{"id":6851,"date":"2023-06-01T10:51:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T00:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=6851"},"modified":"2024-12-23T22:37:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T12:37:50","slug":"traditional-owners-not-consulted-before-vic-native-forest-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/traditional-owners-not-consulted-before-vic-native-forest-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Traditional Owners Not Consulted Before Vic Native Forest Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Wood Central can exclusively report that the Traditional Owners were not consulted before the Victorian Government decided to bring forward the date for the cessation of native timber harvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview with the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fvtoc.com.au\"> Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations<\/a>, Wood Central was told that \u201cat least one of the member corporations is currently involved in works under a TUP (in the Wombat State Forest), so this is a drastic and highly impactful decision on their realisation of healthy Country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations (FVTOC) represents the shared interests of Traditional Owners across Country \u2013 providing a strong voice to Victoria\u2019s formally recognised Traditional Owner groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On May 23rd, 2023, the FVTOC released a <a href=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/11ad00e184d3008750e5b4a54\/files\/ebe9dedd-f2fc-8766-232c-58f895d195ba\/Traditional_Owners.pdf\">media statement<\/a> responding to the decision by the Victorian Government to accelerate the transition from native forest harvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wood Central understands that the TUP refers to the <a href=\"https:\/\/djadjawurrung.com.au\/\">DJARRA Traditional Owner Corporation<\/a>, which has an approved Timber Utilisation Plan in the Wombat State Forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vicforests.com.au\/vicforest-forest-management\/ops-planning\/where-vicforests-operates\/tup#:~:text=Timber%20Utilisation%20Plan%20%28TUP%29%20The%20TUP%20identifies%20areas,VicForests%20Board%20and%20published%20on%202%20May%202023.\">Approved Timber Utilisation Plans<\/a> allow for timber harvesting outside the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gazette.vic.gov.au\/gazette\/Gazettes2013\/GG2013S343.pdf\">Victorian Government\u2019s Allocation Order 2013<\/a> \u2013 the area of coupes where state-owned VicForests are permitted to harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A copy of the latest Timber Utilisation Plan, last updated on May 2nd, 2023, is available for download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vicforests.com.au\/static\/uploads\/files\/approved-tup-schedule-may-2023-wfjtnjoavbws.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the Timber Utilisation Plan, DJARRA\u2019s primary focus is to remove windthrown timber and apply \u2018forest gardening\u2019 to this work. In this regard, the principle is to listen to what Country needs and respond by removing the fallen timber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A copy of the DJAARA Forest Gardening Strategy is available for download <a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Forest-Gardening.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In June and October 2021, major storms in the Wombat State Forest impacted more than 80,000 hectares of forest and 1,500km of the road network, affecting the landscape, Cultural Heritage, and industry in an area including the Wombat and Lederberg State Forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Damage-in-the-Wombat-State-Forest-caused-by-storms.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Damage-in-the-Wombat-State-Forest-caused-by-storms.webp 900w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Damage-in-the-Wombat-State-Forest-caused-by-storms-600x400.webp 600w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Damage-in-the-Wombat-State-Forest-caused-by-storms-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Damage-in-the-Wombat-State-Forest-caused-by-storms-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Damage-in-the-Wombat-State-Forest-caused-by-storms-696x464.webp 696w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Damage-in-the-Wombat-State-Forest-caused-by-storms-630x420.webp 630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Damage caused by storms in the Wombat State Forest (Photo credit: DJAARA Traditional Owners Corporation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The scale of this damage created significant risks in increased bushfire conditions, limited recreational use of the area, and impacted cultural use by Traditional Owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/djadjawurrung.com.au\/our-work-healing-wombat-state-forest\/\">In a media statement published in June 2022<\/a>, DJAARA advised that there was no large-scale felling of standing trees under the plan and that the protection of Country not affected by the storm damage was prioritised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wood Central understands that protesting operations and legal impositions significantly impacted DJAARA\u2019s work in the Wombat State Forest and has contacted DJAARA to get an update on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FVTOC is pushing for a casting vote over the future of Victoria\u2019s 1.8 million hectares of State Forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe would hope that in the decision-making for what happens next to 1.8m hectares of state parks impacted by this decision, Victorian Traditional Owners would hold a casting vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cWe should be able to manage the return of the forests to health and to benefit from biocultural resources in a way that they have been unable to do for several hundred years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wood Central has contacted the Minister for Environment, Ingrid Stitt office, for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wood Central can exclusively report that the Traditional Owners were not consulted before the Victorian Government decided to bring forward the date for the cessation of native timber harvesting. In an interview with the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations, Wood Central was told that \u201cat least one of the member corporations is currently involved [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[50,33,2,56],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":{"0":"post-6851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"category-editors-picks","9":"category-featured","10":"category-victoria"},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jason","display_name":"Jason Ross","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6851"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6857,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6851\/revisions\/6857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6851"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}