VicForests Starts Post-Fire Timber Recovery

The 2019-20 bushfires impacted 1.6 million hectares across Victoria, mostly in the East Gippsland and the North East areas.

VicForests has developed a bushfire recovery timber harvesting program to responsibly and sustainably harvest a very small part of burnt areas.

This allows VicForests to harvest severely fire affected timber before it becomes unsuitable for processing by our customers.

VicForests will harvest up to 3,500 hectares over several years in areas already allocated to it for harvesting in the fire-affected 1.6 million hectares in Eastern Victoria.

There will be no harvesting in National Parks or reserves. Harvesting will offset harvest levels in unburnt areas of the forest. In the East Gippsland Forest Management Area, VicForests will not harvest unburnt areas within the fire footprint in 2020.

The decision to implement recovery harvesting was made by VicForests using the best information available.

This included an assessment of threatened species conducted by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).

VicForests has also considered landscape wide planning and the need to protect high conservation values.

The Office of the Conservation Regulator has been consulted in the development of the timber recovery program and monitors the standards and protections used in harvesting.

VicForests’ bushfire recovery timber harvesting effort is critical to local jobs and keeping mills operating.

This is especially important considering the Coronavirus (COVID-19) impact on jobs.

Post Bushfire Timber Recovery Process

Bushfire recovery timber harvesting documents and some of their key descriptions are available on the matrix below. These align with:

The Code of Practice for Timber Production (2014),
The Management Standards and Procedures for timber harvesting operations in Victoria’s State forests (2014) (MSP) and
DELWP’s Bushfire Emergency: Biodiversity Response and Recovery (Version 1, 23 Jan 2020).

Code of Practice for Timber Production (2014)
Management Standards and Procedures for Timber Harvesting Operations in Victoria's State Forests (2014) Section 8: Fire Salvage Harvesting in particular.
Bushfire Affected Compartments* (from MSPs) If a compartment contains a mapped area of bushfire then it is considered to be bushfire affected and is included within this list. The below salvage harvesting prescriptions then apply. The lists of affected compartments are included in an appendix of the Instruction outlined in the box below. * A compartment is defined as a specific area of State forest usually bounded by natural features. One compartment is broken up into several coupes.
Coupe Planning For each salvage coupe, VicForests will produce a coupe plan which clearly outlines how the planning process and adaptive management prescriptions outlined within the Post Bushfire Timber Recovery Instruction have been incorporated. In addition, this will be supported by a High Conservation Value Summary and Retention Plan which outlines how identified threatened species will be managed and protected.