VicForests timber harvesting in a section of Far East Gippsland forest proposed for the Sea to Summit 120-kilometre hiking trail between Errinundra and Cape Conran National Park has begun, however some East Gippslanders may not be aware of the project, which Gippsland East MP, Tim Bull, says will halt timber operations that will greatly effect the local timber industry.

The Sea to Summit trail has become a talking point over the past week with VicForests saying it was not consulted about the hiking trail prior to the election and thus has commenced clearing parts of forest that run through the proposed trail area, which stretches from close to Bemm River to Mount Ellery and return.

Among the concerns raised by Mr Bull is that the hiking trail announcement was made at Anglesea in the South Barwon electorate, however was not officially made in East Gippsland, and the local timber industry was not consulted.

Eight days prior to the November 2018 State Election, the Andrews Labor Government pledged to build the world class hiking trail along a section titled the ‘Emerald Link’.

Mr Bull said it will impact severely on the local timber industry and questioned why Labor’s candidate, Mark Reeves, and Upper House member, Harriet Shing, were silent on this commitment pre-election.

“The answer, I believe, is they knew it would be popular with inner city lefties and unpopular with the timber industry in East Gippsland,” Mr Bull said.

“It was so secretive, even VicForests, the government’s own agency, says it was not consulted on the proposed route (The Age, February 13).

“My office had discussions with supporters of this project pre-election and while we are not unsupportive of walking trails and tourist attractions, we wanted the proponents to come up with a plan where there was no net loss of timber harvesting areas, so if this was to impact on timber harvesting areas, they needed to identify other areas that could be returned to the sector to compensate, so our local families can continue to be employed in this sector.”

Mr Bull said to have this announced on the other side of the state and not communicated locally was “very poor indeed”.

VicForests is now working with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) towards overcoming some obvious difficulties with the Sea to Summit Trail route.

The proposed route in remotest east Victoria, utilises roads located for timber haulage, not to optimize scenic tourism experience. The road leads to more than 40 coupes within the allocation of timber to VicForests by government, which have been through public consultation; 26 have been set for harvest since the January 2017 Timber Release Plan.

This timber has already been vested to VicForests and allocated to mills under contracts.

Harvesting and regrowing native timber remain an important part of the rural jobs and livelihoods and the social and economic fabric of Victoria, contributing to 2500 jobs across rural Victoria, including one in 10 jobs in Orbost and supporting one in five jobs in Morwell,” VicForests said in a statement.

Harvesting in several coupes along the proposed route has been completed in recent years with one coupe currently active.

Planning and harvest preparation in the remaining coupes will continue subject to ongoing discussions between VicForests and DELWP, with possibilities explored to meet timber contracts and support the tourism potential.

“VicForests supports the development of forest trails like the Sea to Summit Trail, and believes tourism sites and harvesting can co-exist, as they do elsewhere in Victoria,” a VicForests statement said.

“There are potential alternate routes which could connect and extend obvious nearby existing tourism features, such as the McKenzie River Rainforest Walk and the existing reserve system.

“VicForests remains open to discussion with DELWP and environment groups and will contribute to a positive solution that recognises the importance of tourism and the native timber industry.

“VicForests was not consulted on the alignment of the proposed route selection.”