Inquiry reveals state log records in disarray

Claire Miller, Environment Reporter, The Age (article), 28/3/2000

Back to Letters Back to Forest Letter Watch

A federal inquiry has revealed serious deficiencies in the State Government's records for timber felling in public native forests.  The inquiry was commissioned by the federal Forestry and Conservation Minister, Mr Wilson Tuckey, last year after the Wombat Forest Society raised the alarm about overlogging around Daylesford.  But the consultants -- respected forestry academics Dr Brian Turner and Professor Ian Ferguson could not say for sure that official estimates for future logging were realistic.  This was because of incomplete information about the current state of the forest. They recommended that a transparent auditing system be introduced before the next statewide review of sustainable yields in 2001.

Sustainable yield is the maximum volume of timber available for felling each year. The figures are revised every five years, and are supposed to ensure that logging is sustainable indefinitely.  The auditing system would match the estimated volumes for individual  logging  blocks,  or coupes, with the actual amounts felled, and would test the accuracy of computer modelling by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The inquiry is the third in recent history to draw attention to inadequate state forestry records. The auditor-general in 1993 and an independent consultant to the Government in 1995 called for similar auditing systems.

A spokeswoman for the Environment and Conservation Minister, Ms Sherryl Garbutt, said there was a need for public confidence in departmental figures, and the Government would consider how to achieve this. The credibility of the Government's timber estimates is crucial as the state and Commonwealth prepare to sign next week regional forest agreements that allow unlimited woodchip exports for 20 years.

 The proposed forest agreements released in January revealed that the amount of high-grade sawlog timber growing in the forests of west Victoria and Gippsland was vastly overestimated.  The Wombat Forest Society's analysis was based on field observations and limited data released by the department. It concluded that the forest would be exhausted for commercial use within 15 years, putting more than 200 jobs at risk.

The society's Mr Tim Anderson said the department's computer modelling for timber volumes relied on inaccurate information about actual regrowth and logging rates. Mr Anderson claimed satellite imaging was in conflict with the areas the department claimed were logged, and it was "staggering" that the department was unable to produce complete maps of the area's logging history.

Mr Anderson's analysis was followed by similar exercises for the Tambo and Wodonga forest management areas by Ms Loris Duclos of the Tambo Environment Awareness Group.  Ms Duclos found continued logging in Wodonga may be illegal because 15 years' worth of timber had been cut in just one decade, and that the Tambo industry faces an impoverished future in lowgrade forests because the most commercially valuable areas had been cut out.

Back to Letters Back to Forest Letter Watch