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Cumberland River (Wild River)

The Cumberland River catchment (approximately 3,750 ha) is the last truly wild river in the Otways and Western Victoria. It is a fully forested catchment that has no agricultural or urban development, with the exception of the Cumberland River Camping Ground on the Great Ocean Road.

The river has a series of waterfalls that are still isolated. The biological diversity in the catchment is excellent. The catchment has 90 metre high mountain ash trees and the most eastward stands of Cool Temperate Rainforest in the Otways. The area is recognised as a refuge for the endangered spot tailed quoll with a significant proportion of the headwaters of the catchment zoned as a SMZ.

There are no dams on the river that has an average flow rate of about 20,000 mega litres per annum. The water from the Cumberland is pure to drink as it runs under the Great Ocean Road and enters the sea.

Unnamed waterfall in upper Cumberland
photo by John Piesse

Cumberland logging history and map
Threats caused by clearfell logging

Community Opposition to Clearfell Logging the Cumberland
TW Spur South spared from clearfell logging
Community Protests
Protests stopped logging at Curtis Track

Government Processes
Land Conservation Council Scenic Assessment of Streams
Aesthetic Values
Natural Landscape
Cumberland Tourism Values
Endangered Flora and Fauna

Cumberland Campaign

Cumberland logging history

The Cumberland catchment has a long history of timber exploitation since European settlement. Initially large areas were selectively logged.

About 600 ha of the Cumberland catchment has been clearfell logged. The southern section of the catchment was heavily clearfell logged in the 1970's and has a large proportion of young regrowth forests less than 30 years old.

Between 1980 to 2000 another 12 areas were clearfell logged.

Threats caused by clearfell logging

The greatest threat to the Cumberland Catchment is continued clearfell logging. High rainfall events after logging are a major threat to water quality. Clearfell logging of forest can increase water run off during floods damaging riparian vegetation. Landslides caused by logging roads and water runoff from logging coupes may impact on the clear water in the river. Logging will also reduce water runoff during dry summer periods.

There has been limited survey work in 1999 to determine if Tiger Quolls exist in the Cumberland Catchment. The Cumberland could be a strong hold for this species since the catchment is further than 10 kilometres away from 1080 poison baits. Further logging in the Cumberland Catchment threatens Quoll habitat.

Community Opposition to Clearfell Logging the Cumberland

From 1995, community opposition to clearfell logging in the Cumberland resulted in a dramatic increase in lobbying and protest action. Some areas were saved and some lost.

TW Spur South spared from clearfell logging

In 1996/97 Forestry Victoria planned to clearfell log 15 ha in an area called TW Spur South. This is within a section of the Cumberland that has had little clearfell logging and is close to a series of spectacular waterfalls, old growth forest and stands of Cool Temperate Rainforest.

To access the area, it was proposed to upgrade an old logging track on a very steep slope. This was of great concern because of the potential impacts on the water quality of the river caused by landslips and erosion.

A lot of lobbying was done to stop the commencement of logging at TW Spur. Local MP Ian Smith and the then Shadow Minister for Environment Sherryl Garbutt visited the site. (Sherryl Garbutt got lost at TW Spur South and spent a night out in the forest. Local residents eventually rescued her.)

The government was made aware that many people were prepared to obstruct logging if it commenced. The local papers wrote a series of articles about the importance of the Cumberland River.

Under pressure Forestry Victoria deferred logging and removed the area from logging schedules.

The West RFA identified the area as one that has a Tiger Quoll population and placed TW Spur South into a Special Protection Zone where it cannot be logged at the present. It has no permanent protection.

Community Protest

Between 1997 and 2000, every attempt to clearfell log in the Cumberland Catchment was met with some form of obstruction from local residents and conservationists. Protests obstructed logging at Curtis Clearing, Garvey Track, Gail Clearing and Curtis Track.

Strong public scrutiny resulted in the size of the area clearfell logged at Garvey's track and Curtis Clearing being significantly reduced. (See Map above)

Protests stopped logging at Curtis Track

In February 2000, conservationists were outraged that a study on the presence of tiger quolls in the Otways, being done as part of the West RFA process, had not been publicly released. A leaked copy revealed that no survey work for Quolls had been conducted in the Cumberland catchment.

When logging commenced at Curtis Track, conservationists and local residents set up a protest camp, promoting that the area was a Tiger Quoll habitat that needed to be surveyed. The protest camp lasted a week and logging was abandoned after only two days of logging.

An embarrassed State Government went ahead and conducted a survey of the Cumberland Catchment and found evidence of quolls. The RFA process was signed weeks later and a large section of the Cumberland catchment was made a Special Management Zone for Tiger Quolls.

See map of Cumberland management zones.

See more about Tiger Quolls.

Government Processes.

Land Conservation Council Scenic Assessment of Streams

The Cumberland River is only large river in Central and Western Victoria found to exist in an essentially natural environment. This is the finding of a 1988 report titled A scenic assessment of Victoria's Rivers put together as a part of the Land Conservation Councils state wide assessment of rivers in Victoria.

Aesthetic Values

Assessment of the aesthetic values of the Cumberland River have always been restricted to the lower portion of the catchment that is within the Angahook - Lorne State Park. Such assessments have found the Cumberland to contain outstanding scenic values. The West RFA process did not conduct an investigation of the aesthetic values of the headwater of the Cumberland River where logging occurs. (See more about Otways Scenic Quality.)

Natural Landscape

The West RFA National Estate Identification and Assessment in the West Region of Victoria recognised the Cumberland River as an area with high natural landscape values. (See more about Natural Landscapes.)

The lower reaches of the river within the Angahook-Lorne State Park have National Estate Listing. It is not unreasonable to expect that the headwaters of the Cumberland where clearfell logging is permitted also contain values worthy of National Estate Listing.

Cumberland Tourism Values

The Cumberland River camping ground is famous to Victorians and is highly regarded. The Cumberland camping ground is part of the $1 billion tourism industry along the Great Ocean Road.

The potential for developing the Cumberland as a world-class tourist destination has not been evaluated. Waterfalls and tall forests are easily accessible to Lorne and the Great Ocean Road.

Endangered Flora and Fauna

The State Government processes to protect endangered flora and fauna values in the Cumberland have been slow and not completed. These include:

The revised Action Statement for Tiger Quolls has not been completed
No SMZ Plans for tiger quolls have been completed.
No Action Statement for Loss of Hollow Bearing Trees.
No Action Statement for the Slender Tree Fern.
No Action Statement for Cool Temperate Rain Forest.
No Action Statement for Myrtle Wilt.

Cumberland Campaign

Conservation groups have continued to negotiate with the State Government to avoid logging the Cumberland. As a result of past public pressure, no logging has taken place within the Cumberland Catchment since the end of the 1999/2000 logging season. However there are three areas scheduled to be logged over the next three years. See map above.

The campaign to protect the Cumberland focuses on public education, research, and lobbying the State Government to follow through with processes and further research that the government has committed to completing.

However the native forest woodchip industry is lobbying the State Government to ignore processes and research so logging can restart in the area. (See more information about the forest logging industry.)

There has been some wins for the Cumberland River but the area is still far from protected.

The Cumberland River should be included into an extension of the Angahook-Lorne State Park.