Otway Forest Management Plan fails to protect Lake Elizabeth

The Otway Forest Management Plan (OFMP) was released in June 1992, eight years after the Australian Heritage Commission registered Lake Elizabeth.

The OFMP provides no management prescriptions to protect the Lake Elizabeth National Estate Listed area from logging practices.

Government releases misleading maps with Otway Forest Management Plan

Maps are important tools used by the public to interpret the landscape. In the case of Lake Elizabeth, two omissions of information on maps provided in the OFMP were only picked up by members of OREN when the West RFA maps were released. Given that two mistakes were made in the same area on the same map, it is hard not to assume this was an attempt by Forestry Victoria to keep the public ignorant and the Lake Elizabeth Area open for woodchip driven logging.

1. Size of the National Estate Area misrepresented within the OFMP

Map 2 of the Otway Forest Management Plan(OFMP) titled Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance shows area N2 as the Lake Elizabeth site of National Significance. However this area is incorrect, only representing the region Forestry Victoria will not log (472ha) and does not represent the much larger area nominated by:

• Neville Rosegren who recommended all the catchment area above Lake Elizabeth needs to be protected from logging. Link
  
  
• Australian Heritage Commission (AHC) that nominates all the East Barwon catchment area upstream from the lake as National Estate, an area 1,300, ha is size. See extract from AHC
  
  
• The West RFA, report titled The National Estate Identification and Assessment in the West Region of Victoria, provides a map which shows Australian Heritage Commission site 3699 as the entire headwaters of the East Barwon catchment.
  

Clearly the map in the OFMP misrepresents the Lake Elizabeth that is listed as National Estate Area.

See the incorrect map in the OFMP.
See the correct map in the West RFA.

2. Landslide risk at Lake Elizabeth not made clear in OFMP

Rosengren identified an old pre-European landslide that occurred in the headwaters of the East Barwon at Bowman Spur. It is similar in size to the landslide that blocked and formed Lake Elizabeth. Rosengren listed this site as having regional significance and recommended any roadworks in the area as a hazard. See Rosengren report.

The OFMP, Appendix A, Table A3, lists management directives for sites of Geological and Geomorphological significance. The landslide at Bowman Spur is listed as the Barwon River East Branch landslip (R4). The OFMP makes a statement that requires consideration of potential hazards when undertaking forest operations and roadworks in the vicinity of this old landslide.

However when referring to OFMP, Map 2, Sites of Geological and Geomorphological significance, the reference R4 is not printed. See map.

Is this a printing error or a move by Forestry Victoria to make it difficult for the public to interpret the hazards associated with logging in the East Barwon catchment?

Analysis of Otway Forest Management Plan

The OFMP is made up of two documents. One is a Statement of Resources, Uses & Values and the other is the actual Otway Forest Management Plan (OFMP).

Statement of Resources, Uses & Values

The Statement of Resources, Uses & Values acknowledges that Neville Rosengren assigned management sensitivity ratings for each site he identified. Appendix A2 lists all sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Otways and acknowledges that Lake Elizabeth has a high sensitivity to disturbance.

Otway Forest Management Plan

The OFMP does not have a section that specifically deals with the Lake Elizabeth area. Instead, all sites of Geological and Geomorphological significance are dealt with in Section 6.7.1 of the OFMP.

Section 6.7.1 Geological and Geomorphological Sites
Most geological sites of significance do not require total protection by exclusion of all management activities, but may require some management guidelines. Other sites do not warrant any particular action apart from monitoring. Appendix A details management prescriptions for all sites.

Analysis of Section 6.7.1.

1. Most geological sites of significance do not require total protection by exclusion of all management activities, but may require some management guidelines.
This statement is ambiguous given the acknowledgment in the Statement of Resources, Uses & Values of the high sensitivity of Lake Elizabeth to logging practices. The main points of ambiguity are:

• Lake Elizabeth is a national site of geomorphological not geological significance hence the above statement provides no direction for management of the Lake Elizabeth Area.
  
  
• It is not clear if Lake Elizabeth is an area where logging should be excluded.

2. Appendix A details management prescriptions for all sites.
Appendix A provides three tables to provide management directives for areas of Geological and Geomorphological significance. These tables are:

• Table A3 lists management directives for sites of Geological and Geomorphological significance. Lake Elizabeth is not listed.
  
  
• Table A1 provides prescriptions to prevent logging near the edge of Lake Elizabeth but provides no instruction on how to manage the rest of the national estate area.
  
  
• Table A2 provides a list of sites that require monitoring but Lake Elizabeth is not listed.

Hence after an analysis of Section 6.7.1 ot the OFMP, it is evident that there is no management prescriptions that protect the Lake Elizabeth National Estate Area from logging.

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