An opinion piece in The Age (13/11/2017) ‘Mature trees at the root of forest fire management’ re-hashes claims that timber harvesting increases risk during a major bushfire. Source: Timberbiz
A study undertaken by the University of Melbourne (Attiwill et al, 2013), in conjunction with scientists and specialists in fire management, found that there is no evidence from recent major bushfires in Victoria to suggest that younger forest burn with greater severity than older forest.
Findings from this study show that bushfires did not burn any more intensely in forests where timber harvesting takes place than they did in National Parks and reserves where there is no timber harvesting.
In fact, aerial imagery taken after the 2009 bushfires in Victoria shows that areas of young forest regrowing after timber harvesting were some of the only areas unburnt during the high-intensity stages of the wildfire.
The 2009 bushfires burnt under the most catastrophic conditions and this awful tragedy affected many communities and people.
More than 100 VicForests staff and contractors were involved in combating the 2009 fires, many of whom were recently recognised with the presentation of a National Emergency Medal.
Many of the VicForest staff are highly skilled fire managers and during a bushfire they are able to apply their experience and knowledge of the forest that they operate in every day.
VicForests harvests less than 0.05% of Victoria’s forests for timber each year and has an important responsibility to meet the high demand for locally sourced, sustainable native timber that plantations cannot meet alone.
