Key Facts:
- Forestry Australia has released an evidence review challenging claims that timber harvesting increases bushfire risk
- The review finds that evidence is largely drawn from tall wet eucalypt forests in south-eastern Australia that have been previously clearfelled, and that applying these findings universally across all Australian forests is inappropriate.
- Landscape-scale analyses of major bushfires, including the 2019–20 bushfires, indicate that extreme fire weather and topography are the dominant drivers of fire severity, with timber harvesting having comparatively minor effects.
- Forestry Australia is calling on journalists, policy makers, and community leaders to engage with the full body of evidence, stressing that complex forest and fire dynamics cannot be reduced to a simple claim that timber harvesting always increases fire risk.
Public claims that timber harvesting increases bushfire risk are based on narrow and contested evidence, and should not be generalised across Australia's diverse forests, according to a new evidence review released by Forestry Australia. The review, Contested Evidence About Timber Harvesting and Bushfire Risk in Australian Landscapes, examines claims that timber harvesting increases forest flammability and bushfire risk. It finds that many public claims rely on evidence from one particular forest type and management system - tall wet eucalypt forests in south-eastern Australia that have been previously clearfelled - and that these findings are often presented as though they apply universally across all Australian forests. • Click here to
