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VicForests top marks in audit

By PHILIP HOPKINS

THE annual EPA environmental audit of Victoria’s forest management practices has found that VicForests complied with 94 per cent of conditions mandated in the state’s code of forestry practice. A total of 30 coupes across Gippsland and the Central Highlands were audited, with two of the Central Highlands coupes in Melbourne’s water catchments. Across the 169 compliance criteria, VicForests’ performance varied between 77 per cent and 100 per cent, with an average of 94 per cent in 2020/21. VicForests’ average performance the previous year was 95 per cent. The criteria covers protection of forest soils; protection of water flows, water quality and river health; protection of biodiversity values; road maintenance and closure practices; and coupe planning. VicForests, a state-owned body, is responsible for harvesting and selling the timber from state forests and regenerating the harvested areas. The auditor, Jacobs Group, was commissioned by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) to do the work as part of its Forest Audit Program (FAP). The FAP, operating since 2002 and managed by DELWP since 2010, is commissioned by a unit of the Conservation Regulator. Incidents that did not conform to the code were recorded in 19 of the 30 audited coupes. This was an average of 1.3 incidents with potential environmental impact per coupe, with as many as five incidents recorded in one coupe. However, only one incident with a potential environmental impact was observed. This resulted from construction of a boundary track into a Leadbeater’s Possum Special Protection Zone (SPZ). “Disturbance associated with the track affected about 1000 square metres within the SPZ (less than one per cent of the SPZ,” the audit said. An SPZ is a forest management zone that is managed for specific conservation values. SPZs form a network within state forests that complement the formal conservation reserve system. Among the average compliance results of the various audit themes were: -Environment: 92 per cent for forest soils and 91 per cent for water flows, water quality and river health; -Conservation of biodiversity: 95 per cent; -Operational planning and record-keeping: 97 per cent, and; -Coupe infrastructure - protection of water and soil from roading, snig tracks and landings - ranged from 86-95 per cent. Some incidents with lesser environmental impacts included incursion of regeneration burns into buffers or other areas that were planned to be protected from timber harvesting and regeneration, and poorly executed rehabilitation in in-coupe road waterway crossings. VicForests’ chief executive, Monique Dawson, said the findings were testament to the diligent and detailed work of VicForests staff. VicForests, as part of its continuous improvement program, would take action on the 2020-21 audit findings, she said. “It will increase its focus on including a selection of salvage coupes in ongoing post-harvest monitoring, reviewing and updating procedures and providing further training to the staff around soil and water protection associated with coupe infrastructure,” Ms Dawson said. Coupes for the audit were risk-based, rather than fully randomised. The findings of the audit cover a portion of VicForests’ operations.

Residents help pay for road

WELLINGTON Shire Council will proceed with a Special Charge Street Construction scheme on Park Avenue in Cowwarr. The scheme was approved unanimously by council at a meeting on Tuesday, September 6. The approval of the scheme comes following months of consultation with landowners. Residents on Park Ave were first informed of the Special Charge proposal in March 2020, with mail-out surveys sent to properties the following month, and again in September 2021. A majority of residents agreed to the scheme’s implementation, and no formal objections were lodged with council regarding the proposal. As part of the scheme, landowners will contribute $25,200, or $3600 per residence, towards resurfacing and drainage works on Park Ave, which is currently unsealed. Their contributions will be made in instalments as part of shire’s annual rate collection. The total cost of the works is estimated at $180,000, the majority of which will be paid by council. Ratepayers were originally asked to contribute $115,200, or 64 per cent of the total costs, but will now pay just 14 per cent of the total costs. Council’s approval comes following the successful implementation of a similar scheme in Stratford. Under that scheme, landowners contributed to the cost of asphalting and drainage works on an unsealed portion of McMillan St, between Davis and Thomson Streets. The final cost of those works was $798,966.26 overall, with residents contributing $60,000, or 7.5 per cent as part of the Special Charge scheme. The next Ordinary Council Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 20 at 6pm.

Council map of Park Avenue in

Cowwarr. file photograph

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