Fired-up forests have more impact than the loggers

With a hotter and drier future, management authorities across all public land tenures may need to seriously consider substantial regrowth thinning in regions badly affected by fire.

For example, future thinning of regrowth in north-east Victorian catchments burnt in 2003 could substantially improve Murray River flows.

There are good reasons to restrict human activity in water catchments, but carefully regulated active management in parts of catchments has an important role to play. On this basis, it would be counterproductive to ban timber harvesting.

The debate should not be about whether or not logging is permitted in the catchments, but how and where it could best work as a self-funding water management tool.

Hopefully the community will acknowledge that severe fire is by far the greatest determinant of catchment water yield and adopt a more rational attitude to timber harvesting.