RFA Failure to assess the aesthetic value of the Otway State Forest

Aesthetic Value Assessment

The West RFA National Estate Identification and Assessment in the West Region of Victoria assessed 'Aesthetic Values' using a methodology that automatically created a bias towards logging.

Robin Crocker & Associates (consultants) were required to undertake the review. In December 1999 they released a report titled: Identification and Assessment of Aesthetic Values in the West Forest Region Victoria, Dec. 1999.

The report acknowledged that identification of aesthetic values in large parts of the Otways State forest had not been done.

The Executive Summary of Robin Crocker & Associates report states:

"Investigation of places in remote and semi-remote forest settings was limited and further investigation in these areas is recommended to assist in the identification and protection of additional places of national estate aesthetic significance."

So where did this government assessment on aesthetic values go wrong?

See section 2.4 of the report, West RFA National Estate Identification and Assessment in the West Region of Victoria, at the Commonwealth Government RFA website:
http://www.rfa.gov.au/rfa/vic/west/raa/natest/index.html

Forest Critics

Basically the process relied on consultation with forest critics who are forestry and parks offices with assumed expert knowledge of the Otway forests. Link

During a Community Heritage Workshop, the public was asked to nominate areas and assign a whole series of values (Historic, Natural, Aesthetic, Social, etc). The literature provided to the public participating in the process was not clear about the significance of the information being sought. Aesthetic value was one of a number boxes people were asked to tick. The process was vague on its implications.

However the forest critics were relied upon to provide the detailed information of aesthetic values in remote forest areas that would be used in the assessment. Link

For the Otways, forest critics were only forestry officers and included:

• David Rourke Natural Resources and Environment
• Laurie Armistead Natural Resources and Environment
• Ian Shurvill Natural Resources and Environment
• Steve Mc Dougall Natural Resources and Environment

See Appendix G of the report, West RFA National Estate Identification and Assessment in the West Region of Victoria, at the Commonwealth Government RFA website:
http://www.rfa.gov.au/rfa/vic/west/raa/natest/index.html

These so called forest critics did not nominate one area outside already known reserves or areas already publicly acknowledged as having high scenic value. [See Map 3 ww.rfa.gov.au/rfa/vic/west/raa/natest/index.html]

The results demonstrate you cannot ask a bureaucracy that is in the business of woodchip driven logging of state forest to nominate State Forest with high aesthetic values where logging is planned.

What a joke of a process.

The West RFA Aesthetic Value Assessment was meant to investigate areas where logging is going to take place but according to the Executive Summary of Robin Crocker & Associates this did not happen. Ask a forester and you get no answer. That is basically the outcome of this flawed and disgraceful process.

Background on the role of Forest Critics
Extract: Background Paper to the Regional Forest Agreement, Western Victoria.
Introduction to the Regional Forest Agreement Process
March 1999

e) National Estate Values

Projects for the identification and assessment of community heritage values and national estate aesthetic values are also being undertaken. Workshops have been undertaken in the region to involve communities in identifying their heritage and to establish a process for continuing community involvement in the RFA process. Workshops have also been undertaken with NRE and Parks Victoria staff to identify aesthetic values, particularly in remote areas.

Extract: National Estate Identification and Assessment in the West Region of Victoria

2.4 Aesthetic Value Assessment (page 24)
Forest critics workshop data-set

The term 'forest critics' is used for forest officers and parks officers who have a sound knowledge of forest systems and particular forest areas and who could critically evaluate the aesthetic qualities of the landscape. Officers from the region, particularly from the more remote areas, participated in order to provide coverage of the whole study area. Forest Critics Workshops were held at Daylesford, Hamilton and Colac (refer Appendix G). The workshops involved each officer nominating potential aesthetic places, then the group identifying gaps and overlaps, sieving places to eliminate minor sites, collectively ranking places, completing place questionnaires, and marking places on 1:100,000 map sheets.

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