A blockade has been set up to obstruct clearfell logging operations that have commenced at Big Pat’s Creek, 6kms from Warburton, since the state entered stage 3 lockdown. Government logging agency, VicForests, have refused to act on concerns from community that logging forests at Big Pat’s Creek will jeopardise the local water supply.
Community members from Protect Warburton Ranges have been forced to take a stand against the destructive logging that is threatening a number of bushfire affected threatened species that have been found in this forest, including a Sooty Owl and Yellow-Bellied Gliders. The creek is also a known platypus habitat and less than 500m away from critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum habitat and cool temperate rainforest.
The community relies on Big Pats Creek, which runs through the area where logging has been stopped, for stock, domestic use, and clean drinking water.
A section of the walking trail “The Walk into History” is included in the safety zone, and the proposed coupe will be visible from this tourist walk. The Big Pat’s Creek Campsite and Recreation Area (where this walk often commences) is 800m downstream of the proposed coupe with Big Pat’s Creek also running
through it.
The Dan Andrews government has failed to step in and stop the logging, and environment minister Lily D’Ambrosio MP has so far ignored the communities concerns after months of attempting to meet with her to discuss the important values the forest has to the community.