Community fight for forest

By Lachlan Ellis

Over 80 Blackwood residents have attended a community meeting, discussing concerns over gold mining and logging in the area and agreeing to write to their State MP.

The Blackwood residents packed into St Martin’s Chapel on Saturday 15 October, expressing unease at nearby exploratory mining, and logging of parts of the Wombat State Forest under VicForests’ Timber Utilisation Plan.

Speakers at the community meeting included long-time forest campaigner Dave Stephens, Gayle Osborne from Wombat Forestcare, and members of local group No Wombat Gold.

The group are calling on the State Government to create a Wombat-Lerderderg National Park, which was promised after last June’s Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC) Central West Investigation Final Report, but has yet to occur.

In a media release, the group said that “Blackwood has a proud history of fighting logging and mining, and the meeting saw yet another swell of passionate locals who are willing to stand up and fight for the forest”.

“Both logging and mining have the potential to impact the town’s revered water supply, but as the area also sits in the headwaters of the Lerderderg River, these impacts could potentially impact residents all the way to Melton,” the media release reads.

“Other potential impacts include noise pollution, traffic and road destruction from large trucks and negative impacts on tourism and local business. Clearing bushland also has potentially devastating effects on local flora, fauna and fungi including many threatened and endangered species such as the Greater Glider and the Mountain Skink.”

A unanimous vote was passed at the meeting to write to Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas, requesting a moratorium on “all licenses, permits and works for all commercial log removal and mining activities in the Wombat Forest until the planned legislation is proclaimed granting National Park and Regional Park status”.

In response to the community concerns, Ms Thomas said that all forestry and mineral exploration activities were being done “under strict regulations”.

“Storm recovery work in the Wombat State Forest and elsewhere involves cleaning up windthrown trees to reduce fuel loads and the fire risk to communities over the coming years. Importantly, the work in the Wombat State Forest and surrounding areas to restore Country is a partnership between Traditional Land Owners, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, and VicForests,” Ms Thomas told the Moorabool News.

“This is not salvage logging, it is removing fallen trees and getting access to improve forest health and resilience, based on cultural practices and backed up by scientific research that supports active management of our forests.”

Mineral exploration is being done with low-impact methods, and new mineral exploration licences will no longer be granted in areas of the Central West where national parks are being created.

Work is currently underway to map out three national parks, and other parks, being created in Central West Victoria, in a major step towards the areas being permanently protected through Victorian legislation.

Ms Thomas said the park would be given permanent protection through legislation by a re-elected Andrews Government.