A shocking new report has exposed 1 in 3 areas logged fail to regenerate after logging - for Ash type forests half fail to regenerate after 3 years. The report, After the Logging, Failing to regrow Victoria's forests was co-published by 19 environment groups from across Victoria, including GECO, and shows the catastrophic impact logging is having on forests across the state.
Read the exclusive ABC coverage and download a copy of the report here.
TAKE ACTION HERE AND SEND THE REPORT TO YOUR STATE AND FEDERAL MP'S
VicForests is required by law to regenerate forests 'like-for-like' and is required to keep the existing 'floristic composition'. In 2019 GECO submitted a report of widespread failed regeneration on Mt Delusion in Swifts Creek. A number of areas logged over the last decade had been essentially turned into paddocks dominated by grass and weeds.
But the Environment Department failed to act on the breaches saying there wasn't enough evidence to take action.
It's another damning failure of the Environment Department to take regulatory action against VicForests.
Area logged on Mt Delusion in Swifts Creek
Even by VicForests' own dodgy benchmarks a third of areas are failing to regrow - but those standards fail to consider the impacts of replacing diverse ecosystems with single age, single tree species tree farms, which is considered 'successful' regeneration by government standards.
For years the industry has claimed logging is sustainable and that they regrow all the areas log. This lie has been pedalled by the industry to justify the continued logging of native forests.
What's clear is that logging is a smash and grab operation - publicly owned native forests are being essentially stolen and might never recover.
Forests that were logged and then impacted by bushfires
Statement from GECO spokesperson Chris Schuringa
"The new research shows that VicForests sustainability claims are a complete lie, even based on their dodgy benchmarks that tick off areas as 'successful' if there are a few eucalypts growing back. But the reality is the forests are gone."
"How the logging regulator can look at this widespread failure and not take action is unbelievable. It has been made abundantly clear their role is not to hold logging accountable to the law. They consistently weasel their way out of taking any action to bring VicForests into line despite multiple breaches to the law."
"The government's cannot seriously keep their plans to end logging in 2030 after the shocking revelations over the last week. Widespread illegal logging, spying on conservationists and academics, and now this. Andrews needs to get rid of VicForests and protect all remaining forests from logging."