Royston Range - Snobs Creek catchment
Logging threatens Goulburn River
A new report by the Australian Conservation Foundation shows that ending logging in the Goulburn’s wet mountain forests would deliver an additional 3,800 gigalitres into the Goulburn River this century.
The additional 3,800 gigalitres – around six times Melbourne’s annual water use – is estimated to have an economic value of around $1.68 billion.
The report, Woodchipping Our Water: A case for reassessing the use of the Goulburn Broken catchment’s wet montane forests, shows how the logging of mature forests is threatening the region’s enormous water production and carbon sequestration potential.
It also finds that ecologically mature forests are a much greater resilience to bushfire than disturbed regrowth forests.
ACF is calling on the Victorian Government to act now to protect the forested headwaters of this important and degraded river system.