PARK WATCH Article December 2024 |

Blake Nisbet, Nature Conservation Campaigner, provides an update on our campaign in the Dandenong Ranges

It’s been three years since the 2021 storm event impacted areas of the Dandenong Ranges National Park. In April this year, Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) began work to salvage fallen trees from the park.

Nearly half the areas listed have since been impacted by off-track heavy machinery disturbance, hazardous tree removals and the destruction of critical wildlife habitats. The effects on the ground are intensive and shocking to see.

But let’s take a step back for a moment. Back in May last year, FFMV committed to a suite of nature protections.  The promises were:

  • The retention of areas of refuge in the understorey and midstorey connectivity.
  • The protection of canopy trees.
  • The exclusion of works from Riparian areas and around water bodies.
  • Protections for all hollow-bearing, den, sap feed trees and tree ferns, as well as exclusion zones around nesting trees during breeding season.
  • No machinery disturbance in areas of dense, swampy vegetation in gullies and other damp areas where threatened and protected species have been recorded.
  • The identification, marking and protection of nest and roost sites.
  • These all sounded positive in writing, but what was actually done on the ground?

So we visited the site in June to assess the area. The result was a list of broken promises. We identified five hollow-bearing trees that had been felled or removed. One contained a wildlife nest that appeared to have belonged to a Mountain Brushtail Possum. We observed widespread heavy machinery disturbance to threatened plants such as the Powelltown Correa and Victorian Flat-pea. VNPA and Southern Dandenongs Landcare Group had previously alerted FFMV to the existence of these populations.

Tree removal operations threaten and impair the forest’s recovery. Regardless, FFMV are planning further damage, in the form of post-log removal burning. Other operations are expected to recommence over Summer, following a hiatus due to wet weather and community protests.  FFMV’s operations continue to fall short of community expectations, with VNPA holding them accountable. We continue to monitor upcoming works and push for better oversight and transparency.

More broadly, we are calling on the Allan Government to commit to the highest standard of assessment, consultation and nature protections for planned fire management works outside of emergency periods. Most crucially that these principles are embedded in a new Code of Practice for Bushfire Management on Public Land, currently under review.