By Westside Wilderness Group
The Westside Wilderness Group, in conjunction with the Sun Theatre in Yarraville, recently hosted a screening of Forest Country, a film which highlights the continued destruction of old growth forests in Victoria’s Central Highlands, despite the ‘official’ cessation of logging on January 1st, 2024.
Forest Country documents the destruction (currently at the centre of the Federal Court “Hollows Case) – caused by logging of old growth forests under other names, such as salvage logging and hazardous tree removal. Filmed over a year alongside activists, conservationists and ecologists, the film highlights the ongoing loss of native ecosystems and habitat for endangered species like the Greater Glider and Leadbeater’s Possum, the State’s faunal emblem.
The film was made by Lewi Haskins, an Australian photographer and filmmaker who has recorded stories all over the world. Over the past decade, Lewi has hitchhiked across Africa, written for environmental organisations, and worked with adventure companies. Lewi wanted to highlight that logging in Victoria’s old growth forests is still continuing, but under the practices of Forest Fire Management Victoria.
The film shows how the state Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), is overseeing logging of old growth forests through their operational arm, Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV). Under the guise of cutting down old growth forest for fire ‘safety’ reasons, including in national parks, DEECA is directly contributing to the potential extinction of species found nowhere else in the world or even in Australia. These trees provide critical nesting habitat for endangered species and take more than 100 years to become hollow-bearing which these species require.
The film shows Greater Gliders inhabiting one such tree, only for it to be cut down the next day by FFMV contractors. These are many of the same people who, despite being beneficiaries of the government’s $1 billion forestry transition scheme (i.e. assistance to find other employment), continue to log the forests they were paid to protect through new employment within the Department.
As renowned forestry expert Professor David Lindenmayer says, “The broad-scale impact on animals is colossal and makes a mockery of the government’s biodiversity strategy and a mockery of their process of supposed environmental regulation. There are some deep systemic problems here.” (The Guardian 17/5/24)
If you are concerned about native animals and the impact of logging on their survival, write to your local parliamentarian. Their contact details are on their websites.
The next screening of Forest Country is on 28/7 at the Nova in Carlton.
For more information about the Westside Wilderness Group contact: info@wilderness.org.au
