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In other developments, a logging contractor in East Gippsland alleg edly drove his bulldozer through a group of people assessing the forest. A spokeswoman for Concerned Residents of East Gippsland, Ms Jill Redwood, said the group was concerned the area being logged contained protected rainforest vegetation.
In the Otways, police and forestry officers were sent to remove protesters camped all summer to stop Riley's Ridge being clearfelled. The ridge, visible from the Great Ocean Road near Apollo Bay, is a vital wildlife corridor running through pine plantations and farmland to link the east and west of the Otways.
Late last year, the protesters agreed to stop blockading logging in other Otways sites on condition Riley's Ridge was not logged until its conservation value was considered by an independent panel hearing submissions on the proposed forest agreements.
The Geelong Environment Council president, Ms loan Lindros, said the Department of Natural Resources and Environment appeared determined to log the ridge before it could be assessed; "This is like waving a red rag to a bull," she said.
The Environment and Conservation Minister, Ms Sherryl Garbutt, said her department was responsible for enforcing lawful logging operations. A spokeswoman said the minister understood protesters had strong feelings about the forest and she encouraged them to send submissions to the panel.
Under the proposed 20-year forest agreements released two weeks ago,
hundreds of timber jobs will be lost because there is less wood growing
in the native forests of western Victoria and Gippsland than the department
led the industry to believe.
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