Recent drone footage has revealed extensive stockpiling of timber from Western Australia’s native forests under the guise of “ecological thinning,” raising concerns among conservationists about the scale and intent of these operations.
Since the state ban on native forest logging, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) has initiated a $60 million program to thin up to 8,000 hectares annually. This exceeds the annual area of native forest logging in recent years and goes against calls for the program to have been conducted under trial conditions for at least the first 10 years.
The WA Forest Alliance (WAFA) has expressed alarm over the magnitude of this thinning, noting media reports of stockpiles of up to 100,000 tonnes of thinned timber around Manjimup occurring when the 8,000 ha limit is yet to be reached.
For twelve months, WAFA has been seeking greater transparency regarding the management of these operations and where exactly the timber is headed.
A spokesperson for Forestry Minister Jackie Jarvis told WA Today that much of the wood is being ‘seasoned’ or dried out for the already over-supplied firewood, however “other contracts, for both firewood and high-value log products, are commercial in confidence.”
WAFA has sought more information about the ecological thinning program from both the DBCA and Forest Products Commission (FPC), including through some lengthy Freedom of Information (FOI) processes.
We are calling for a more cautious, trial-based approach to thinning, emphasising the need for evidence-based practices to ensure they do indeed contribute to the genuine health and resilience of Western Australia’s native forests. While research trials are now underway, WAFA is concerned that the thinning horse has bolted, ahead of the data to support it.
