Community Concern: Failure of RFA to address concerns

Community Concern: Failure of RFA to address concerns

The Regional Forest Agreement failed to address
Community Concerns about logging in water supply catchments.

During the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) process for the Otways in 1999, public concern again made the impact of logging practices in domestic water catchments an issue. As a consequence, the State and Federal government hosted a hydrology summit in Geelong on the 1st December 1999. The summit concluded more hydrology research needed to be conducted in the Otways

The unpredicted election of a new State ALP Government in September 1999 with policies to conduct hydrology research in the Otways had little impact on the RFA outcomes. The RFA was signed off by the State and Federal Government on the 31st. March 2000 without any detailed hydrology research. This decision went against many public submissions to the RFA process that requested hydrology research be conducted before the RFA was signed

Logging prescriptions specified in the RFA to protect water yield are exactly the same as the existing prescriptions in the 1992 Otway Forest Management Plan. The Minister for Natural Resources and Environment (Sherryl Garbutt) made misleading assurances the RFA process would provide domestic water supply catchments with additional protection from logging practices. A Press Release dated 31 March 2000 stated,

"Ms. Garbutt said additional restrictions had been placed on timber harvesting in the Otways in preparation for a hydrology study into the effects of logging on water yields and quality in catchments."