Framing ecological forestry: applying principles for the restoration of post-production forests
Grant W. Wardell-Johnson
A * , Beth Schultz B and Todd P. Robinson C
A
B
C
Abstract
Decades of industrial-scale logging have damaged the structure, function, and composition of Australia’s forests; increased the threat from severe fires; and generated social distrust – all in a disrupted climate regime. As state agencies withdraw from logging, restoration of forest resilience becomes paramount. We critique two recent proposals for ‘commercial timber operations’ in two Australian states that have recently ‘ceased logging native forests’: (1) wind-throw removal via ‘community forestry’ in Victoria; and (2) ‘ecological thinning’ in Western Australia. Analysis suggests that ecological restoration will require: (1) scientifically valid and reliable projects; (2) integration across knowledge systems; (3) full cost-benefit accounting; (4) repair of forest legacy damage; (5) restoration of environmental resilience; (6) control of environmental weeds, pests and pathogens; (7) enhanced capacity for early detection of, and rapid response to disturbance; (8) generation of trust to enable a social licence; (9) fostering integrity in media and public relations; and (10) appropriate categorisation in land use. Neither case study demonstrate the application of these forest restoration principles nor provides a way to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposals. These case studies continue the resource-led exploitation of post-production forests, exacerbating damage through the continued depletion of the natural assets essential to generating resilience. Moving beyond resource-led to environment-led management is necessary to restore the ecological integrity of these forests. A shift from the resource-led focus to an environment-led focus guided by scientifically validated principles is likely to also require new administrative and governance arrangements for these forests.
Keywords: community forestry, ecological forestry, fire management, post-production, resilience, restoration, thinning, wind-throw.
Introduction
A conceptually complex worldview has not been duly supported by a clear normative or ethical framework, leaving ambiguities that allow … different and potentially conflicting management actions to be called ‘ecological forestry’… impeding communication in a contentious and often highly polarised social context, and permitting forestry practices that may perpetuate the problems... that ecological forestry purports to redress. (Batavia and Nelson (2016), page 8)
Logging of Australia’s forests commenced soon after European invasion, with high levels of exploitation increased through technological innovation and industrialisation following the Second World War (Dargavel 1995; Calver and Wardell-Johnson 2004; Lunney and Moon 2013, Lindenmayer 2024). The commencement of a market in Japan for woodchips for papermaking in 1968 led to high levels of exploitation (Routley and Routley 1974; Resource Assessment Commission 1991; Lindenmayer et al. 2022a; Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023; Lindenmayer 2024). As a result, most of the sclerophyll (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2017; Tozer et al. 2017) forests in the State forests of Australia available for logging have now been altered in structure, function, and composition by intensive logging (Resource Assessment Commission 1991; Dargavel 1995; Lindenmayer et al. 2011a, 2011b, 2022a; Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018; Wardell-Johnson and Robinson 2022).
Intensive logging (i.e. from less than 60% basal area retention to clearfelling (Environment East Gippsland Inc v VicForest (No 4) 2022] VSC668, 2022; Wardell-Johnson and Robinson 2022) of eucalypt forests changes their mature forest structure to stands dominated by young regrowth, making them hostile (Wardell-Johnson and Robinson (2022) for an explanation of the term) to mature-forest dependent (MFD) species (Kavanagh et al. 2004), and more flammable for several decades (Lindenmayer et al. 2011a, 2022a, 2022b; Attiwill et al. 2014; Taylor et al. 2014; Wilson et al. 2018; Lindenmayer and Taylor 2020; Bowman et al. 2021; Furlaud et al. 2021; Zylstra et al. 2021, 2022, 2023; Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023). This impact is exacerbated where the logging occurs over extensive areas within a relatively short period (i.e. less than about 50 years (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2017; Wardell-Johnson and Robinson 2022), resulting in cascading fire impacts across the landscape (Lindenmayer et al. 2011a; Bowman et al. 2014). Thus, large swathes of forest have been rendered more fire-prone, leading to a greater likelihood of damaging fires at a landscape scale (Lindenmayer et al. 2022a; Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023). These fires also pose a threat to property, infrastructure, and people (Lindenmayer et al. 2011a, 2022a). These changes have damaged the ecological resilience (Nikinmaa et al. 2020) of these forests by forming landscape and ecological traps (Lindenmayer et al. 2011a; Mason et al. 2018, 2022a) and generating disturbance-stimulated flammability (Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023).
The implications of this conversion of mature forests to immature regrowth (notwithstanding recent instigation of a retention of ‘habitat’, ‘den’ or ‘hollow-bearing trees’) have also led to recognition of the economic and social unsustainability of the model used to commercially exploit forest (e.g. Swann and Browne 2016; VEAC 2017; Lindenmayer 2024), and eventually to the claimed cessation of native or indigenous (the name used in many other post-colonial countries (Shackleton et al. 2007; Allen et al. 2013; Côte et al. 2018) forest logging in two States of Australia (Victoria and Western Australia). The theory behind sustainability in the management of ‘natural resources’ has been well-developed for decades (Thirgood 1981; Ludwig et al. 1993; Hilborn et al. 1995). Thus, the recent (i.e. post mid 1950s) history of the exploitation of Australia’s forests provides a further example of unsustainable exploitation of the natural environment. Nevertheless, the ‘running down’ of ‘forest resources’ may continue beyond the capacity for restoration (e.g. extinction of species or ecological communities) as new forms of exploitation emerge, with ongoing impacts for society (Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023; Lindenmayer 2024).
Science has played a key role in facilitating both the conservation and exploitation of these ‘forest resources’ (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018). Thus, the application of the scientific process is essential to guiding decisions on the management of natural resources. However, the application of scientific knowledge depends on the perspectives guiding decisions. Further, scientific knowledge can be interpreted differently depending on the values of the interpreter or management agency (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015, 2018). Therefore, changes in the dominance of different values have an important influence on the management of Australia’s forests.
Values of individuals and societies are reflected by the relative emphasis given to the various notions that influence decisions (Bourdieu 1986; Wardell-Johnson 2011). Identifying these values provides a means of locating environmental discourses along a continuum (Dryzek 1997; Wardell-Johnson 2005). The seven environmental discourses (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018) can be broadly grouped into ‘environmental-led’ and ‘resource-led’ perspectives. The overwhelming influence of resource-led perspectives in ‘pioneer societies’ (Wardell-Johnson 2008) may account for the tolerance shown by Australian society of broad-scale industrial-scale logging for so long. Regardless, the legacy of a history of unsustainable logging has resulted in the requirement for a massive restoration effort (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015, 2016) if the resilience of these forests is to be restored.
Thus, we provide case studies from the two Australian states (Victoria and Western Australia) where industrial-scale logging has recently been discontinued. While both proposals have been promoted as having no ecological costs to the forests, they have nevertheless attracted considerable controversy (e.g. Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023; and the many submissions to the draft forest management plan in Western Australia). Therefore, we ask:
Does ‘community forestry’ (the justification provided for proposed operations in Victoria as envisaged by Vicforests) stand up to ecological scrutiny; and if not, why not?
Does ‘ecological’ thinning (the justification provided for proposed operations in south-western Australia) stand up to ecological scrutiny; and if not, why not?
Given the controversy of the two proposals in Victoria and Western Australia, are there alternative approaches to ecological restoration and the future management of those forests in which industrial-scale logging has ceased?
We acknowledge the history of exploitation (e.g. Calver and Wardell-Johnson 2004; VEAC 2017; Lindenmayer 2024), and the controversy associated with new proposals for commercial timber extraction. Thus, we use these projects to highlight the importance of environment-led perspectives for principles to guide the restoration of Australia’s forests. We argue that case studies of so-called ‘benign’ exploitation or ecological forestry are a powerful way to highlight the principles necessary for ecological restoration in the post-production native forests of Australia.
Ecological principles for forest restoration
Identifying underlying environmental ethics and environmental values is critical to understanding the starting point and potential outcomes of management decisions (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018; Hourdequin 2024). Ecological principles have long guided forest management (e.g. Holt and Talbot 1978; Lindenmayer and Nix 1993), but to be effective, they require assessable criteria for application (Calver et al. 1998). Further, shallow use of principles is counterproductive (Abbott and Christensen 1994, 1996 and responses by Calver et al. 1996, 1998). Principles to guide management should be informed by both theory and the biology and ecology of the organism/s, landscape, and ecosystem for which the management is designed.
Thus, we use two case studies of ‘ecological forestry’ to derive 10 restoration principles (RPs) based on an environment-led perspective (Table 1), to which we refer throughout. We acknowledge that principles guiding resource-led management are likely to be different from those guiding environment-led perspectives (Hourdequin 2024). Therefore, these principles are based on the outcomes of a history of exploitation, and recognise the fundamental structural (e.g. depletion, simplification, and widespread loss of old growth characteristics), compositional (e.g. loss of MFD species), and functional degradation (e.g. disturbance-stimulated flammability) to these forests caused by decades of unsustainable logging.
| Restoration principle | Description | Explanation | References | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RP1 | Scientifically valid and reliable projects. | Ensure all projects are both explicitly conceptualised and scientifically valid and reliable; and ensure impacts are understood | Green (1979), Peters (1995), Shrader-Frechette and McCoy (1993) | |
| RP2 | Integrated knowledge systems. | Effectively integrate scientific, local, and Indigenous knowledge systems into the project strategies and outcomes. | Wardell-Johnson (2005, 2011), Lullfitz et al. (2020) | |
| RP3 | Full cost-benefit accounting. | Account for the environmental, social, and economic costs and benefits of any operation. | Swann and Browne (2016) | |
| RP4 | Repair forest legacy damage. | Where there are choices, support the environmental project that has the most environmental benefit by repairing environmental legacy damage. | Wardell-Johnson et al. (2015, 2016) | |
| RP5 | Restoration of environmental resilience. | Support and build thermal, moisture, and carbon stability and constancy by protecting soils and substrates; by avoidance of flammability-stimulated disturbance; and by building resilience through supporting and enhancing the role of climate-change refugia and refuges. | Nikinmaa et al. (2020), Wardell-Johnson et al. (2011, 2017), Dean and Wardell-Johnson (2010), Zylstra et al. (2023), Norris et al. (2012), Brown et al. (2022), Lindenmayer et al. (2022b), Lindenmayer and Zylstra (2023) | |
| RP6 | Environmental weeds, pests, and pathogens controlled. | Prevent the spread of weeds, pests, and pathogens and manage, eradicate, or control those already established. | Wardell-Johnson and Christensen (1992), Wardell-Johnson and Nichols (1991), Wardell-Johnson et al. (2007, 2011), Robinson (2005) | |
| RP7 | Early detection and rapid response to disturbance capability enhanced | Build and enhance early detection and rapid response capability for environmental protection. | Sathishkumar et al. (2023) | |
| RP8 | Generate trust to build a social licence to operate. | Encourage buy-in by the social community to build a social licence to operate. | Duane (1997), Marrone (2023), Moffat et al. (2016) | |
| RP9 | Foster integrity and credibility in the media and public relations. | Foster integrity in the media and public relations and develop an effective ‘two-way’ public information program. | Allen and Craig (2016) | |
| RP10 | Land use categories developed. | Develop appropriate land use purpose to facilitate effective restoration strategies and sustainability outcomes. | Head and Ryan (2003), Fitzsimons et al. (2024), Bell-James et al. (2024), Morgan et al. (2022), Mackey et al. (2023) |
Case Study I. Community forestry in Victoria
On 23 May 2023, the Andrews Government in the Australian State of Victoria announced the end of ‘native forest logging’ by 1 January 2024, with a AUD875 million industry transition package (Victoria State Government 2023). The phase-out was linked to 1.8 million ha of forest under Part 3 of the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 (which defines a forest area) in the east of the State. From then, VicForests could only operate outside this area if issued a Forest Produce Licence under Section 52 of the Forests Act 1958 by the Minister for the Environment or delegate. This occurred in six Forest Management Units (FMUs) in western Victoria (Portland, Otway, Midlands, Bendigo, Mid Murray, and Horsham) (Fig. 1) and some small areas in the east. Logging plans are formalised through a schedule (the Timber Utilisation Plan, TUP). VicForests took control of what it terms the ‘community forestry’ operation in 2014 and the TUP (from September 2023) covers 124 logging areas totalling about 65,000 ha in the west and north of the State (the most highly fragmented part of Victoria, with more nationally listed wildlife than in the State’s east (Victorian National Parks Association 2017).
Fragmentation and vesting in six Forest Management Units (FMUs) in western Victoria and place names mentioned in the text.
VicForests management of ‘community forestry’, including removal of wind-thrown timber, ended on 5 February 2024, with the organisation citing the ‘risk of litigation’ and the ‘cost it would burden the taxpayer with’ as the reason for bringing forward the original June end date. Following a court case launched by Wombat Forestcare (Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023), it was announced (13 March 2024) that VicForests will be disbanded by 30 June 2024. This leads to a questioning of the ecological justification and likely outcomes of these planned operations. Because the operations in western Victoria have been promoted as small-scale, low intensity, generally involving selective logging of a small number of trees over long periods of time or the removal of wind-thrown or previously felled timber (e.g. Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023), we assess the claims of the small-scale nature and ‘harmlessness’ of these ‘community forestry’ operations from an ecological restoration perspective.
Assessment of the ecological impact of Vicforests’ community forestry program
Logging (including intensive logging) has been conducted in western Victoria until recently (e.g. Fig. 2b, showing a failure to regenerate following clearfelling at Mt Cole). Historical logging is likely to have exacerbated the impact of major recent storms (Sinton et al. 2000). Thus, more than 45,000 ha across Wombat and Cobaw State Forests were affected by the storms of June and October 2021, and considerable quantities of fallen timber were the result (e.g. Fig. 2c). VicForests planned to coordinate the removal of this material, citing negligible impact and the risk of severe fires from its retention (Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023). The planned ‘timber harvesting’ operation in Silver Queen coupe (as elsewhere) in Wombat Forest was to involve the removal of logs from wind-thrown timber using the nominated silvicultural system of ‘Clearfelling – Salvage’, with stipulated ‘harvesting requirements’ ‘to ensure that all saleable timber is extracted from the treatment area’.
Forest disturbance in western Victoria. (a) Forest disturbance associated with understorey removal along tracks for fire control and prescribed burning, Strathbogie Forest. (b) Clearfelling without eucalypt regeneration, Mt Cole. (c) Fallen timber as habitat, Wombat Forest. (d) Tracks associated with access for timber removal, Silver Queen coupe, Wombat Forest. (e) Log Landings for firewood removal, Silver Queen coupe, Wombat Forest (All photographs, Grant Wardell-Johnson).
The impact of salvage logging is even more severe than that of intensive logging alone (Noss and Lindenmayer 2006; Lindenmayer et al. 2012). This is because of the compounding effect of disturbances in combination with the substantial structural change imposed by intensive logging. Thus, the impact of the removal of timber associated with disturbances other than fire is similarly detrimental to wildlife because of the combined impacts of structural change and further disturbance in an already stressed environment (see also Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023). Removal of wind-thrown trees also leads to the further encroachment of forest tracks (e.g. Fig. 2d) adding to the already considerable impact of a history of intensive logging in the area. Lindenmayer and Zylstra (2023) demonstrate how such environments have increased disturbance-stimulated flammability (Restoration Principle 5, RP5) with ongoing environmental impacts.
Fallen trees, logs, and course woody debris (CWD) (Harmon et al. 1986, 2000) are a naturally occurring and important component of the habitat of mature forests. Considerable amounts of carbon are stored in these decaying fallen trees (much of which will be sequestered as soil organic carbon over time; Dean and Wardell-Johnson 2010; Dean et al. 2012a, 2012b). Wind-throw facilitates regeneration (e.g. Wardell-Johnson 2000), and the resultant material provides protection from browse and improves thermal conditions by moderating temperature extremes and raising micro-scale moisture levels (Harmon et al. 1986, 2000; Norris et al. 2012; Brown et al. 2022; Lindenmayer et al. 2022b; RP1). This material also protects fauna from predators, making these sites increasingly important as biodiversity refuges ((Reside et al. 2014) and climate change refugia (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2011; Keppel et al. 2012; RP1). Indeed, the presence of this material is one important feature that distinguishes planted forests, or plantations (where the production of wood and timber is the primary focus) from publicly managed forests, including State forests, where biodiversity conservation is also an important consideration.
Felling of trees since the 2021 storms has been facilitated by rough track construction through Wombat Forest, which provides access and leads to an opening of the site (Fig. 2e), allowing potential predator invasion, as well as drying the sites (see Engert et al. (2024) for a review of the impact of ‘ghost roads’, RP4, 6). Extensive rehabilitation will be required, including deep ripping to ameliorate compacted landings and the planting of local trees following the operation (RP4, 6). However, we are not aware of any ongoing or planned rehabilitation and monitoring program associated with the aftermath of removing wind-thrown trees from Silver Queen coupe.
Notwithstanding the limitations of environmental law (e.g. Lindenmayer and Burnett 2021; Schuijers and Godden 2022), the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act (1999) and related laws and the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988) are guided by recognised impacts of forest disturbance that cause severe and irreversible damage to species and their environment, including threatened species and communities (Department of the Environment 2013). Therefore, based on the Precautionary Principle (see Wardell-Johnson and Robinson 2022 for a discussion of the issue), valid and reliable surveys (see Green 1979; Shrader-Frechette and McCoy 1993; Peters 1995 for a discussion of the need for validity and reliability in ecology) should be carried out prior to any operations that are likely to impact on this wind-thrown material, and therefore to adversely affect other components of biodiversity (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) 2010, 2011a, 2011b). Such surveys in association with understanding of the behaviour and ecological characteristics of the relevant species then enable appropriate actions to be taken prior to, during, and after such operations (RP1).
Thus, biological survey efforts to detect potentially ’severe and irreversible damage to species and their environment’ (Environment East Gippsland Inc v VicForest (No 4) [2022] VSC668, 2022) should be routinely carried out as part of any operation likely to impact on structure, composition, and ecological function on public lands (Resources Inventory Committee 1998). For example, threatened fauna likely to be impacted by wind-throw removal operations in Wombat Forest includes at least two reptiles (mountain dragon, Rankinia diemensis; and mountain skink Liopholis montana), two birds (Australian masked owl, Tyto novaehollandiea; and powerful owl, Ninox strenua) and two mammals (southern greater glider, Petauroides volans; and brush-tailed phascogale, Phascogale tapoatafa). In addition, there are several other threatened vertebrates (not to mention invertebrates, plants, other taxa, and ecological communities) that are likely to be present in Wombat and surrounding forests in the central western Victorian State forests that would likely be impacted by the removal of wind-thrown trees.
A detailed planning process has been recommended for surveys of threatened fauna (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) 2010, 2011a, 2011b). New technology has now made recommendations by Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) (2010, 2011a, 2011b) more readily achieved, although appropriate protocols must be in place. Surveys should not be seen as a constraint on forest operations, but rather as an integral part (Knoke et al. 2021). Indeed, they form one of the cornerstones of community forestry programs in peak economies (Hajjar et al. 2016; Moffat et al. 2016; Terborgh and Peres 2017). Certainly, cursory, or ad hoc biological surveys are insufficient to provide opportunity to detect threatened fauna, should they be present (Environment East Gippsland Inc v VicForest (No 4) [2022] VSC668, 2022; Wardell-Johnson and Robinson 2022).
VicForests has argued that the ‘timber harvesting’ operations in Silver Queen coupe were important to mitigate fire risk in Wombat State Forest, based on the premise that this material poses a fire hazard (Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023). This premise ignores the general finding that logs do not contribute to flame heights or rate of spread in forest fires (Zylstra et al. 2016). Both likelihood and severity of a fire are related to biomass moisture content (e.g. Mackey et al. 2021; Balch et al. 2022), which is a factor of climate, terrain, and forest microclimate (Furlaud et al. 2021; Brown et al. 2022). Once a fire is burning, however, its capacity to cross both horizontal and vertical barriers to consume more material in either dimension (e.g. spotting across landscape barriers or developing into crown fire) is influenced by flame dimensions (Albini et al. 2012; Zylstra et al. 2016; Wang et al. 2020), which in turn are influenced by available fuel. This includes fine litter (i.e. up to about 6 mm in diameter) suspended leaf or twig litter (i.e. up to about 25 mm in diameter), and various plant traits (including proportion of dead, leaf form, thickness, length, and separation; stem order, proportion of moisture, species percentage cover, self-thinning, plant height, and level of self-pruning). These are summarised in Zylstra et al. (2023).
The fourth edition of the overall fuel hazard assessment guide’ used by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (Hines et al. 2010) for assessing fuels is for fine fuels only because it is acknowledged that it is this material that primarily contributes to the fire’s rate of spread and flame height. Thus, there is long recognition that CWD such as logs do not influence fire risk or behaviour until after a fire front has passed through a site, when they may continue to burn (i.e. influencing flame depth rather than height).
VicForests argued that it would be easier and safer to fight a fire with fallen trees removed and that it would be relatively easy both to attack wildfires in the coupe and for ‘preventative burning to manage fuel loads to re-commence’ (Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023). Thus, while VicForests was concerned about fires burning in Wombat Forest, it advocated the removal of wind-thrown material so that fires could then be more easily deliberately lit for ‘fuel hazard reduction’ purposes. This ignores the general finding that fires burn with less severity in eucalypt forests left long unburnt (i.e. more than about 20 years) than in more recently burnt stands (see also Attiwill et al. 2014; Bowman et al. 2021; Zylstra et al. 2021). This ‘overstorey shelter’ understanding arises from process-based research as well as from mechanistic modelling in eucalypt forests (Zylstra et al. 2016; Zylstra et al. 2021, 2023). Further, once fire is introduced into a landscape, flammability is increased due to an increased quantity of aerated and available fine fuel and a more fluctuating microclimate (Lindenmayer et al. 2022b; Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023; RP5).
Maintaining forests in a recently burnt (i.e. <10 years) state not only increases their flammability in the short term (Lindenmayer et al. 2011a, 2022a, 2022b; Attiwill et al. 2014; Taylor et al. 2014; Wilson et al. 2018; Lindenmayer and Taylor 2020; Bowman et al. 2021; Furlaud et al. 2021; Zylstra et al. 2021, 2022, 2023; Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023); it also sets in train a positive feedback loop leading to nutrient impoverishment and increasing flammability (Cowling 1987; Orians and Milewski 2007). This feedback provides a mechanism that increases the gradual impoverishment of soils over long evolutionary timescales (see also McIntosh et al. 2005). Thus, fire is a key ecological and evolutionary factor driving increasingly nutrient-poor environments (e.g. Mutch 1970; Kellman 1984; Cowling 1987; Ojeda et al. 2010; Mucina and Wardell-Johnson 2011). Hence, as local impacts of global warming become more severe, it will become increasingly important to provide as much support to restoring (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2016) and maintaining resilience in forest ecosystems as possible (Lullfitz et al. 2020). By necessity, this will require maintaining areas in an unburnt state for as long as possible to retain nutrients and allow the development of overstorey shelter effects (Zylstra et al. 2023; RP5).
The alternative of adding fire to long unburnt landscapes will increasingly add to the management burden and hasten the impacts of global warming (Dean and Wardell-Johnson 2010; Wardell-Johnson et al. 2011, 2017). Further, increasing the incidence of fire also leads to reduced carbon storage (Dean and Wardell-Johnson 2010; Dean et al. 2012) and a less stable microclimate (Norris et al. 2012; Brown et al. 2022; Lindenmayer et al. 2022b). The longer-term threat of imposing fire into a highly sheltered environment significantly compounds the impacts of openings associated with track construction (e.g. Fig. 2d) and the removal of wind-thrown material. Allowing recovery of forest structure and protection from fire builds resilience against the local impacts of global warming (RP5). Regardless of whether this approach is supported, additional resources will be required to build the early detection and rapid response capability in rural regions that is so urgently needed (RP7).
‘Community forestry’ involves the process of making and implementing decisions in the use and management of forest resources within a local community (Gilmour 2016). Thus, the organisation of activities is based on shared norms and the interests of the people living in that community (Wiersum 2004; Gilmour 2016). Variation in community forestry reflects the various meanings of the term ‘community’ (Duane 1997 for an introduction to communities of interest, place, and identity). Consequently, different community forestry arrangements are possible depending on the type of territory and social relations being considered (Wiersum 2004; Lawrence et al. 2021). Successful community forestry projects in peak economies have developed a strong focus on community ownership and engagement, as well as a broad vision for the multiple benefits that forests provide (Bullock and Hanna 2012; Hajjar et al. 2016; Lawrence et al. 2021).
While the practice of ‘community forestry’ does not automatically decrease biodiversity impacts or increase social benefits (Hajjar et al. 2016; Moffat et al. 2016; Boedhihartono 2017; Terborgh and Peres 2017; Lawrence et al. 2021; Marrone 2023), broad consensus in and involvement with the local community concerning forest management, including timber removal in areas managed as ‘community forestry coupes’, could be expected. We are not aware of any processes set up for the purpose of carrying out ‘community forestry programs’ in western Victoria. The social licence to operate comes from deeper interactions between industries and the communities where they operate (Moffat et al. 2016). Thus, recent applied research to measure and model the social licence to operate demonstrates how the roles of trust, fairness and governance underpin the development of more sustainable, trust-based relationships between industry and society (Moffat et al. 2016; RP8). The lack of general community ownership in the process [as well as the designation of ‘Clearfelling – Salvage’ and similar operations as ‘community forestry’] is likely to have played a part in the recent loss of VicForests’ social licence to operate.
Some media reports (e.g. ‘Salvage begins: Wombat Forest’s ticking fire bomb finally harvested’, The Weekly Times, 13 April 2022; ‘Forest failure: 600,000 tonnes of fallen trees set to trigger fire storm’, The Weekly Times, 13 September 2023; ‘Thousands of fallen trees left to fuel Wombat Forest fire storm’, The Weekly Times, 14 March 2023; ‘Wombat State Forest: Windblown trees create ticking fire bomb’, The Weekly Times, 24 October 2023) have taken to be true the erroneous contention that ‘timber harvesting’ operations in Silver Queen are important to mitigate fire risk.
Spread of misinformation in the community concerning fire management and risk can lead to an erosion of trust in the scientific process, and in land management agencies. Thus, it is important that misinformation on the safety of communities (such as suggested by the headlines listed above concerning salvage operations in Wombat Forest) is called out in both the scientific and public arena. Such headlines are unnecessarily alarmist in a community where there is a need to rebuild trust in public land management following decades of unsustainable exploitation (VEAC 2017). As the organisation responsible for ‘community forestry’, VicForests had a primary role in dispelling this misinformation (RP9) and its failure to call out mischievous media reports may thus have fuelled angst in the community.
Removing wind-thrown material would have further reinforced the substantial transformation that has occurred in Wombat Forest over the past 100 years. Rather than continued intervention, the history of unsustainable logging requires a considerable period without exploitation. Biodiversity conservation is now recognised as a consideration in the management of public lands. Therefore, alternative approaches to the purpose and management of these forests are now a prime consideration for land use planning and management in the area (RP10). A much longer period without exploitation than achieved in the Cape Forests of South Africa (for example, Wardell-Johnson and Calver 2005) is likely to be necessary. These Cape Afro-montain forests remained free of exploitation from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s following recognition of the unsustainability of the logging operations there. Unfortunately, recent exploitation has renewed concerns for biodiversity conservation in the region (Leaver and Cherry 2020).
Case Study II. Ecological thinning in south-western Australia
Ecological damage caused by almost two centuries of logging in south-western Australian forests include compaction (Whitford and Mellican 2011); spread and intensification of pest flora, fauna, and fungal pathogens (Wardell-Johnson and Christensen 1992); and changes to structure, function and composition (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015, 2018). Further, industry overreach with political and community concurrence has led to unsustainable timber production (Calver and Wardell-Johnson 2004; Wardell-Johnson and Calver 2004).
In September 2021, the State Government announced that ‘commercial timber production will cease’ from all ‘native’ forests in early 2024. Nevertheless, resource exploitation continues in these forests. For example, approved mining leases or State agreements (principally for bauxite, coal, gold, tin, lithium, and mineral sands) cover 45% of State Forest (Wardell-Johnson and Nichols 1991; Conservation Commission of Western Australia 2012). The largest footprint is associated with bauxite mining by Alcoa of Australia Limited, which operates one of the world’s largest mines (>280 km2 to date) and clears up to 8 km2 of jarrah forest on public lands every year (Campbell et al. 2024; Fig. 3). Mining removes the substrate supporting the forest system and therefore fundamentally alters the environment (Koch 2007; Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015; Campbell et al. 2024). Thus, options for future environmental management are limited to rehabilitation rather than environmental restoration (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015; Campbell et al. 2024). These altered landscapes may be managed in such a way as to continue to erode the health of the surrounding degraded forest or to minimise the impacts of ongoing disturbance (Craig et al. 2014; Cross et al. 2018). Wardell-Johnson et al. (2015) recommended rehabilitation of post-mining to enable the surrounding degraded jarrah forest to be sustained or enhanced. This would require rehabilitation with understorey plants rather than trees (including jarrah Fig. 4b), in rehabilitated bauxite pits (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015). This approach would be more sympathetic to the surrounding forest by removing less water from the landscape and would therefore contribute to RP4 and RP5 in this forest region.
South-western Australia showing land use, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) regions, karri forest distribution (except for small outliers in the south coast and Porongurup Range), and Alcoa lease agreement, with inset showing areas already mined for bauxite. Note that the distribution of jarrah extends beyond these three DBCA regions.
Forest disturbance associated with mine-site restoration and thinning in south-western Australia: (a) Wungong Trial thinning (2011). (b) Rehabilitated bauxite pits showing dense jarrah (2012). (c) Rehabilitation of bauxite pits during the 1980s based around an overstorey of eastern Australian eucalypts (Eucalyptus resinifera and Corymbia maculata), 2012. (d) Drought deaths of jarrah following the 2011 drought, 2011. (All photographs, Grant Wardell-Johnson).
A dependency for timber resources from public lands is also ongoing. For example, Simcoa Operations Pty Ltd has a 15-year contract to buy 150,000 tonnes a year of ‘firewood quality’ jarrah logs for use as charcoal in the silicon-making process at a charcoal and silica plant in Kemerton (near Bunbury). Further, the Western Australian Forest Management Plan (FMP) 2024–2033 (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022) authorises ‘ecological’ thinning in the jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) and karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) forests of south-western Australia (Fig. 3) for which the Forest Products Commission (FPC) will provide contract management, planning and operational support. The rationale for the Western Australian thinning operations is to increase ‘ecosystem health and build resilience’. The FMP (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022) prescribes an overall annual program of thinning up to 8000 ha in regrowth jarrah and karri, producing up to 300,000 m3 in logs under 10-year contracts. This would mean that, contrary to the State Government’s announcement (Premier’s media release 8 September 2021), commercial logging in native forests will not have ended.
Thinning is a widely understood silvicultural practice used in plantations and other forests managed for wood production to improve the growth rate of retained trees by reducing competition. It is also promoted in the belief that it will enhance water production and forest health or achieve other objectives (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022). Silvicultural thinning is usually done ‘from below’ (i.e. weaker, less healthy, and poorly formed trees are culled to retain trees most likely to produce good quality sawlogs). Thinning ‘from above’ takes the best trees and leaves less healthy ones. Thinning can be commercial (i.e. logs are removed for sale to buyers of small, mostly low-grade logs suitable for chipping, marri or karri; or for firewood or fuel wood, jarrah), or non-commercial (i.e. funding is provided).
Given that jarrah and karri forests have been recognised as worthy of conserving for their ecological values (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018; Luxton et al. 2021), it is necessary to understand why and how thinning might be appropriate from an ecological viewpoint. According to Burrows et al. (2022) in a report commissioned as background to the FMP, the benefits of ‘ecological’ thinning include reduced moisture stress in forest stands; increased soil moisture; increased resilience to drought, heatwave events and bushfire; faster growth of remaining trees to maturity, reducing the time required to develop suitable habitat such as hollows for fauna; and long-term carbon storage. These alleged benefits are controversial, and reviews (e.g. Wardell-Johnson and Christensen 1992; Jackson et al. 2008) have shown the contrary, particularly under drying and warming climatic conditions. In both Burrows et al. (2022) and the FMP (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022), the word ‘may’ occurs over 100 times. This indicates that the authors are uncertain as to whether the alleged benefits will be achieved (though they are hoping and asserting that they will). Further, it is never used in the document to indicate application based on an evidenced-based, formal confidence rating scheme.
We assess the alleged ecological benefits of the planned operations. Of necessity, we generalise into the ‘jarrah forest’ and the ‘karri forest’ although it is recognised that there is a wide range of vegetation types within each (Havel 1975a, 1975b, 2000; Wardell-Johnson et al. 1997, 2004, 2017; Luxton et al. 2021) and a broad continuum in relation to forest types in the region covered by these two ‘forest types’.
Assessment of the ecological impact of the thinning program
Thinning takes place naturally, and both jarrah and karri have capacity to self-thin. In regrowth karri, self-thinning occurs rapidly from the time that inter-tree competition begins, and continues throughout the life of the stand, resulting in a rapid reduction in tree numbers over time (Bradshaw and Rayner 1997; Bradshaw 2015). The FMP is considering thinning regrowth karri that is up to 95 years old. Thinning also takes place naturally in jarrah; although this can take 100 years or more (Dell et al. 1989; Wardell-Johnson et al. 1997; Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions 2021), which is a relatively short period of time given that jarrah trees can live for 1000 years (RP1).
Any small enhancement of growth rates in jarrah and karri forests is limited and unnecessary for the persistence and growth of these forests and may be a considerable disadvantage in a warming and drying environment (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2011, 2017). This suggests that thinning is not required for the re-establishment of forest structure although a long timeframe is recognised for jarrah (RP1).
Thinning ‘beyond the regrowth patches’ is being considered (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022). Thinning of regrowth will allow access to mature trees left behind during previous logging operations. Thus, mature trees will be vulnerable despite their importance for carbon storage and as habitat for species that need mature trees (Forest Practices Authority 2017; RP5).
Between 2005 and 2013, the Water Corporation conducted a catchment management trial in a small catchment of Wungong Brook (Fig. 4a). The technique aimed to improve streamflow and involved the selective removal of trees and undergrowth in regrowth jarrah forests at various combinations of intensities of thinning and burning. This approach increased groundwater levels and runoff in the thinned areas at the time of the operations. However, there was no measurable increase in streamflow. Further, no evidence has yet been provided to show that thinning for the purpose of improving streamflow for ecosystem health has been successful (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022). Streamflow is potentially increased by thinning in jarrah or karri forest, but only where it is so intensive as to be ecologically devastating and then only for a short time due to rapid regrowth (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015; RP5).
The drying climate recognised as occurring in south-western Australia since the early 1970s (Petrone et al. 2010; Wardell-Johnson et al. 2011; Hughes et al. 2012; IPCC AR6 WG II Chapter 11 Australasia https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-11/) means that it is highly likely (i.e. inevitable) that water tables in several areas of the jarrah forest of the Yilgarn Craton (but not the Mesozoic sediments of the Blackwood Plateau) will reach bedrock during the present decade (see also Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015), and soon thereafter elsewhere in the jarrah forest (on the craton). No amount of thinning will prevent this. For example, a pattern of widespread tree deaths in areas of shallowest depth to bedrock was observed in the summer-autumn of 2011 (Fig. 4d), an occurrence repeated with greater intensity during 2024. Thus, widespread tree death will occur regardless of whether thinning is or is not carried out. It should be noted that the Warren region is considered even more vulnerable to the drying impacts of climate disruption than the northern jarrah forest (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2011, 2015, 2017). Although inevitable mass deaths of overstorey trees will diminish biodiversity and aesthetic values of these forests, the floristic diversity of this transformed environment will remain relatively high for temperate ecosystems at a world-scale (Luxton et al. 2021). In other words, it is important to continue to recognise the values of these forests, even in their diminished state. Therefore, any activities that advance undesirable conservation outcomes should be carefully scrutinised and avoided.
It is therefore appropriate to retain cover to minimise the drying and desiccating impacts of climate change for as long as possible (RP5). In the medium to longer term, the jarrah forest will more closely resemble an open woodland or mallee environment regardless of thinning. However, not thinning will ensure that it retains biodiversity levels (structure, function, and composition) longer (RP5) than would be achieved by thinning, which will speed and exacerbate inevitable change; see Wardell-Johnson et al. (2011, 2015, 2017).
Thinning is usually conducted by machine and if the thinning is commercial, there is additional movement of machinery taking tree trunks to log landings. The soil on log landings and extraction tracks compacted by logging machinery comprises up to 12% of the area of the coupe (Whitford and Mellican 2011), likely larger with commercial thinning of regrowth. Recovery from compaction can take more than 50 years (Whitford and Mellican 2011; RP5).
Soil compaction has serious adverse environmental impacts, including increases in bulk density; decreases in porosity and water infiltration; and accelerating erosion (Wardell-Johnson and Christensen 1992; Forestry Tasmania 2001; Bowd et al. 2019), all processes leading to changes in plant physiology. Photosynthesis, transpiration, nutrient uptake, mycorrhizas, and plant hormones are all avenues for these changes (Gebauer et al. 2012). As a result, jarrah stand growth, which is comparatively slow, will be adversely affected by compaction wherever machinery is driven. Upper soil, litter and woody debris provide the habitat for most fungi, and each may be disrupted or lost during silvicultural operations and other disturbances. However, little is known of the effect of soil compaction on fungal communities (Robinson and Williams 2014).
Following thinning, stands are burnt in either a mild intensity post-thinning silvicultural burn or integrated into adjoining prescribed burns (Department of Parks and Wildlife 2014). Disturbance impacts on soils are most pronounced on sites subject to compounding perturbations caused by logging and burning (Lindenmayer et al. 2012; RP5). These soils have significantly lower values of a range of ecologically important measures at multiple depths, including available phosphorus and nitrate, with major ecological and functional implications (Bowd et al. 2019). After forest is logged and burnt, the soil takes many decades to recover (Bowd et al. 2019; RP5). In areas of thinned regrowth where the recovery process has begun, this process must recommence. Persistent negative impacts on tree growth and forest health are exacerbated under warming and drying conditions (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2011, 2015; RP5).
Thinning provides passage for pest fauna such as foxes and cats, and the soil disturbance generated by tracks leads to dispersal and establishment sites for weeds (Wardell-Johnson and Nichols 1991; Wardell-Johnson and Christensen 1992; Wardell-Johnson et al. 2004, 2007, 2011). Although both weeds and pests can be managed, they are almost impossible to eradicate and require constant costly management intervention (RP6).
Pathogens such as Quambalaria, Armillaria and various species of Phytophthora are widespread in the south-western forests (Bunny et al. 1995; Robinson et al. 2003; Davison and Tay 2008; Paap et al. 2016), and their impacts are all exacerbated by disturbance (Kleinman et al. 2019; Bowd et al. 2021; Guégan et al. 2023). Vehicle movement spreads and intensifies pathogen activity, and no amount of ‘quarantine’ or ‘disease management actions’, can prevent it. Thinning tends to be extensive, providing maximum opportunity to spread pathogens. Pathogens such as Quambalaria, Armillaria and Phytophthora cannot be eradicated despite costly management intervention (Robinson et al. 2003; Paap et al. 2016; RP6).
Thinning in jarrah forest increases soil and bark temperatures and soil moisture and the rate of spread of Phytophthora cinnamomi. It reduces rate at which transpiration depletes soil moisture and increases the amount of rain reaching the soil (through reduced interception). Delays in the development of water stress and increases in temperature in combination extend the period in which temperature and moisture are sufficiently high to facilitate rapid growth of pathogens. Jarrah is not highly susceptible to Phytophthora dieback, but many species occurring in the jarrah forest are (Shearer et al. 2004), leading to high levels of impact (Shearer et al. 2007; Bishop et al. 2011). Further Phytophthora slows the growth rates in less susceptible species (e.g. Bradshaw et al. 2021).
Across its range, marri (Corymbia calophylla) is killed by a canker caused by an endemic pathogen, Quambalaria coyrecup, which infests trees of all age classes in a range of climate, soil, and vegetation types. Marri trees in disturbed areas are the most vulnerable, and disease incidence is significantly greater on disturbed forest sites than undisturbed forest sites (Paap et al. 2016). The decline in health of marri has major economic, social, and ecological implications.
Thinning produces many dead stumps, enabling Armillaria to colonise so it has the potential to increase the effect of Armillaria disease in karri forest. For example, 15 years after thinning in an area with a 50% infection rate, the volume lost due to defect accounted for 50% of that gained by the thinning response (Robinson et al. 2003). Removal of stumps from infected areas during thinning can reduce the impact, but results in high levels of soil disturbance. Avoidance or delay of thinning has been recommended as an alternative strategy (Robinson 2005).
Release of stored carbon occurs with thinning, not only from the trees removed but also from the drying effects of the disturbance (Fagg 2006; Dean and Wardell-Johnson 2010). The carbon in regrowth is stored if it is not thinned, and the rate of accumulation increases with tree size (Dean et al. 2012, 2017; Stephenson et al. 2014; RP5). The carbon in logging debris is released when the thinned coupe is burned, or products such as firewood are used (Dean et al. 2012).
Improved visual amenity is given as a co-benefit of ecological thinning (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022). However, while standing dead trees is cited as a negative visual amenity, their capacity to store carbon for a considerable period (Dean et al. 2012) is a positive ecological amenity. Thus, rather than promoting thinning to improve visual amenity, it would be more prudent to publicise the value of standing and fallen dead trees (RP9). Such a program is likely to have the benefit of changing public perceptions of standing and fallen dead trees away from the vision of a tidy forest being most desirable. Recognition by the community of the importance of standing and fallen dead trees for their function in biodiversity conservation and as refuges for wildlife will advance the restoration agenda in these forests ( RP8).
The Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act (1999) and related laws also apply in Western Australia but Part 3 of the Act does not apply in forests covered by the Regional Forest Agreement. Given the impacts of logging and other disturbances on biodiversity, this exemption is a legal flaw (Lindenmayer and Burnett 2021). The most relevant associated State Act in Western Australia is the Biodiversity Conservation Act (2016). Notwithstanding the limitations of this Act (e.g. Bateman et al. 2017), environmental law is guided by recognised impacts of forest disturbance that cause ‘severe and irreversible damage to species and their environment’ on threatened biota (species and communities). There are many listed threatened vertebrates in the three Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) Regions likely to be impacted by thinning operations. These include at least three birds (i.e. forest red-tailed black cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus banksii naso; Baudin’s cockatoo. Zanda baudinii; and Carnaby’s cockatoo, Zanda latirostris) and four mammals (woylie, Bettongia penicillata; numbat, Myrmecobius fasciatus; western ringtail possum, Pseudocheirus peregrinus occidentalis; and quokka, Setonix brachyurus). In addition, there are several other threatened vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, other taxa, and ecological communities present in these south-western forests that are very likely to be impacted by thinning operations.
Appropriate surveys to detect the impacts of these operations on these species are not currently being carried out (however, see McCaw et al. 2011; Bain 2018). As earlier reviewed, tree removal, whether by ‘ecological thinning’ or ‘commercial thinning’ likely causes environmental damage. Therefore, similarly robust biological survey efforts to detect potentially ‘severe and irreversible damage to species and their environment’ should routinely be carried out as part of any operation likely to impact on structure, composition and ecological function on public lands as recommended for Victoria. Thus, such surveys should be seen as an integral part of forest operations so that appropriate actions can be taken prior to, during, and following such operations.
Thinning of regrowth increases, rather than decreases the ‘fuel load’ and the flammability of the forest (Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023; RP5). Flammability is increased by the openings formed by access and tree removal (Fagg 2006; Zylstra et al. 2021, 2022, 2023). Higher and more fluctuating wind speeds and air temperatures, lower humidity, and lower moisture content in the living and dead biomass (Norris et al. 2012; Brown et al. 2022; Lindenmayer et al. 2022a) are all associated with thinning, and all lead to increased fire risk and severity. ‘Fuel load’ (though not necessarily flammability) is also increased by thinning of regrowth as it leaves logging debris and dead trees on the forest floor.
From a fire control perspective it is preferable to retain dead trees standing than to leave them on the forest floor (and better from a carbon stock viewpoint to retain them on site than to remove them; RP5). Further, understorey characteristics change following thinning because of changes to the microclimate, especially increased light, so that thinning followed by burning results in a dense stand of flammable ‘fire weeds’, native and introduced, that burn with more severity than the understorey that has been replaced (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2004, 2007; Zylstra et al. 2023).
The establishment of woody weeds (e.g. pines and several eastern Australian eucalypts; Fig. 4c) in rehabilitated bauxite pits scattered throughout the northern jarrah forest requires increased restoration efforts in these transformed ecosystems (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015, 2016 – RP4). Recognising the transformed nature of these pits urges management that will provide most benefit or least damage to the surrounding jarrah forest (i.e. by removing woody weeds; RP4). Further, woody weeds were introduced into the jarrah forest surrounding these pits with the Forest Improvement and Rehabilitation Scheme (FIRS) of the 1980s−1990s and should be removed (RP4).
The WA Forests Department introduced several species of woody weeds (e.g. the eastern Australian eucalypts, Eucalpytus muelleriana and Eucalpytus seiberi) into several hundred hectares of regenerating karri clear-fell coupes (McCaw et al. 1994). In addition, several species of Acacia have become established in abandoned mill town sites throughout the karri and jarrah forests (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2004, 2007). Many of these introduced species are favoured by climate change impacts already occurring in the region (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2011). This reinforces the need for their urgent removal (RP4).
Logging operations in south-western Australian forests have been unsustainable since well before the passing of the Forests Act 1918. It is the reason logging should be stopped (Calver and Wardell-Johnson 2004; for a more general review Ludwig et al. 1993; Hilborn et al. 1995). Logging operations have always responded more to market forces than to regulation (Calver and Wardell-Johnson 2004; Wardell-Johnson and Calver 2004). There is no reason to assume that thinning would be any different, given no change to the regulatory arrangements. Thus, the long-term trend of depleting the timber resource to smaller size classes and lower volume will be exacerbated by continuing to remove this material from the forest.
Commercial thinning in south-western Australian forests is a form of logging for which ecological benefits have not been demonstrated except for the removal of woody weeds. Therefore, no thinning should be practised in native forest until scientifically valid and reliable evidence has been provided to the contrary. The term ‘ecological thinning’ is inappropriate as the addition of the adjective ‘ecological’ does not add any meaning to the term ‘thinning’ (Batavia and Nelson 2016). Claims that thinning provides benefits to forest health should be substantiated, based on evidence, before it is generally applied. Until they are, it is more appropriate to use the terms ‘commercial’ or ‘non-commercial’ thinning, as these adjectives accurately describe the operation.
However, it is essential to consider socio-economic benefits of forest operations (e.g. employment etc.) in management plans (RP3). Indeed, these need to be stated explicitly. Operations likely to be controversial should not be sold as ‘ecological benefits’ unless these benefits are clearly demonstrated. We argue that the alleged ecological benefits have yet to be demonstrated. Going ahead with a broad-ranging plan without explicit demonstrable benefits risks further erosion of trust in land management agencies.
Given the relatively new rationale for thinning in south-western Australian forests, relevant valid and reliable scientific evidence should be provided as a demonstration (Shrader-Frechette and McCoy 1993; Peters 1995; RP1). Otherwise, there is potential for ambiguities to mask intent, which in turn can lead to an erosion of public trust (RP8). For example, it would be disingenuous to use ‘forest health’ as the basis for a claim where other considerations (e.g. whether they be social or commercial) are the actual driver, or where there is lack of evidence to support such a claim.
Considerable distrust has been building for decades concerning what some have argued as duplicitous activities by public land management agencies (e.g. Swann and Browne 2016). Further, the proposed thinning operations may initiate longer-term land use management change that would further degrade the environments in which they are proposed to occur in their structure, function and composition (Kleinman et al. 2019; Bowd et al. 2021; Guégan et al. 2023). They could also make these environments much less resilient to the increased impacts of local climate change associated with global warming (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015; Bowd et al. 2021; RP5, 6). An alternative approach has already been advocated (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018). Thus, much of the Warren Region has been argued to satisfy several of the criteria for World Heritage listing (i.e. Criterion ii, vii, viii, ix, and x; see Box 1 of Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018). Applying sympathetic land management in neighbouring areas of forest would strengthen such listing, and eventually lead to the wide variety of benefits to society that such listing provides (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018; Markman 2020; Bertacchini et al. 2024).
Transitioning from a resource-led to an environment-led perspective for restoration of Australia’s forests
Misappropriation of language (e.g. ‘community forestry’ in Victoria) and loose duplicitous use of terms (e.g. ‘ecological thinning’ in WA) do not render projects more environmentally benign, and potentially erode public trust (RP3, 8). This can result in a loss of the social licence through a build-up of distrust in the community (Moffat et al. 2016) and can ultimately lead to unrest and intervention through the legal process (Schuijers and Godden 2022). The legal process inevitably leads to recognition of the increasing importance of science in contributing to environmental decisions (Environment East Gippsland Inc v VicForest (No 4) [2022] VSC668, 2022; Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023; RP1). It also relies on the professionalism and internationalisation of NGOs practising advocacy in state and national debates (Head and Ryan 2003; Wardell-Johnson 2015). For example, the Fraser Island (K’gari) Commission of Inquiry conducted by Justice Tony Fitzgerald was the result of recognition of the impact of the timber industry on a significant ecological system. This enquiry introduced a process of engaging with a breadth of interests, stakeholders, and voices.
Based on judicial processes (Head and Ryan 2003), Justice Fitzgerald’s approach reflected emergence of participatory processes in governance, assessment of the politics of interests, and the advocacy of balance; as manifest in sustainable development. Through a focus on ‘realistic outcomes’, the process built a common position that integrated contributions from expert witnesses and public and private interests. The final position emerged through negotiated draft positions and trade-offs. This process resulted in the intervention by the Australian Federal Government to end logging on K’gari and ultimately resulted in a recommendation for World Heritage listing as part of the Great Sandy Region (Head and Ryan 2003). Evaluation of the effectiveness of the outcomes has been argued to be focussed on the three interrelated pillars of; ecosystem integrity, effective planning, and strong governance (Morgan et al. 2022; Mackey et al. 2023).
A similar process leading to the World Heritage listing of K’gari led to the ending of logging in Victoria and the disbanding of VicForests. Thus, a considerable body of research and a commitment by citizen scientists led to numerous court cases (including Environment East Gippsland Inc v VicForest (No 4) [2022] VSC668, 2022; Wombat Forestcare Inc v VicForests [2023] VSC 582, 2023). While cessation of native forest logging in State forest thus occurred, administrative and governance issues remain unresolved. Thus, there is yet to be a transition to an appropriate purpose for these forests. While a transition package for affected communities in Western Australia has been established, effective legal outcomes and future purpose of these forests have also yet to be developed. Further, administrative and governance issues have yet to be addressed. Based on the three interrelated pillars of evaluation provided by Morgan et al. (2022) and Mackey et al. (2023), the current administrative and governance arrangements are unlikely to achieve the environment-led restoration that these ecosystems require.
Conclusion
There is wide recognition of the necessity to move beyond the exploitation of Australia’s native forests towards the management of an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable environment that is more available to the broader community (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015, 2016). Such an environment will require considerable restoration effort (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2016) and will of necessity recognise the recent emergence of an ‘Indigenous Renaissance’ discourse in environmental management (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2018). Such a recognition implies that these forests are now being managed for their ecological restoration. Therefore, this management should be informed by environmental and ecological scientific knowledge and guided by local and Traditional knowledge. This implies a new forest purpose (Sections 55, 56, Conservation and Land Management Act 1984) to recognise the major restoration task ahead (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015, 2016; Fitzsimons et al. 2024).
Based on the case studies presented in this paper, we argue that effective land use categorisation (RP10) will of necessity involve integration of knowledge systems (RP2) to ensure the fostering of a social licence (Moffat et al. 2016; RP8) to enable implementation of appropriate restoration projects. These projects will need to be scientifically valid (RP1), associated with full cost/benefit accounting (RP3) and designed to repair environmental legacies (RP4) through building and supporting environmental resilience (RP5, RP6). Support from credible media and public relations (RP9) will be necessary to build this social licence. Thus, there will need to be a continuing (in fact increased) management presence in the forest. The management presence in an environment-led approach to management will take a very different form to that required by a resource-led management focus. Under changed climate regimes, a focus on repairing the damage of a resource-led focus and a shift to early detection and rapid response (RP7) will be hallmarks of approaches to minimise the impacts of disturbance. Regardless, it will also be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the new environment-led approach. Thus, the need for rehabilitation, restoration, and conservation (Wardell-Johnson et al. 2015, 2016) of these forests based on an environment-led approach will require considerable management effort and possibly different purposes for an extended period.
Declaration of funding
This research did not receive any specific funding, but the component of the paper associated with western Victoria was based on five Expert Reports prepared by G. Wardell-Johnson as Briefs for J. KING LEGAL, acting on behalf of Wombat Forestcare Inc. to provide expert advice in relation to identification of Spot-tailed Quolls; Powerful Owls, Sooty Owls, and Masked Owls; field visit to Wombat Forest and surrounds; effect of operations removing wind-thrown trees; timber harvesting operations in coupe 193-508-0008 (‘Silver Queen’); and response to SONES affidavit regarding effect of timber harvesting operations in coupe 193-508-0008 (‘Silver Queen’). The Western Australian component of the paper was based on a report prepared by G. Wardell-Johnson and B. Schultz to the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as a response to the draft Forest Management Plan (FMP) 2024–2033 in Western Australia (Conservation and Parks Commission 2022) and a report prepared by Beth Schultz (Case against thinning regrowth forest in relation to the draft Forest Management Plan 2024–2033).
Acknowledgements
We thank Jonathan Korman and Jamie King for enabling this research, and Angela Wardell-Johnson and two anonymous referees for helpful discussion and advice. Finally, we thank Mike Calver and the editorial team of Pacific Conservation Biology for their committment to the publication of conservation science.
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