The move has outraged locals and environmental groups, who say logging in unburnt forests – vital habitat for threatened species such as the greater glider or the Leadbeater's possum – would compound the devastation to wildlife resulting from the bushfire crisis. Loading VicForests says it operated in accordance with fire protection regulations and procedures "that are more rigorous than total fire ban restrictions". Spokesman Paul Bird said that, in addition, agency staff were helping fight the bushfires through direct firefighting, firebreak works and managing emergency road clearance. "VicForests is balancing its significant contribution to the fire response with the need to ensure sufficient timber supply to avoid processor shutdowns as this would deepen the impact on towns already affected by the fires," he said.

Victoria's bushfires have heightened tensions between the logging industry – whose viability is under greater threat after large timber plantations burnt down in recent weeks – and conservationists, who want to protect what's left of the state's forests for endangered and threatened animals. Last week a leaked federal government report warned that 31 per cent of the state's rainforests had already gone up in flames, as well as 24 per cent of wet or damp forests, and 34 per cent of lowland forests. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union national secretary Michael O'Connor said loggers were “worried about having a job at all” after the Victorian government announced a reduction to the current level of native timber available for logging from 2024-25, and a ban on logging in native forests to come into effect in 2030. “Nobody seems to see the hypocrisy of using these people to fight fires on the one hand but put them out of work on the other. To call this galling is an understatement,” he said.

Loading Fears of an ecological disaster intensified last week after a leaked departmental report warned that some species might already be extinct, while animals such as the greater glider, the long-footed potoroo, and the brush-tailed rock-wallaby have lost massive swaths of habitat – with many more weeks of bushfire risk to come. "Continued logging in unburnt forests, home to surviving vulnerable species like the greater glider, is compounding the devastation wrought by fires on wildlife across eastern Victoria," said Danya Jacobs, a senior lawyer at Environmental Justice Australia. There are also concerns among Central Highlands locals that when trees are chopped down only 40 per cent of the organic matter is taken away to be pulped, leaving dry twigs, leaves, bark and ferns that may contribute fuel to Victoria’s worst bushfire season in decades. The Toolangi coupe in Victoria's Central Highlands last May.

Friends of Leadbeater's Possum spokesman Steve Meacher said it was “the height of irresponsibility” for Vicforests “to be logging in the early summer, when we’ve got another two to three months left” of the bushfire season. Mr Meacher, a resident of Toolangi and former Greens candidate, said the community was “shocked, but not surprised” by the logging. “There are many of these coupes much too close to communities, and when you think about it, this business of leaving [logging debris] in the coups when the summer is still due to play out is extremely irresponsible,” he said. A government spokesperson said VicForests was involved in responding to the bushfires but that its focus was "on controlling the fires, protecting life and helping communities in the crucial early stages of recovery – it is too early to assess the impact on timber supplies".