The Federal government has given the green light to a 12-month review of logging operations in Victoria. The Victorian “major event review” will examine the environmental protections of its Regional Forest Agreements (RFA) and be conducted over around 12 months by an independent panel, with members appointed by state and federal governments, a government spokesperson said. Source: Timberbiz
Regional forest agreements are made between state and federal governments. The state provides a plan to “balance” the impact of logging on flora and fauna with economic factors, and in return commercial logging operations are exempted from national laws that protect threatened species.
The Victorian panel will produce a report with non-binding recommendations that “may mean changes for how we use and manage our forests”, a government spokesperson said.
During Victoria’s review, timber harvesting operations can continue in accordance with regulatory requirements. Logging continues in NSW, where no review has been commissioned after the fires.
In NSW, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has given approval to the NSW Forestry Corporation to log in 15 coupes across 3100 hectares in southern NSW, where at least 85% of harvestable native hardwood forests was burnt in the fires.
The Forestry Corporation said it had “greatly reduced the intensity of timber harvesting” after the bushfires and was following new site-specific conditions developed by the EPA.
NSW Forestry Corporation said it was carrying out a “low-intensity thinning operation” in regrowth forest that had previously been harvested that will “give trees more room to grow and retain forest cover across the entire area”.
