The Impact of Logging in Old Growth Forests
The following information is adapted from the June 2006 report, Choosing a future for Victoria’s Forests by the Victorian Forest Alliance, of which ACF is a member.
This extract clearly outlines the serious and irreversible impacts of logging in old growth forests. Together we must stop this destruction or the effects will be catastrophic.
The Impact of Logging in Old Growth Forests
“Old-growth forest is ecologically mature forest where the effects of disturbance are now negligible”.
Logging has a devastating impact on our old-growth forests. It radically alters the structure of the forest – the number of big old trees with hollows, the number of fallen logs, the density of the understorey and the canopy vegetation. When Australia’s magnificent old-growth forests are logged, they are unlikely to regenerate to their original state for more than a thousand years.
Here are a few examples of the problems created by logging of old-growth forests:
The loss of our native species
The permanent loss of old-growth forest habitat has led to a serious decline in both the abundance and distribution of many plant and animal species. This is partly because logging reduces the number of trees containing hollows which many animal species require for shelter and breeding. It takes around 100 years for hollows to begin to form in eucalypt species and logging is systematically removing this age class from the public native forests, meaning that many species are moving closer to extinction.
Many plants and animals simply do not come back after logging, including a large number supposedly protected by state and federal law. For example, in Victoria the animals in danger from logging include the Leadbeaters possum, Long-footed potoroo and Spotted-tailed quoll. A similar decline has been seen in many other species of bird, mammal, frog, fish and plants.
An increased risk of fires
The logging of old-growth forests contributes to an increase in both the frequency and intensity of fires. This is because logging and burning dramatically changes the nature of the forest’s structure and microclimate, and alters the composition of the forest’s plant species. The result is that old growth ‘wet’ forests are changed from a fire-resistant form to a much ‘drier’ and fire-prone ecosystem, reducing the resistance and survivability of these forests to wildfire.
A waste of precious water
Water is Australia’s most precious and scarce resource. Supply of clean water is emerging as one of the biggest issues the world is facing. Continuing land clearing and logging in water catchments will potentially have dire effects on water supply.
Old-growth forests play an important role in protecting and contributing to our water supply, because they produce more and cleaner water than regrowth forests after logging. For example, it has been demonstrated in Melbourne’s wet forested water supply catchments that up to 6 million litres of water per hectare per year are lost as a result of logging operations. Instead of responding in the traditional way by siphoning off more water or building more dams, we could extract more water from catchments simply by ending logging in these areas.
Protecting our water has proven to be economically beneficial to the community. Water is far more valuable to the community than native forest wood, for which there are existing plantation alternatives.
Declining tourism
Old growth logging and tourism do not sit comfortably side-by-side. The experience that tourists desire is the majesty and grandeur of natural and old-growth forests, not the smoking remains of clearfelled wastelands.
“Forests are critical to the future of the Australian tourism industry; tourism is critical to the future of Australian timber communities. Tourists will only pay to see the jewels of the forest, not the leftovers … for big money you need old-growth forests.”
Sustainable forest eco-tourism is about providing people with enduring experiences. The best tourism investment is in protecting our forests, which are durable, biologically diverse and highly productive.
Dangerous climate change
The increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is one of the major factors causing climate change. Mature native forests store carbon, and if they are destroyed they release that stored carbon into the atmosphere, either rapidly (e.g. through fire) or slowly (e.g. through decay).
Old-growth forests are some of the most important carbon stores in nature, storing up to 1500 tonnes of carbon per hectare. Logging these forests releases large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect that is causing global warming. Thus, conserving old-growth forests is important to reduce the impact of climate change.
A study of the impacts of logging on old-growth forests showed that logging in the Styx Valley in Tasmania would produce approximately 1000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per hectare. In simpler terms, clearing 1000 hectares of Styx old-growth forest would produce greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to all the cars in Tasmania in a year.