Latest News
Great turn out at Easter Camp as protest enters 9th week!
April 07, 2021
Over 30 people attended our Easter citizen science and skill share camp over the long weekend, including Green Senator and First Nations activist Lidia Thorpe. Volunteers did surveys for Greater Gliders, tree measuring, and marked out a walk through an incredible area of threatened...
Read MoreVicForests pulls out of contentious logging coupe in Errinundra
March 27, 2021
VicForests have removed the coupe in Errinundra where community protests have halted logging for nearly 2 months from the immediate schedule. Multiple tree-sits had been set up in the area, two people have been arrested since the protests started at the end of January...
Read MoreEnvironment Department handballs wildlife protections to government logging agency
March 05, 2021
East Gippsland conservation groups were outraged to learn this week that environmental protections for threatened species detected in state forests are being designed by state owned logging company VicForests. GECO received notice from the Environment Department that a report submitted last year for detections...
Read MoreTake action! After the fires, forests need protection
February 23, 2021
A new report showing analysis of maps and data from the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires has revealed the significant areas of unburnt forests critical for bushfire affected wildlife are set to be logged by the Victorian Government. These and other important areas are still...
Read MoreForest refuges under threat from logging by the Andrews Government
February 23, 2021
A new report showing analysis of maps and data from the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires has revealed the significant areas of unburnt forests critical for bushfire affected wildlife are set to be logged by the Victorian Government. The report titled After the Fires: protecting...
Read MoreTree-sit protests in Melbourne's CBD and East Gippsland call for protection of forests
February 22, 2021
A tree-sit has been set up in Melbourne's CBD in solidarity with ongoing protests in Errinundra, East Gippsland. For four weeks a blockade has stopped logging in East Gippsland. Search and rescue police have already arrived to arrest the tree-sitter bringing the issue to...
Read MoreForest protest halts logging for a second week!
February 12, 2021
For two weeks logging has been halted in a precious area of forests in Errinundra. For 11 days an East Gippsland local stayed up a tree-sit to stop machines from coming in, they were arrested a few days ago, along with another person occupying...
Read MoreTree-sit halts logging on the Errinundra Plateau
February 01, 2021
Protesters are occupying an area of forest about to be logged on the Errinundra Plateau in East Gippsland. One local community member has taken residence in a tree-sit suspended 40 metres up a giant Eucalypt tree to halt destruction of the area. The tree-sit...
Read More2020 Wrap up
December 22, 2020
It's been a rough and challenging year, with lots of ups and down. We watched forests where we've been campaigning for protection for decades turn to ashes. The fires devastated communities across East Gippsland and wiped out forests and wildlife. But in the face...
Read MoreBidewell-Maap Traditional Owners speak out against logging through Bidewell Reserve
December 15, 2020
JULY 2021 UPDATE: The Victorian government are set to remove the coupes scheduled in and adjacent to Bidewell reserve! Bidwell-Maap Traditional Owners have written a letter to the Victorian government condemning logging planned in the Bidewell reserve near the Errinundra Plateau. There are two...
Read MoreCitizen scientists find high density of Yellow-bellied Gliders halting destruction of forests!
December 14, 2020
Logging has stopped in old growth forests in the Colquhoun after citizen scientists from GECO, Gippsland Environment Group, and Friends of Bats and Habitat Gippsland found a high density of Yellow-bellied Gliders. Thanks to the actions of citizen scientists and people taking action and...
Read MoreGovernment says logging in East Gippsland should stop but stalls on forest protections
December 08, 2020
The state and federal governments have finally agreed to conduct a Major Event Review into the impacts of the 2019/2020 bushfires, but a confidential document obtained by GECO through Freedom of Information reveals the Environment Department has already told state-owned VicForests to postpone all...
Read MoreOld growth forest case heats up, Department's witness admits their tool is faulty
December 07, 2020
Last month community group Fauna and Flora Research Collective (FFRC) were back in court for two days for the second trial of their old growth forest court case. The last two days are scheduled for next week and Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) who are...
Read MoreEnvironment Department fails to put in proper rainforest protections on Mt Jersey
November 04, 2020
GECO citizen scientists have discovered the Environment Department has failed to put in proper buffers for an area of cool-temperate rainforest on Mt Jersey in East Gippsland currently being logged. Rainforest stands are meant to be given a 100m Special Protection Zone (SPZ) buffer,...
Read MoreLocals speak out against logging in recovering forests on Mt Jersey
October 29, 2020
"Today myself and a bunch of locals have come up to Mt Jersey to highlight something that the Victorian Government doesn't want you to see. And it is that old growth forests are still being logged and destroyed in Victoria." Powerful words and footage...
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