VicForests is a Government Backed Enterprise (GBE) operating in the Australian state of Victoria. Its principal function is to undertake logging and commercial sale of timber from state forests in Victoria.
Overview
VicForests is a state-owned business responsible for the sustainable harvesting, regrowth, and commercial sale of timber from Victoria's state forests on behalf of the Victorian Government.
It was created as a state body under Section 14 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1992 by the Victorian Government, being declared a state business corporation on 28 October 2003.
It operates within designated areas of state forest that are managed by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).
DEECA has custodial or ownership rights over Public Land in Victoria and is responsible for managing Victoria's entire publicly owned state forest estate. It is also responsible for regulating compliance of VicForests' activities in accordance with the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 (as amended 2022) (the Code).
Certification and compliance
VicForests conducts all its harvesting operations under the Australian Forestry Standard on sustainable forest management.
The Australian Forestry Standard is endorsed by the international Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) – the largest such system in the world which covers more than 300 million hectares of forest, has 49 national members, and equates to around two-thirds of the world's total certified forest area.
VicForests has maintained this certification since 2007, and undertakes regular independent audits to monitor its management systems and operations in accordance with the standard.
Despite repeated efforts, VicForests has failed to obtain certification with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Its operations were most recently assessed by independent auditors in 2019, but it was found ineligible to join the scheme owing to concerns over old growth logging, threatened species protection and its engagement with stakeholders. Although the audit was conducted independently and before the 2019-20 bushfires, VicForests blamed 'public activism and advocacy' by three FSC directors, as well as bushfires for its failure to gain certification.
Contribution to the Victorian economy
Whilst proponents of the native timber industry contribute hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to regional Victoria each year, other analyses see it as costing more money than it makes. A 2018 study by Forest and Wood Products Australia estimated some 1639 direct jobs in Victorian native forest logging, and 4792 jobs altogether, including production and consumption-induced jobs.
For the financial year through 2021-22 VicForests generated $88.4 million in sales across its timber operations. This is to be contrasted with an operating loss of $54.2m for that same financial year. In its financial report, VicForests' CEO stated that its failure to meet supply targets was ''largely because injunctions granted in legal proceedings made harvesting in many planned coupes unviable or prohibited harvesting altogether." Also blamed for the loss was the cost of litigation, stand down payments to contractors and compensation to customers.
Logging and fire
Coupe burns
Following timber harvesting activities, VicForests works with Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) to conduct controlled burning. This partnership also includes the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), Parks Victoria, and Melbourne Water. VicForests also works alongside the Country Fire Authority.
Whilst intended to help reduce the fuel hazard to below pre-harvest levels, these coupe burns are controversial, and have been termed industrial pollution with serious health consequences.
Bushfire danger
Some peer reviewed papers, such as Keenan et al. (2021), have found that bushfires were not made worse by timber harvesting activities. Bushfires themselves are creating the most significant change to forest age and structure. The area affected by timber harvesting is vastly smaller than the area impacted by bushfires.
However, other studies indicate that logging worsens the severity of bushfires in the long term. "Taking timber from forests dramatically changes their structure, making them more vulnerable to bushfires," according to one group of ecologists.