The Australian Supreme Court ordered VicForests, Australia’s logging agency, to halt some of its logging operations in east Victoria. The agency lost a case launched against it by the conservation group Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH).
Green groups now celebrate this first-round win of a legal battle over the region’s native forests, which have suffered tremendously from the country’s unprecedented bushfire season. The WOTCH mission is to stop logging of threatened species’ habitats at least until they have confirmation that the health of the native species is ok.
The order requires VicForests to stop logging several areas that were designated for clear-cutting. Environmentalists stressed that areas left untouched by bushfires must not be disturbed while surviving animals search for a new habitat. The devastation in East Gippsland from the fires put an excessive amount of strain on the native species of Victoria.
Justice Kate McMillan said:
There is a real threat of a serious or irreversible damage to threatened species and their habitat should harvesting operations continue in the coupes. The recent bushfires have caused extensive environmental damage, the severity of which is only beginning to be understood.
When WOTCH filed the case against VicForests, it was looking to stop logging in ten of the areas scheduled for clear-cutting. The current injunction managed to stop three of them. The conservation group is now seeking an injunction for the remaining seven forests, a matter that will be pushed before the court again in February.
WOTCH says the areas intended to be clear-cut are habitat for the smoky mouse, the greater glider, the powerful owl, and the sooty owl. The Victorian government has recognized all of those animals as being of immediate concern due to the fires. The plaintiffs say that if any of these animals have been spotted in an area, it is illegal to continue logging. The regulation stands until the government creates a plan to safeguard the wildlife.
Danya Jacobs, senior lawyer with Environmental Justice Australia, which represented Wildlife of the Central Highlands in court, said:
[The order] was a good result for threatened species who suffered a huge blow after the catastrophic bushfires. Important unburnt habitat is now safe from logging, while this case moves to the next stage.
This case is an important test for whether laws designed to protect threatened species are able to do so in the aftermath of this summer’s catastrophic bushfires.
Victoria’s Premier, Daniel Andrews, announced back in 2019 that logging in Victoria would be phased out by 2030 due to dwindling sustainable supplies. Now the situation is very stressful for VicForests because the fires destroyed 40% of the area in East Gippsland that had been contracted for logging.
