In late July ABC news exposed a shocking experiment being conducted by state owned logging company VicForests. The agency is logging the habitat of Greater Gliders, an animal already threatened with extinction, to see how many survive. 

VicForests released a lengthy statement justifying the so called 'research' that has been labelled the terrestrial equivalent of so called scientific whaling.  

Click here to view the ABC news TV story. 

Government owned logging agency VicForests appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court today defending charges for logging protected rainforest areas near Cann River in East Gippsland. Charges were laid by the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP) after community reporting of a serious breach of rainforest protections in March 2016.

VicForests has been conducting an abhorrent experiment that involved logging the homes of threatened Greater Gliders to see how it impacts on the species.

The government logging company says the experiment is 'very likely' to kill Greater Gliders, an animal already acing extinction. 

VicForests has released a statement defending their unethical actions.

Surveys for the experiment were given approval by the Animal Ethics Committee within Minister Jaala Pulford's Department of Economic Development. 

Please send a email to the Ministers responsible for VicForests. Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford and Treasurer Tim Pallas.

Call on them to stop the killing experiment and protect East Gippsland's forests from logging.

What does logged forest that once supported Greater Gliders look like? This is the logging coupe called 892-507-0020 or 'Squirrel's Paw' where VicForests logged the home ranges of dozens of Greater Gliders knowing they would kill them.

Read the ABC report here 

Watch the ABC TV story here 

Email Environment Minister Lily D'Ambroiso and calling on her to protect East Gippsland's forests by creating the Emerald Link. 

Take action here and send your email 

The Victorian government’s logging agency VicForests is conducting a controversial experiment in East Gippsland that it says is ‘very likely’ to kill Greater Gliders, a forest species listed as vulnerable to extinction.

A GECO citizen science survey conducted in the Kuark forest has resulted in a new protection zone for Yellow Bellied Gliders. The state environment department has written to GECO confirming the results of their investigation met the requirements for a new protection zone.  

Read the GECO survey report here. 

The Supreme court case brought by Fauna and Flora Research Collective (FFRC) against the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (Environment Department) and VicForests will proceed after the case did not settle at court-ordered mediation yesterday.

Surveys conducted last year during GECO citizen science camps have resulted in protection of three proposed logging coupes that provide habitat for Endangered Orbost Spiny Crayfish and Greater Gliders.

The environment department wrote to GECO and the Fauna and Flora Research Collective last week informing us that new protections will be put in place in light of our survey results.

On International Day for Biological diversity we're celebrating East Gippsland's forests and caling for their protection in East Gippsland's Emerald Link.

On Thursday this week VicForests will appear in the Orbost Magistrates court facing charges for logging protected rainforest in East Gippsland.

The environmental regulator of the logging industry (Department of Environment Land Water and Planning or DELWP) laid the charges after community groups GECO and Fauna and Flora Research Collective reported a logging operation that had unlawfully impacted on warm temperate rainforest near Cann river in April 2016.

The Greater Glider is heading for extinction, but logging in critical habitat continues with outdated and weak or non existent protections.

The state government have approved logging to commence in critical habitat for Greater Gliders in the Queensborough river forest in East Gippsland.

Please email Premier Daniel Andrews and ask him to protect the Greater Gliders in a special protection zone.

Goongerah Environment Centre Office (GECO) has welcomed the state government’s announcement that some old growth forests in East Gippsland’s Kuark forest will be protected, but has raised concern over continued logging in environmentally sensitive forests under the Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs).

Forest in the Kuark that will now be protected from logging

The state government has stopped logging in the Queensborough river forests where protected Greater Gliders were detected by our survey team.

The report we submitted on Wednesday morning with our friends at the FFRC Inc documented 11 Greater Gliders within a distance of 1km, triggering legal protection of the forest. The environment department will now conduct verification surveys in the coming days. 

UPDATE!!  - Thanks to our surveys and hundreds of emails and calls

LOGGING HAS BEEN STOPPED!!

The Department will now conduct 'verification' surveys. Stay tuned for updates and thanks for your support!

Twenty year long dodgy logging deals called "Regional Forest Agreements" exempt logging from national environment laws.

These dodgy deals expire in a few weeks time and could be rolled over for another two decades of doom for forest wildlife!

Take Action here! Call on state and federal governments to end the dodgy deals and give forest wildlife a fair go. Click here to email the Minister. 

In the Queensborough river forests of far East Gippsland protected habitat for the Greater Glider is being logged.

Community surveys reported a population of Greater Gliders in a logging coupe earlier this week triggering legal protection of the forest.

The Victorian Labor government are continuing to log where protected Gliders have been found. Locations where Greater Gliders were reported have now been logged.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas is the sole shareholder of government logging agency VicForests. 

He has the power to direct VicForests to stop logging in protected wildlife habitat and comply with the law.