Need for independent assessment of RSOS management in Victoria.

VRN has completed a comprehensive report about the need for an independent assessment of appropriate protection levels for all RSOS across Victoria. This report will be available on this page shortly.

A summary of key reports recommending an independent review of the way RSOS are managed and protected is listed below.

Land Conservation Council (LCC)

The Land Conservation Council (LCC) wanted formal decisions made on the appropriate management (including adequate buffers) for all Rainforest Sites of Significance.

Final Recommendations of the LCC East Gippsland Area Review (1986), on page 78 states:

"The Council will be conducting an investigation of rainforest in Victoria with a view to making recommendations on the range of uses form them and the way in which they should be protected through reservation. The rainforest in East Gippsland will be included in that investigation. Information collected be the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands will provide a basic and important input."

This critical investigation for East Gippsland rainforest was never done.

State Conservation Strategy (1987)

The State Conservation Strategy (1987) specifically wanted all National and State Sites of Significance protected in permanent nature conservation reserves.

The State Conservation Strategy (1987) states that:

"The Government will complete surveys of all sites or areas of ecological or scientific significance in the State and will take protective measures where appropriate. As a general rule, those sites significant at the State level or above will be preserved for nature conservation purposes and sites of regional or local significance will be protected wherever possible." Page 33

This policy process was never completed.

Burgman & Ferguson (1995) report

Other major rainforest research papers have made reference to the LCC 1986 recommendations including the Burgman & Ferguson (1995) report titled: "Rainforest in Victoria - a review of the scientific basis of current and proposed protection measures".

"The LCC, in its final recommendations for East Gippsland, indicated it would be carrying out an investigation of rainforests in Victoria with a view to making recommendations on the range of uses for rainforest and the way in which rainforest in Victoria could be protected through reservation. This review has not been carried out."
(Burgman & Ferguson, 1995: p. viii)