VicForests conducted thousands of night surveys

12 June 2024

We are responding to more false claims, this time on behalf of our dedicated staff who accumulated 1000s of hours conducting night surveys.

Recently multiple publications have claimed VicForests did not conduct night surveys. This is demonstrably false. VicForests undertook surveys both at night and during the day given the differing needs of the array of species that make up the valuable biodiversity of our forests.

Since 2017 VicForests staff and contractors have been responsible for:

• 1930 night surveys, including 1344 spotlight transect surveys
• 2219 surveys using remote cameras that detect animals day and night.

These are deployed in the forest for a set period, sometimes as long as a month and sometimes on a repeat basis.

These surveys resulted in over 27,000 species detections being made. VicForests uploaded all survey results to the publicly available Victorian Biodiversity Atlas (the VBA). VicForests is a major contributor to the VBA, which provides vital information about species location and habitats.

VicForests surveys were performed in accordance with recognised survey standards, usually those developed and issued by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and its predecessors.

We reiterate that false claims do harm. This includes the impact on the mental health and wellbeing of people who have dedicated themselves to the management of forests for future generations.