In the Yarra Ranges, in southeastern Australia, a logging clearcut sits like a scar on the hillside. The largely barren area – a short drive from the town of Warburton, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Melbourne – used to be covered with trees native to the state of Victoria. But in April it was harvested by contractors working for VicForests, the state-owned business that logs, sells and regrows timber from Victoria’s native forests. After cutting down most of the trees, timber workers torched the area to simulate a bushfire and encourage the forest to regenerate. A month later, the ground was still smoking.
The scientists singled out “salvage logging” – the practice of harvesting in fire-affected forests, as particularly harmful. The study’s release in May coincided with reports that, in the wake of the wildfires, VicForests plans to begin salvage logging operations in parts of eastern Victoria. “With forecasts of worse bushfire seasons to come, it is absolutely vital to consider our research that native logging adds significantly to fire severity,” said lead author David Lindenmayer, an ecologist at the Australian National University.
In March, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian government science body, warned that a changing climate has led to and will result in “longer, more intense fire seasons”. But alongside concerns about climate change driving the fires, a debate is growing about the role of “fuel loads” in forests. The more flammable material available to a fire, and the drier it is, the faster and more intensely the fire can burn – and the more dangerous it can become, researchers say. The study comes at a time when the native timber industry, once a bedrock of eastern Victoria’s economy, finds itself on shaky ground.
Source: Trust
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