Scientists warn a timber industry proposal to allow some logging in national parks and on other public land to reduce bushfire risk is an "incredibly misleading" idea that could actually make forests more flammable.

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) have said the forestry industry should be used, along with more hazard reduction burning, in a new approach to bushfire prevention.

Old-growth forest in East Gippsland.

AFPA chief executive Ross Hampton said new initiatives to make forests "more fire resilient" could include selective logging to protect homes, water catchments and key infrastructure, and mechanical reduction of undergrowth to reduce the fuel load in forests.

"Will we do what we have always done or will we open the curtain and look at all the possibilities?" Mr Hampton said.