Latest News

January 19, 2016

20 conservationists from Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO) have re-established a forest blockade in the Kuark forest to the north east of Orbost in East Gippsland. Last week logging was stopped for four days by a person in a tree platform tied to logging machinery....

January 14, 2016

Conservationists have halted logging in the Kuark forest in far East Gippsland this morning.  A person is positioned on a tree platform 30m above the ground. Ropes from the platform are attached to machinery, preventing logging from continuing. The contentious logging coupe contains high...

January 13, 2016

Logging has recommenced in the highly contentious old growth forest of Hensleigh creek rd, near Errinundra National Park. Logging was halted in April after we exposed illegal rainforest logging. The Victorian government conducted two investigations and an independent review which found 'inconclusive' evidence because...

January 11, 2016

Our first citizen science survey camp of the year has been a huge success! 60 people came from all over the country to take part in forest surveys in areas earmarked for logging. We collected valuable data on rainforest, old growth forest, giant trees,...

December 22, 2015

Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO) has submitted a report to the State government detailing illegal logging of rainforest in East Gippsland. Logging of rainforest buffer zones has occurred unlawfully in a controversial coupe that VicForests stopped working in after protests from GECO and legal action...

December 18, 2015

Fantastic news! After just one day of direct action by GECO and a letter from lawyers representing Environment East Gippsland, VicForests agreed to stop their illegal logging operation and the logging machinery has left the forest! It was an amazing result and successfully prevented...

December 15, 2015

Conservationists from Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO) have halted logging operations in high conservation value forest on the St Patrick’s River in East Gippsland today due to multiple breaches of the law. A person is positioned in a tree platform 30m off the ground. The...

December 11, 2015

As world leaders meet in Paris to reach an agreement on how to tackle climate change, GECO has embarked on an ambitious project to measure the carbon stocks in old growth forests of East Gippsland. The tall wet Eucalyptus forests of south east Australia...

November 11, 2015

Recent surveying in the Cottonwood range forests has revealed vast areas of failed regeneration after logging. VicForests recently added 9 new logging areas (coupes) to their plans in the Cottonwood range, more than 20 coupes are on the logging plans in the Cottonwood. Logging...

October 23, 2015

GECO joined Fauna and Flora Research collective and Environment East Gippsland yesterday to meet with the Department of Envrionment Land Water and Planning (DELWP). The meeting was to discuss acceptable protections for rainforest, cool temperate mixed forest and large old trees. The consultation resulted...

October 15, 2015

It took three years to get a response, but last week we received notification from the Victorian government that a 'protection' zone will be declared in an area of forest where we filmed an Endangered long-footed potoroo. It sounds good right? But the problem...

October 01, 2015

Twenty five students from the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN) converged on Goongerah this week to take part in a citizen science survey camp. Students from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra attended to learn about the ecology of the forests of East Gippsland and...

September 26, 2015

Environment Minister Lisa Neville MP has told ABC radio that the forest where GECO recently photographed the endangered Large brown tree frog will not be logged! The frog was thought to have gone extinct until April this year when it was rediscovered by a...

September 25, 2015

The endangered Large Brown Tree-frog (Litoria littlejohnii) has been detected in an area earmarked for logging. The frog was through to be extinct until April this year when GECO volunteer Rena Garborov rediscovered it in Mt. Jersey forests near Goongerah. GECO has submitted the...

August 12, 2015

The State government has issued fines to three citizen science surveyors who reported illegal rainforest logging. Despite the State government committing to implementing a raft of changes to logging rules in light of the information we provided, fines have been issued for entering logging...