23 June 2023: Missed the show? Listen back here.
In the recent State Budget, it was announced that logging in Victoria’s native forests will cease in Jan 2024. 6 years before the previous closure of 2030.
This is a product of the State forestry agency VicForest constantly flouting the Code of Practice for logging in native forests, and the fragile habitat of critically threatened species like the Greater Glider being severely compromised by VicForest operation. The courts made their decision, but the State was also weighing up annual subsidizing of VicForest which made no economic sense.
On EarthChat this week we have Paul Macgregor (BEAM committee member and a member of the Victorian Forest Alliance) in the studio, and on the phone Gayle Osborne, resident in Wombat Forest and also a member of the Victorian Forest Alliance.
Together we will analyse what we know about the State Government decision, what we don’t know, and what we need to be vigilant about.
Paul will share his observations with respect to the Save the Tallarook Forest Campaign, and Gayle shares some valuable insights into the challenges west of the Hume, in the Wombat State Forest, Mt Cole and the Pyranees where the “end to logging native forests” has a different meaning.
It's an exciting time, but there may be more in the fine print. The fight to safeguard our native forests is not over but it’s a critical campaign to safeguard its future without exploitation.
Come and join Peter Lockyer hosting Paul Macgregor and Gayle Osborne as we analyse the State decision for a rapid phase out of native forest logging, but “where to from here”?
EarthChat is a deep conversation in less than one hour. Way to short, really. It's fodder to think on all day, so tune in folks.
