ALERT: VicForests has begun logging amongst the old ash forests of Mt Monda in Toolangi
Have you ever driven through the old growth ash forests along Monda Road? Ever hiked the Tanglefoot Loop or parked your car at the Monda Carpark? If so, you will have seen these towering Mountain Ash trees that reside on the mountain, many of which are hundreds of years old.
Last night, WOTCH surveyors were shocked to see that machinery has moved in and logging operations have commenced at this tourist hotspot.
Only a few months ago, WOTCH hosted a volunteer weekend in this very patch of forest and measured some of its gigantic Mountain Ash trees. We found an extremely high density of hollow-bearing Mountain Ash trees critical to the persistence of the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum, with the largest tree measured having a circumference just shy of 15m! We also spotlighted threatened Greater Gliders, whose habitat is now under imminent threat of destruction.
In typical fashion, VicForests also failed to detect Leadbeater’s Possum despite the presence of high-quality habitat across the coupe. WOTCH surveyors once again had to step in and survey the coupe – detecting a Leadbeater’s Possum which would otherwise have had its habitat destroyed by logging.
The biodiversity values of this area don’t stop there. The coupe also contains patches of Cool Temperate Rainforest which provide a critical microclimate for understory diversity of ferns, mosses, epiphytes and lichens.
As Victoria opens up from lockdown, thousands of tourists will visit this area over summer. It’s unacceptable to be logging this ecotourism hotspot and critical refuge for threatened wildlife. Please join us in demanding the immediate protection of this forest. Let’s get on the phones and tell our Environment Minister that she needs to step in and get the logging machinery out of Mt Monda now!
Photograph of logging machinery at logging coupe 300-530-0003
The Hon. Lily D'Ambrosio,
Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change
Ministerial Phone: (03) 9637 9504
