On May 24th 2022 Mary-Anne Thomas - Victorian state ALP Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development and Ingrid Stitt - ALP Minister for Workplace Safety, introduced the Sustainable Forests Timber Amendment (Timber Harvesting Safety Zones) Bill 2022 aimed at further criminalising forest protests at logging coupes. These laws follow suit with those introduced in Queensland, NSW, and Tasmania aimed at targeting climate and forest activists with heavy-handed penalties. In Victoria, they are a pre-election gambit aimed at wedging workers against environmentalists, and here's why.

On May 24th 2022 Mary-Anne Thomas - Victorian state ALP Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development and Ingrid Stitt - ALP Minister for Workplace Safety, introduced the Sustainable Forests Timber Amendment (Timber Harvesting Safety Zones) Bill 2022 aimed at further criminalising forest protests at logging coupes. These laws follow suit with those introduced in Queensland, NSW, and Tasmania aimed at targeting climate and forest activists with heavy-handed penalties. In Victoria, they are a pre-election gambit aimed at wedging workers against environmentalists, and here's why.

Here's a list of the events we're hosting in 2023

UPDATE: Two areas have been taken off the immediate schedule, and state-owned VicForests told the courts they won't log forests in 'Alla Turca' till next year, and all the logging machines have left the area!

Environment East Gippsland (EEG) have secured a court injunction to halt logging in 'Alla Turca' coupe in Errinundra! Logging had only just started when the injunction was granted on Wednesday afternoon. For the last month private security has been stationed 24/7 in the area to prevent community members and supporters from protesting the logging. The area is just down the road from Camp Errinundra which has stalled logging for over 3 months.

Thanks to the combined efforts of citizen scientists, EEG and their legal team, and all the folks who've taken action and been out to camp, the gliders are safe for now! But the fight is far from over. There are still hundreds of areas up for logging across East Gippsland, and the legal battle for these forests is just beginning.

Drone footage of logging in the area before the injunction was granted

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 this year. The Errinundra Plateau is one of the few remaining unburnt areas in East Gippsland, and a critical refuge for bushfire ravaged wildlife.

While the area is safe for now, logging machines are already moving into an area just down the road where GECO citizen scientists found five Greater Gliders. Protests against the logging are ramping up in the area. Camp Errinundra is still halting logging in this critical area of unburnt forest. Camp is always in need of more support, click here for details of how to get involved.

Community protests halted logging for nearly 2 months

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 of a high-density of Yellow-bellied Gliders had triggered the implementation of a 100ha protection zone. But we've been informed that the state-owned logging company VicForests were put in charge of designing the zone, and that it's being placed over existing buffers, and does not protect the habitat of the gliders. Logging had already started in the area when citizen scientists detected the species.

In less than a week over 500 people have emailed decision makers to call for protection of forests, over the past few days calls flooded into the Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio's office asking her to direct her Department to put in proper zones which protect the forests. Sign and share our email action here to keep making an impact!

Forests in the Colquhoun still threatened by logging

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 a tree-sit nearby. Since then protesters have blocked the road with a tri-pod structure. Despite the arrests protests are continuing in the area, where logging has been prevented from going ahead for the last 2 weeks.

A conservationist is now blocking the road stopping machines from entering the forest

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 is located in one of the last unburnt areas of forest in East Gippsland for endangered wildlife heavily impacted by last year’s bushfire.

Email [email protected] to get involved

View from the tree-sit over the Errinundra Plateau

"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 from East Gippsland locals speaking out against logging in recovering forests on the doorstep of their township. After surviving the worst bushfires in living memory they're now watching the state government destroy these important areas which still provide critical habitat for wildlife.

You can take action and stand with the community by email decision makers here:

Minister Jaclyn Symes: https://www.geco.org.au/email_symes
Minister Lily D'Ambrosio: https://www.geco.org.au/email_minister_dambrosio
Premier Dan Andrews: https://www.geco.org.au/email_premier_andrews