Eighty people have walked into one of Victoria’s largest logged areas on the mountain slopes in the Rubicon State Forest, to highlight logging in the area.

The group entered the area carrying a 25-metre long banner saying ‘Save The Rubicon – Stop The Logging’. The group unfurled a second 13-metre long banner saying ‘Forests For Life Not Logging”.

“This part of the Rubicon State Forest contains one of the largest continuous areas of logged forest in the state with a total logged area of around 1000 ha since 2009, equivalent to almost 600 Melbourne Cricket Grounds,” said former forestry academic, Dr Nick Legge.

“This area includes at least two separate instances that exceed the maximum allowable area of 120 ha,” said Dr Legge.

“Breaches in the Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting go largely unchecked, with areas much larger than permitted being logged. There are soil wash-outs on steep slopes that should never have been logged and scenic protections ignored,” said Dr Nick Legge.

“At current rates the Rubicon State Forest will be logged out in five years, with current remaining intact areas of mature Mountain Ash forest completely gone,” said Dr Legge.

Logging breaches are rife in the area, the group says. Two logging coupes in neighbouring Snobs Creek Valley, Dry Spell (288-505-0001) and Dry Cleaner (288-506-0002) are currently subject to legal injunction as part of the Federal Court Case brought by Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, challenging whether logging in certain areas of endangered species habitat can continue to have a special exemption from Australia’s national threatened species law.

“This protest is timely considering it is the one year anniversary since the listing of the Greater Glider as a threatened species with no protection in sight and logging of Greater Gliders continuing unabated,” local ecologist Ann Jelinek said.

“Barely 100 ha of old-growth forest remains,” said local ecologist Ann Jelinek.

Local community group, the Rubicon Forest Protection Group, is calling for the State Government to establish an immediate moratorium on logging this remarkable area while a detailed environmental and socioeconomic assessment is conducted to examine the full range of values this forest offers.

The protest site is logging coupe “Berlei” 287-508-0014 and surrounding logging coupes.