The blurb on the cover of this book states: “Since colonisation, Australians have been frantically logging our native forests as if our lives depended on it. Our lives do depend on the forests - but on keeping them, not destroying them.
“World-leading forest expert Professor David Lindenmayer exposes the unsettling truth about what is happening in our tall eucalypt forests. Despite what we are told, logging makes bushfires worse for decades after the chainsaws stop, and kills iconic animals and birds each year in droves, driving many species closer to extinction. The trees that are logged mostly end up as paper and cardboard. And it's not profitable: taxpayers are funding it.
“Lindenmayer reveals an unholy alliance between state forestry, the timber industry and unions. Loggers routinely breach regulations, and industry intimidates anyone who questions what they are doing. Worse still, even where native forest logging is supposedly ending, efforts are being made to continue it under a different name.
“Forests purify our drinking water. Forests are our best hope to reduce carbon emissions. Forests preserve biodiversity. It's time we realised the value of leaving our native forests standing.”
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While based primarily on the author’s research results in the tall forests of eastern Victoria, this book also comments on native forest logging in Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia.
To a non-expert on forest management, the book paints a coherent picture of why native forest logging should be closed down right across Australia in favour of timber production from plantations. However, the battle over native forest logging has been raging for many years now with entrenched opinions on all sides – rural communities dependent on logging, including foresters, value adding industries, forest ecologists, greenies and others. The title The Forest Wars is a reflection of this reality and there will be many who disagree with Lindenmayer’s conclusions.
To the dismay of many and celebrations in other quarters, the Victorian Government decided in May 2023 to end all native forest logging in the state from January 2024 so that to some extent this book was largely of historical interest by the time it was published – anti-logging interests had already won the day.
This book is a contribution to the debate on the use of forested public land around Australia and deserves a wide audience because of this. Readers need to keep in mind though, that it is only promoting one side of a very divisive debate.
Given that, what relevance do the ideas promoted in the book and the Victorian Labor Government’s imposition of a ban on native forest logging have for the future of sambar and for deer hunting?
Across the wider landscape of eastern Victoria an end to logging will probably reduce the productivity of the sambar population to some extent as it is well-known that disturbance, for example by logging or wildfire, produces short-lived but ideal feeding and breeding conditions for the deer. However, any impact from the demise of logging will probably be small given the sambar population is otherwise very well established and robust.
The wide access to hunting areas provided by logging roads will presumably be reduced in future which will also impact on sambar hunting – perhaps reducing opportunities for day hunts and giving impetus to an increase in back-pack hunts.
At a more local scale, a coalition of conservation forces, including the author, has been campaigning for years to create a Great Forest National Park of 525,000ha in the tall forests to the east of Melbourne. Prospectors, deer hunters, 4WD tourers, campers, horse riders and other groups that would be adversely impacted by the proclamation of such a park are in strident opposition.
From a hunter’s perspective, the major impact from the declaration of a Great Forest National Park would be on those who hunt with hounds or an indicator dog – the proposed park area is mostly high rainfall country unsuitable for stalking. The park would likely become an unimpeded breeding ground for sambar!
Lindenmayer, in promoting a new national park, comments on deer on several occasions. They are “feral animals” that need to be “dealt with”. Remarkably for an ecologist, he has bought the hype about sambar numbers, stating that “their populations are likely to already exceed 1 million and are growing.” This statement is presumably being made without considering that this is above the carrying capacity of the forests and considerably higher than the Arthur Rylah Institute’s recent science-based estimate of sambar numbers.
On deer hunting he suggests that “parts of parks could be zoned for hunting so that members of the general public can work with parks staff to control feral animals such as deer.” Not too many sambar hunters would buy into that bureaucratic nightmare! And again, “zones would be available for hunters to shoot burgeoning populations of feral deer.” Then, jobs will be created based on “controlling feral animals and creating new industries to use the meat …. ‘wild caught’ venison”.
Make no mistake, there is little place for traditional recreational deer hunting in Lindenmayer’s vision for a Great Forest National Park or other proposed parks in eastern Victoria – it is about restricting access by many groups and promoting activities such as nature appreciation, walking, cycling, tree-top walks and service industries providing food and drinks to day-trippers and tourists. It will be a disaster for recreational deer hunting if his ideas are accepted by government!
there is little place for traditional recreational deer hunting in Lindenmayer’s vision for a Great Forest National Park
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