off.

Ultimately the disregard of the law of much of the logging industry has been its undoing. This is on top of the fact that logging our native forests is just not financially viable. It creates few jobs and destroys our biodiversity at a time when it is under the key threat of modern times: global warming. Once again science has been thrown out the window by vested interests and we have continued the destruction that all the evidence clearly shows is disastrous.

Forest activists in a Colquhoun Forest logging coupe in 2020. It has been heartbreaking to see the forests that have been destroyed…

Climate impacts of logging

Apart from protecting forests to preserve biodiversity, intact forests play a pivotal role in reducing carbon in the atmosphere. It has been estimated that ending logging in Tasmanian native forests would be the equivalent of taking 1.1 million cars off the road every year. 

Researchers have shown astonishing benefits to CO2 emission reduction by ending native forest logging: Each year around two per cent of our native forests are logged, resulting in 15 MT Co2. The other 98 per cent of native forest is left standing and continues to grow – providing an incredibly powerful offset against carbon emissions. If we were to stop logging native forests, the avoided emissions alone are close to what is needed annually (15.5 Mt CO2) to achieve our 43 per cent reduction by 2030 target. (CanberraTimes – Stopping native forest logging is the only way to meet our net zero targets The full paper is available HERE

An end to logging in Victoria will have an impact on our ability to meet the targets so urgently required to stop global heating. The extra benefits include that we will have a better chance to save threatened species from extinction as they are adversely affected by global heating. Even better would be an end to logging in our native forests in NSW and Tasmania!

Responses to an end to logging:

There are some excellent responses to the end of logging and it is important to understand the industry right now, as politicians and others affected by the end of native forest logging are flailing about to find blame instead of focussing on the opportunities we must seize.

Students at a protest at Yalmy (2005) Image from linked GECO article below.

GECO has an excellent initial response to the end of logging on their Blog page: Logging to end by 2024! What’s next I wonder… They highlight some of the important steps needed to progress in restoring our forests. They are also clear that there are significant risks and that our forests remain under threat. They highlight the need for ‘rapid investment in ecological restoration and cultural caretaker rights to be handed back to Indigenous peoples.’

Some worthwhile reads: Ending Native forest logging in Victoria is long overdue. Australia must protect its precious trees. Written by David Lindenmayer and Chris Taylor, they explain that this industry never made economic sense. Vic Forests has made losses for many years and the cost to our environment and biodiversity just has not been considered. The two authors identify some of the harms done and the lack of science behind management and dodgy claims related to the supposed benefits of logging. A great and informative read.

An end to logging in VIC: what does it mean for the forests of the high country? from Mountain Journal sees the early cessation of logging as an opportunity to start the process of restoring our forests 6 years earlier than expected. The author highlights that ‘The shutdown was brought forward out of necessity: ‘native forestry has been hit with increasingly severe bushfires, prolonged legal action and court decisions. There are no alternative timber supply sources available domestically or internationally which can offset the current disruptions to supply to Victorian mills and there are no options for regulatory reform which can prevent further legal injunctions continuing to disrupt native timber harvesting operations’.‘

The Greens have a decent plan for what to do next: Our plan to end logging, protect forests and secure a new future for logging workers including work opportunities coping with the increasing risk of disasters and other programs. This was the strategy prior to this announcement, taken to the 2022 election.

Other stories:

A montage of forest actions edited by Eva Davis Jones – first published on Facebook and Instagram

Victorian logging end win for people and wildlife with comments from the ACF, Breaking: An end to native forest logging in Victoria from Victorian National Parks Association, and from News.com.au Native timber logging to be brought to an end in Victoria The Age editorial has supported the move: Ending native forest logging is the right move.

The Plan:

Details on the Transition plan are available here: Forestry Transition Program with various downloads including Delivering certainty for Timber Workers and other details of the plan in a range of documents.

Be Alert!

Forest activists are understandably anxious in this supposed wind down of the logging of native forests.

If you witness any native forest logging activity in Victoria, report that to

Please take pictures and note the locations, but do not place yourself in jeopardy of legal action or physical harm.

It’s not over yet.

This text has been updated on May 31, 2023, with additional information and corrections.