Train crash for timber industry as forests plantations burn

Australia’s timber industry is facing disaster, with "significant" areas of East Gippsland’s native hardwood logging allocations destroyed by the bushfires 

The devastation leaves the Victorian government’s plan for a slow shut-down of the native logging industry looking uncertain, according to the forestry union, with large areas of plantation timber also burnt in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

An industry source said on Tuesday they feared up to 40 per cent of the state forest allocated to timber agency VicForests to harvest in East Gippsland had been destroyed in the fires, which have burnt through 1.2 million hectares of Victoria.

The forest industries lobby group says the consequences of the plantation destruction will take years to play out for communities in the three states reliant on timber jobs.

The fires are a fresh blow Victoria’s timber industry, coming just weeks after the state Labor government announced the end of all native forest logging within 10 years.