This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

VicForests has been forced to immediately stop logging in parts of Victoria’s central highlands after the supreme court granted an injunction to a citizen science group pushing for a stop to logging of unburnt areas in the wake of bushfires.

Wildlife of the Central Highlands (Wotch) has launched a fresh case against VicForests in a bid to stop logging of threatened species habitat after the country’s unprecedented fire season.

Late on Wednesday, the court granted an interim injunction to halt clearing of forest in three coupes that were being logged. A larger injunction covering 10 coupes for the duration of the case will be sought when the matter is before the court again in February.

Wotch brought the case because the areas targeted for logging are habitat for the greater glider, the smoky mouse, the sooty owl and the powerful owl.

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The Victorian government has identified each of these among the species it holds immediate concern for as a result of the unprecedented bushfire crisis.

Wotch alleges that logging in areas where threatened species affected by the fires have been sighted or where there is known habitat is illegal until the state and federal governments conclude their responses to the bushfires for wildlife.

The court accepted that there was “prima facie” evidence of a threat of “serious or irreversible damage” to threatened species and their habitat if harvesting operations continued in the coupes.

The court said “the recent bushfires have caused extensive environmental damage, the severity of which is only beginning to be understood”.

Danya Jacobs, a senior lawyer with Environmental Justice Australia, said it was a good result for threatened species “who suffered a huge blow after the catastrophic bushfires”.

“Important unburnt habitat is now safe from logging, while this case moves to the next stage,” she said.

Philip Marshall, a citizen scientist with Wotch, said it was important the forests were protected.

“We cannot allow logging to continue the widespread destruction inflicted by these bushfires when the central highlands are among the last refuges for these precious species,” he said.

VicForests said it was unable to comment on matters that were before the court.