Injunction to protect skink

By Lachlan Ellis

State-owned logging company VicForests has been ordered to cease operations in part of a local forest indefinitely, after an endangered reptile species was discovered.

An injunction against VicForests’ work harvesting fallen trees in the ‘Silver Queen’ coupe in the Wombat State Forest was originally ordered in September by the Supreme Court, with that injunction ending on 31 October.

But on Thursday 30 November, Justice Melinda Richards ordered VicForests and contractor Tiley Industries to stop any work in the Silver Queen coupe, after nine endangered mountain skinks were found in the area.

The operations began in 2021, to clear trees that fell in the storm events that occurred in June and October that year.

A VicForests spokesperson told the Moorabool News that the court proceedings “are presenting a significant barrier for us to collect windthrown timber in the Wombat State Forest”.

But environmental groups who have been protesting VicForests’ operations in the forest, and calling for the legislation of a national park in the area, have called the decision a win.

Gayle Osborne is the convenor of Wombat Forestcare – which has taken VicForests to court over its operations in the Wombat State Forest – said the group was “very pleased the injunction to halt the windfall harvesting” is in place.

“This shows how important it is to survey rigorously for all species. There has already been some salvage work on the coupe, and we do not know if some populations of the endangered skink have been destroyed by heavy machinery,” she said.

“Members of Wombat Forestcare recently recorded a mountain skink only three kilometres from the logging coupe, so it is not surprising that they have been found on or near the site.”

Ms Osborne acknowledged that mountain skinks are “quite a difficult species to survey for, as they are particularly well-camouflaged”.

“When disturbed [they] will disappear into a burrow and can take a very long time to re-emerge. Wombat Forestcare is also particularly concerned about the spotted hyacinth orchid (Dipodium pardalinum) an endangered species, which will emerge in January and February and is expected to be found on the site.” she said.

Wombat Forestcare’s Supreme Court case against VicForests alleged the company had not checked for owls, quolls, and reptiles in the Wombat State Forest in September, and has also expanded its case to allege breaches of species survey requirements in other western forests, including the Mount Cole, Pyrenees, Cobaw and Enfield forests.

In September, VicForests barrister Fiona Hudgson said the company hadn’t surveyed for reptiles or quolls because there was no evidence of them being found in the Silver Queen coupe, and that “you don’t find them [mountain skinks] in this part of Victoria”.

The Supreme Court expects VicForests to undertake extensive surveys and to protect all species detected in the Wombat State Forest, with 25 flora species and 33 fauna species identified in Wombat Forestcare’s claim against VicForests.

The Court has not yet heard evidence from both parties, nor determined whether each species is likely to be present in the forest, or are at risk from windthrown timber removal or timber harvesting.

The State Government announced that in 2021, part of the Wombat State Forest would become part of a new ‘Wombat-Lerderderg National Park’, but that national park has not yet been legislated.

VicForests and Wombat Forestcare are expected to be back in court on 5 February next year for a directions hearing and trial date.