We’ll spare you the suspense. They aren't.

Because the vested interests and misinformed ideology of the old forestry bureaucracy have not gone away, our forests are still not safe from threats. We have seen this recently with the killing of an endangered Greater Glider by Forest Fire Management Victoria in the Yarra Ranges National Park. And we know that, come 2026, if the Coalition gets back in power, they've resolved to reinstate native forest logging. Without permanent legislative protection, our forests will always be at risk. 

It's been a while since you've heard from GECO, and even if we haven't had to get our climbing gear out of storage, we have continued our work advocating for forests. 

Despite the official end of native forests logging on January 1st, 2024, the threats to our forests continue and are far from over. There are a few key areas we have been paying close attention in order to properly restore and protect native forests once and for all.

GECO's campaign film 'Defend Errinundra' was showcased as part of the official selection of Sydney's Dare to Struggle Film Festival.

Watch the film 'Defend Errinundra'.

Looking for a beautiful tourist destination when the regions open? Forget VisitVictoria's website and head straight to Victoria's logging agency, VicForests' site. You'll be sure to find maps with the best (and last) ancient forests in the state. There's a catch though... they're all scheduled for logging.

If you're an experienced bush-walker, nature lover, or are looking to witness some of the most significant trees and ancient rainforests in Victoria, this threatened rainforest walk on the Errinundra Plateau should be on your priority list.

This image doesn't do justice to the 40m tall, 12.5m circumference Cut-tail Ash in forests scheduled for logging

An important hot spot for the threatened Greater Glider is being logged. Logging by VicForests in the 'Shazam' coupe in the Cottonwood range on the Errinundra plateau near the town of Bendoc in East Gippsland begun over two weeks ago. The forest supports many large old trees with hollows that form important habitat for a population of Greater Gliders. The forest was featured in our recently released research report 'Gliding towards extinction' report as a example of documented Greater Glider habitat that is threatened by logging. 

In the early morning hours of January 25th, three citizen scientist surveyors conducted a survey for Greater Gliders in old growth forest on the Errinundra Plateau. Logging machinery had just moved in and logging was about to commence. We knew this area was high quality habitat for Greater Gliders and we conducted a survey to determine if the species was present in high enough densities to trigger legal protection. We found 15 Greater Gliders in about 800m, this is a huge population that should trigger legal protection and result in the creation of a 100 hectare protected area. If greater than 10 Greater Gliders are found within a 1km survey transect, a 100 hectare protected area must be created. We finished the survey at 3am, complied the data, wrote the report, mapped the results and submitted it the state government by 8:59am. By 10am VicForests were forced to stop logging! Click here to read the report.

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 operations in this high altitude environment are failing to regenerate, this coupe was logged in 2004. Once a tall wet forest with a diversity of plant and animal species, it's now a paddock of grasses and dead bracken.

This is land clearing, not "sustainable" logging. Logging operations are currently occurring within 700m of this area of failed regeneration. There are 20 planned coupes all with in a 2km radius of the area. Will the forests being logged now and in the future on the Cottonwood range also fail to regenerate? It's very likely.

High altitude areas often fail to regenerate due to colder temperatures and frosts. Our photo was posted by our friends Environment East Gippsland on their facebook page and the ABC ran a story about this environmental disaster. Click read more to see the story. 

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 "safety zone". We'll be fighting the fines in court and will not be silenced for speaking out about VicForests unlawful logging operations.

The so called 'safety zones' are designed to keep the public out of the forests and shield VicForests logging operations from scrutiny. We'll continue to monitor and document logging operations. It's in the public interest for the public to know what is happening in their forests.