December 21, 2023
What an incredible 12 months it’s been for the Victorian Forest Alliance. It’s been such a pleasure to work together, and finally achieve the incredible result we got in May, with the state government...
Read More ShareDecember 20, 2023
As Victoria prepares to end native forest logging within weeks, conservationists, citizen scientists and lawyers are calling on the Victorian Government to get on with creating new national parks in the Central Highlands and...
Read More ShareDecember 19, 2023
Written by Gayle Osborne. From Wombat Forestcare newsletter - Issue 66, December 2023 Despite there being no evidence that the storm fallen timber in the Wombat Forest poses an increased fire risk, every large...
Read More ShareDecember 08, 2023
For decades, chainsaws have ripped through the native forests of south-east Australia. Across Australia, Victoria’s forests have been logged more than any other mainland state over the past two decades. Now the state is...
Read More ShareNovember 27, 2023
Our fantastic team of citizen scientists recently worked with Gippsland Environment Group (GEG) and Friends of Bats and Habitat Gippsland to survey in forests on First Nations Brabralung Country in Mt Alfred, part of...
Read More ShareOctober 09, 2023
Sixty Victorian not-for-profit organisations have written to Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas to urge them to abolish state-owned logging business VicForests. They say the organisation has outlived its purpose and lost public...
Read More ShareOctober 09, 2023
We've joined 60 environment groups in an open letter to the new Premier of Victoria, Jacinta Allan, and Treasurer Tim Pallas, to abolish state-owned VicForests once and for all. You can read the open...
Read More ShareSeptember 26, 2023
A Supreme Court justice has ordered VicForests to temporarily halt the harvesting of fallen trees at a site in Victoria's west, after a community group alleged it had not surveyed for threatened species. Wombat...
Read More ShareSeptember 07, 2023
Joint media release - Victorian Forest Alliance and Friends of the Earth Melbourne State owned logging company VicForests has been deregistered as a government business according to a government gazette, as of September 5...
Read More ShareSeptember 07, 2023
Victoria’s state-owned logging business is on the verge of being dismantled and absorbed into other areas of the bureaucracy after the state government reclassified it and announced a review of its operations. VicForests has...
Read More ShareAugust 23, 2023
Environmental groups are calling on VicForests to abandon logging plans in the state's alpine region after endangered native plants were found near the earmarked sites. Five threatened plant species were seen at several coupes near Mount Stirling by surveyors...
Read More ShareAugust 17, 2023
Joint media release: Victorian National Parks Association, Victorian Forest Alliance, Friends of Mount Stirling Community nature groups are urging VicForests to ditch plans to log Mount Stirling’s sub-alpine forests following the discovery of rare...
Read More ShareAugust 10, 2023
VicForests hired a private investigator to spy on environmental campaigners and an academic, an investigation by the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) has found. The investigation was sparked by an ABC report...
Read More ShareAugust 04, 2023
Written by Gayle Osborne, Wombat Forestcare (excerpt from Wombat Forestcare June 2023 newsletter) We were astounded that the undertaking to end native forest logging by 1 January 2024 did not mean all native forest...
Read More ShareJuly 25, 2023
The Victorian Government's logging agency, VicForests, is under fire for allegations of misleading marketing and state-sponsored greenwashing. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been asked to investigate whether statements on the VicForests...
Read More ShareJuly 24, 2023
Our passionate crew of citizen scientists, along with folks from Wildlife of the Central Highlands, have had a jam packed couple of week despite the cold weather. We've been documenting big, beautiful habitat trees...
Read More ShareJuly 11, 2023
Following on from the wonderful news that clearfell logging will end Jan 1 2024 in Victoria, right now is a critical time for considering future forest management and supporting First Nations communities in their...
Read More ShareJuly 04, 2023
Just as research has shown the health benefits of being in nature, the Victorian government has allowed its parks to fall into disrepair. A Cranbourne family arrives at a Rubicon campsite to find a...
Read More ShareJune 28, 2023
Victorian authorities are investigating allegations critically endangered trees were illegally cleared in the state's Central Highlands. One specimen photographed buried under a pile of bulldozed flora is believed to be hundreds of years old....
Read More ShareJune 27, 2023
Environment East Gippsland media release, 27 June 2023 Environment groups are celebrating after the Victoria's Supreme Court of Appeal today upheld a landmark ruling that found that state-owned logging agency, VicForests, had logged unlawfully....
Read More ShareJune 22, 2023
Today, community group Save Our Strathbogie Forest has launched a legal challenge against the State of Victoria to halt several planned burns in the Strathbogie Forest, pending a review of these burns under Australian...
Read More ShareJune 22, 2023
Last week the VFA survey team went out to the incredible Plains Grassy Forests at Mullungdung, a unique and special area in South Gippsland near Darriman on Brataualung Clan Country of the Gunnai Kurnai...
Read More ShareJune 05, 2023
By the end of this year, native forest logging will cease in Victoria. Now begins a long and difficult process to recover vast areas of forest after more than 50 years of clearfelling and...
Read More ShareMay 31, 2023
The Victorian state government has announced they're bringing forward the 2030 transition out of logging to January 1 2024. What does this mean for Victoria's native forests? Thanks so much to all our wonderful...
Read More ShareMay 25, 2023
By the end of the year, Victoria’s trouble-plagued native forest industry will end – six years ahead of schedule. The state’s mountain ash forests and endangered wildlife will at last be safe from chainsaws....
Read More ShareMay 25, 2023
Native forest logging in Victoria will end in December, six years earlier than previously planned, after the state government decided severe bushfires and legal campaigns had made it economically and environmentally unviable. The announcement...
Read More ShareMay 21, 2023
Media release from Goongerah Environment Centre, Wombat Action Group, and Extinction Rebellion, 21 May 2023 Victoria’s anti-protest laws targeting forest protectors were contested through a state-wide survey action for threatened flora and fauna yesterday....
Read More ShareMay 20, 2023
The Andrews Labor Government has legal grounds to suspend its controversial wood pulp contract, according to new legal advice from top silk Perry Herzfeld SC and barrister Daye Gang. The barristers, who specialise in...
Read More ShareMay 20, 2023
Victoria could end native forest logging before its 2030 deadline without paying contractual penalties, according to fresh legal advice commissioned by environmental groups. The Andrews government is contractually obliged to supply pulpwood, a by-product...
Read More ShareMay 01, 2023
Last week the VFA survey team headed back out to the magical forests in Mount Stirling on Taungurung Country to look for threatened flora species in areas scheduled for logging. They found (for all...
Read More ShareMay 01, 2023
We had a fantastic time over the weekend with two of our members, Wombat Forestcare, and Wombat Action Group (WAG). On Saturday night WAG organised a community spotlighting event, where thirty people came out...
Read More ShareMarch 09, 2023
A government agency that allegedly spied on a woman to "dig up dirt" has been slammed by Victoria's information commissioner, who said the agency should apologise for its response to her request for information...
Read More ShareMarch 08, 2023
Victorian taxpayers will fork out more than $38 million after state-owned logging agency VicForests was forced to compensate customers and contractors it could not supply with timber and billed the Andrews government for the...
Read More ShareMarch 03, 2023
Save our Strathbogie Forest and Euroa Environment conservation groups have condemned the planned burns scheduled for Strathbogie Forest this autumn for their failure to ensure protection of the nationally endangered Greater Glider possum, a...
Read More ShareFebruary 27, 2023
It's been a massive couple of weeks for forests, with one of the biggest drivers of logging in Victoria Nippon calling it quits on continuing to supply their Maryvale Mill with wood chips sourced...
Read More ShareFebruary 17, 2023
For Pete Henry, who has worked at the Maryvale paper mill in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley for 42 years, there was no specific time when the decline in white paper began. “It’s been happening for...
Read More ShareFebruary 15, 2023
Japanese paper giant Nippon will close Australia’s last white paper plant, meaning 200 jobs will be lost at the Maryvale mill and native forest logging in Victoria could end sooner than scheduled. The Japanese...
Read More ShareFebruary 15, 2023
The Victorian Forest Alliance understands from news this morning that the white paper production line at the Maryvale mill will be closing. The mill will continue to produce brown paper and packaging. The mill...
Read More ShareFebruary 13, 2023
13 February 2023 JOINT MEDIA RELEASE from The Tree Projects and Victorian Forest Alliance Recent reports have found that native forest logging in south-eastern Australia emits 11.2 million tonnes of carbon each year....
Read More ShareFebruary 08, 2023
What a fantastic turn out yesterday at the rally on Parliament steps in Naarm for the first sitting day. Community groups from across Victoria and supporters came together to rally for a rapid transition...
Read More ShareFebruary 06, 2023
Native forest logging in Victoria could end sooner than scheduled if a Japanese paper company decides to close down its Latrobe Valley white paper plant, the last of its kind in Australia and one...
Read More ShareJanuary 24, 2023
January 26 is a day of mourning for First Nations people, also known as Invasion Day, or Survival Day. Here are some events across the continent where First Nations people and allies are invited to...
Read More ShareJanuary 24, 2023
The warm summer months have been a great opportunity for the VFA survey team to get out into the Alpine regions, with trips to Mount Stirling on Taungurung Country late last year, and recently...
Read More ShareJanuary 18, 2023
We joined a number of environment groups to send a joint letter to newly appointed Environment Minister Ingrid Stitt to urgently act to end native forest logging in Victoria for good. Late last year...
Read More ShareDecember 24, 2022
Conservationists and landcare groups have raised the alarm over plans to remove fallen and “hazardous” trees from two forested areas in the Dandenong Ranges National Park on Melbourne's suburban fringe.
Read More ShareDecember 22, 2022
State-owned logging agency VicForests has recorded an unprecedented $52.4 million financial loss this year, blaming it on the cost of court cases brought against it by community environment groups. The figure is significantly higher...
Read More ShareNovember 29, 2022
Labor has been re-elected for another term of government, and now is the time to act to protect forests. Native forest logging was a huge election issue, and we're calling on the Labor government...
Read More ShareNovember 25, 2022
Forest areas the Andrews government recently set aside to protect the endangered greater glider had been logged before they were gazetted, providing scant additional habitat for the rare possum. In October, the state government...
Read More ShareNovember 25, 2022
The Andrews government recently set aside protection areas in native forests across the state for protection of the endangered greater glider. However, conservation groups are shocked to discover a large number of the protected...
Read More ShareNovember 20, 2022
In between the madness of state election organising, our citizen science team has been hard at work surveying for threatened and endangered wildlife in forests scheduled for logging. A few weeks ago folks visited...
Read More ShareNovember 15, 2022
Immediately ending native forest logging across Victoria’s central highlands, one of the world’s most intense carbon sinks, would generate an extra $60 million in benefits for the state this decade alone. In a challenge...
Read More ShareNovember 13, 2022
Environmentalists who had supported and applauded the government’s move were blindsided — and now say they were tricked by the government. A letter on behalf of six of those groups wrote to Premier Daniel...
Read More ShareNovember 10, 2022
As the federal government considers joining the global push to halt deforestation by 2030 at COP27 this week, the Victorian government is facing calls at home to end native forest logging and protect the...
Read More ShareNovember 07, 2022
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Friday found Victorian government-owned logging company VicForests has logged illegally, and ruled for the first time that VicForests must protect endangered greater gliders, and yellow-bellied gliders....
Read More ShareNovember 05, 2022
Victoria’s Supreme Court has found state-owned logging agency VicForests failed to follow the law and protect endangered greater gliders and yellow-bellied gliders when logging native forests.
Read More ShareNovember 05, 2022
Victoria’s state logging company has failed to protect threatened species of gliders, and its methods to check for them before logging are inadequate, the state’s supreme court has found. Justice Melinda Richards ordered VicForests...
Read More ShareNovember 04, 2022
Last night Lawyers for Forests and the VFA launched our joint legal guide for community groups wanting to legal action to protect forests and wildlife from logging. It was a special evening with fantastic...
Read More ShareNovember 04, 2022
Native forest logging in Victoria produces about 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equivalent to the pollution from 700,000 medium-sized cars or double the state’s domestic aviation sector, research shows. For the...
Read More ShareNovember 03, 2022
Captcha tests are used by websites to determine users are human and not a bot trying to create a fake account. Challenges usually include clicking on all of the zebra crossings or traffic lights....
Read More ShareNovember 03, 2022
A new forest carbon report published by The Tree Projects and Victorian Forest Alliance has found that native forest logging in Victoria emits around 3 million tonnes of carbon per year. This is equivalent...
Read More ShareOctober 29, 2022
When it comes to election time, too often we aren't quite sure who the candidates are on the ballot paper. Local climate groups are putting on a bunch of candidates forums across Victoria. These...
Read More ShareOctober 26, 2022
VFA member Warburton Environment Inc is celebrating a ground-breaking win in the Supreme Court against state owned logging company VicForests. Yesterday morning Justice Garde found in favour of Warburton Environment and increased protection for...
Read More ShareOctober 20, 2022
The Federal Government is taking public submissions into whether burning native forest biomass for energy should be included in the Renewable Energy Target. Submissions are open till Friday 21 October. We all know burning...
Read More ShareOctober 15, 2022
While state MPs keep backing the destruction of native forest for woodchips and paper pulp, a once-divided timber region is getting out of native logging. By Katherine Wilson.
Read More ShareOctober 10, 2022
Victoria's logging regulator is failing to fully use its powers, and cannot assure the public it is effectively reducing the risk of illegal logging, according to a report by the Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO)....
Read More ShareOctober 06, 2022
Today the Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO) tabled an independent audit into Victoria's native forest logging regulator in Parliament. The report is another stain on Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio's Department of Environment and their on-going...
Read More ShareOctober 04, 2022
Citizen scientists have reportedly found about 60 endangered greater gliders in a dozen Victorian areas that have been targeted for logging. The greater glider – one of the world’s largest gliding mammals – was...
Read More ShareOctober 03, 2022
Heaps of volunteers and groups have been getting active the past few weeks in some of our target electorates; Richmond and Northcote! We've already leafletted thousands of houses, distributed house signs, run some local...
Read More ShareOctober 03, 2022
Last night 66 citizen scientists from community groups across Victoria took part in a coordinated big night of surveying for endangered Greater Gliders. Surveys were carried out over 12 areas scheduled for logging, across...
Read More ShareSeptember 08, 2022
On September 7 National Threatened Species Day, over 30 community groups rallied in Naarm/Melbourne to call for urgent and stronger protections for Australia’s environment, as the continued destruction of Country is escalating the climate...
Read More ShareSeptember 07, 2022
Thank you so much to everyone who made it out to our official campaign launch on Sunday at the fabulous House of Plants. Was lovely to see friendly familiar faces, and plenty of new...
Read More ShareAugust 24, 2022
Victoria's government-owned logging company illegally cleared 1,000 square metres of protected possum habitat and broke the law in 25 out of 30 logging areas, according to a government-commissioned audit.
Read More ShareAugust 11, 2022
The Victorian Forest Alliance is disappointed the Victorian Government has used taxpayers’ money to go to court to continue logging the Greater Glider closer to extinction — just weeks after the Glider was officially...
Read More ShareAugust 11, 2022
The VFA citizen science program made another trip out to East Gippsland last week, this time to visit the Colquhoun state forest on Gunnai Kurnai Country. Surveyors found endangered Greater Glider, more significant populations...
Read More ShareAugust 09, 2022
Environmentalists have accused state agency VicForests of logging an area identified as greater glider habitat in East Gippsland, less than a month after federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek declared the rare possum endangered. ...
Read More ShareAugust 05, 2022
Environmental, legal and social justice organisations dismayed by passing of harsh new laws against forest protectors The Andrews government has steam-rolled ahead with dangerous changes to the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 which could...
Read More ShareAugust 04, 2022
In letter to Daniel Andrews, union groups argue bill is ‘disproportionate’ and could lead to further limiting of workplace action. A group of unions have hit out at the Andrews government over proposed legislation...
Read More ShareAugust 01, 2022
Hundreds of community members and climate, forest and environment groups marched from the State Library to Parliament steps on Saturday to demand strong action on climate through real ZERO emissions by 2030, 100% publicly-owned...
Read More ShareJuly 22, 2022
Citizen scientists supported by the Victorian Forest Alliance visited Mt Alfred on Gunnai Kurnai Country last weekend to join local environment groups Gippsland Environment Group and Friends of Bats and Habitat Gippsland to survey...
Read More ShareJuly 19, 2022
Newly appointed federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek must act to protect forests and wildlife, before it’s too late The Victorian Forest Alliance welcomes the recent appointment of Minister Plibersek as the federal minister for...
Read More ShareJuly 13, 2022
"The climate crisis often gets blamed on market failure, but government failure plays a pretty big role as well. Not only do Australian governments spend more than $11.6bn a year subsidising fossil fuels, at...
Read More ShareJuly 13, 2022
VFA members Friends of Alberton West Forest are hosting an online raffle to raise much needed funds for wildlife surveying equipment for their local group. The Alberton West State forests have incredible diversity, with...
Read More ShareJuly 12, 2022
VFA volunteers and Northcote locals have hit the street to gather signatures from concerned community members, calling on the Northcote Labor MP Kat Theophanus to withdraw the dangerous proposed protest laws set to hit...
Read More ShareJuly 05, 2022
The Southern Greater Glider has been listed as endangered today under federal environment laws. The species, often described as a ‘gliding koala’, was a common species found in native forests across Victoria, but in...
Read More ShareJuly 04, 2022
On Tuesday June 28 more than a hundred people gathered on the steps of Parliament to oppose draconian new protest laws which have now passed the lower house of Parliament. The laws are set...
Read More ShareJune 08, 2022
The Victorian Forest Alliance has joined a number of legal, human rights, climate, and environment groups to call on the Andrews government to withdraw disturbing changes to laws which could see community members peacefully...
Read More ShareJune 06, 2022
Nearly 40 community members came together in Healesville last Sunday to celebrate World Environment Day 2022, highlighting this year's theme which is "living sustainably and in harmony with nature", drawing focus to the proposed...
Read More ShareJune 05, 2022
We have some exciting opportunities to join the small team at the Victorian Forest Alliance. We are seeking to fill two paid part-time positions - a media officer/digital communications role, and a fundraising and...
Read More ShareMay 26, 2022
We are so excited to share that we are working closely with citizen science groups like Wildlife of the Central Highlands (WOTCH) to conduct paid wildlife surveys in forests up for logging. Together we've...
Read More ShareMay 25, 2022
The results from the federal election on Saturday show people from across the country are overwhelmingly voting for urgent action on climate change. Candidates campaigning for better action on climate received strong support from...
Read More ShareApril 29, 2022
Over the long weekend the VFA survey team and volunteers got out to the Little Dargo area where a number of logging coupes are scheduled in the pristine catchment of the Little Dargo river....
Read More ShareApril 14, 2022
Government-owned logging agency VicForests has quietly referred itself to the IBAC after it was revealed by the ABC that the company had used tax-payer funds to spy on community members speaking out against logging....
Read More ShareMarch 29, 2022
Sweeping changes to logging laws proposed by the Victorian government would hand the Environment Minister or head of the department ‘god-like power’ over the fate of forests, remove transparency and cut off pathways for...
Read More ShareMarch 18, 2022
Efforts to protect threatened species will be undermined and it will be easier to log native forests if proposed changes to Victoria’s forestry laws are approved, environment groups have warned. The state government says...
Read More ShareFebruary 24, 2022
Conservation groups have accused the Victorian government of proposing changes to logging rules that would weaken protections for bushfire-prone communities and the environment. The Andrews government has published draft changes to logging standards that regulate VicForests’...
Read More ShareFebruary 20, 2022
Thank you so so much to everyone who made it to our official launch on the 12 and 13 Feb - especially to all the volunteers who helped to run the event, Black Spark Cultural...
Read More ShareNovember 30, 2021
A shocking new report has exposed 1 in 3 areas logged fail to regenerate after logging - for Ash type forests half fail to regenerate after 3 years. The report, After the Logging, Failing...
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