We... https://t.co/VQhstNZmqjHe said the decision “will cost jobs and ruin the forestry industry”, and suggested that an increase in the number of sightings of the Leadbeater’s possum in the past five years indicated that its numbers had recovered. About 1.2% of previously harvestable mountain ash forests have been designated possum buffer zones since 2014, making them unavailable for logging. Leadbeater’s possum, Victoria's state emblem, one step away from extinction Read moreIn a confidential report to Australian Sustainable Hardwood’s parent company, the Hermal Group, in 2014, VicForests said the major reason for the reduction in sawlog volume was the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires and dismissed industry claims that protection of Leadbeater’s possum had caused the “supply crisis”. A spokesman for Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, Steve Meacher, said the organisation would oppose any logging in protected mountain ash forests and was taking advice on mounting a possible legal challenge if the transfer went ahead. About 30% of remaining Leadbeater’s possum habitat is in areas that are currently logged, and Meacher said opening up more areas for logging would have a devastating effect.

Source: The Guardian March 27, 2017 03:28 UTC