Skulduggery in the forests: Logging agency’s plans to lock in excessive logging until 2033

20 May 2020

Tender seeks buyers for 150,000m3 per annum of karri and jarrah logs

In the midst of the Forest Management Plan’s mid-term performance review, which has exposed a chronic lack of scientific oversight of logging and burning in WA’s South West forests, the Forest Products Commission (FPC) has put out a tender seeking buyers for a massive quantity of jarrah and karri logs until 2033.

“This tender would lock future governments in to excessive logging for a further 15 years regardless of climate change, crashing wildlife populations and the public’s desire to see our remaining forests conserved,’ said Jess Beckerling, convener of the WA Forest Alliance.

“Contracts are not allowed to exceed the 10-year State Forest Management Plans. This provides for governments to be able to ensure that the most up-to-date science underpins decisions about logging levels and burning practices.

“Promising massive volumes of wood through ‘investment security guarantees’ in the absence of credible science-based management, as this tender does, is a way of locking in over-cutting of the forests and preventing future governments from responding to scientific and community input.
“This tender would significantly increase the scale and extent of karri and jarrah logging and lock it in until 2033.

“WAFA is calling on the McGowan Government to make a commitment to Western Australians who love our unique forests and wildlife and want to see them protected, that they will ensure proper process is followed and that the next Forest Management Plan doesn’t come with built-in commitments to ongoing logging.

“Climate change is barrelling ahead in the South West. We are already at the projected 2030 worst-case scenario level for temperature, and recent rainfall has been ‘markedly lower’ than the averages recorded between 1990 and 2010. This means that current forest management is already based on seriously out-of-date climate data.

“It would be unconscionable to make long-term logging commitments before updating the climate data and management activities as a part of the development of the next Forest Management Plan,” said Ms Beckerling.

Protect the tingles from prescribed burning, for good

Tingles are a large, ancient tree species that are only found in a small area in WA’s Southwest, close to Walpole. They can live for more than 400 years, reach heights over 55 metres and have the largest base of any eucalypt, and provide critical habitat to many threatened plants and animals. They are vulnerable to frequent fire.

In December 2024, Giants East, a tingle forest block in the famed Valley of the Giants, was torched as part of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA)’s prescribed burning program.

More than 100 giant trees collapsed in the intense burn, with flames reaching the tops of many trees in one of the worst outcomes seen by WA’s prescribed burning program.

After persistent community action, three tingle-karri blocks, Nornalup, Coalmine and Mount Clare received a reprieve at the end of 2025 and were removed from the burn plan until July 2026.

But these blocks, and other tingle forests, aren’t safe forever. They could be on the burn plan for 2026-27. There must be a commitment from the WA Government to permanently protect tingles from prescribed burning and revise how fire is managed in these areas.

Over time, tingle forests self-thin and become naturally less flammable. Left unburnt, they are less of a fire risk than forests burnt in the last 30 years.

In a drying climate that is increasingly prone to bushfires, it’s important to be bushfire ready, but prescribed burning shouldn’t be the only tool in our bushfire prevention kit. It is vital that the Southwest’s prescribed burning practices reflect current science and a changed climate, and funding is directed towards rapid detection and suppression of bushfires.

Smoking collapsed Tingle after the giants east burn

It is of the highest priority that the tingles are protected from fire not just in this burn plan, but for good.

Please contact the Premier and relevant Ministers using our template to urge them to permanently protect tingle forests from prescribed burning. Enter your details to start writing your email.

Read more about the Giants East burn or about rapid suppression technology.