UPDATE: A PLANNED ban on the collection of firewood from public reserves and parks in the state’s northwest is shortsighted and city-centric, according to Northern Victoria MP Daniel Young.

Mr Young said without consultation the Victorian Government has announced it will ban from this winter onwards firewood collection from public land located between Shepparton and Mildura.

The ban will extend across all of the state’s north in the next five years.

Community leaders fear thousands of country residents have been left in the cold, without a means to find alternative heating sources, Mr Young said.

“This is an unnecessary burden on residents who use firewood for heating and cooking,” he said.

“They should not be forced to find alternatives.

“The lack of consultation and foresight into what the ban will mean for rural residents shows, once again, the Andrews-led government is out of touch and applying their inner-city policy.”

Mr Young said fire collection had long assisted in the prevention of bush fires by reducing fuel loads.

“There is a reason this was kept so quiet — because the people of rural Victoria are becoming increasingly sick of this kind of underhanded attack on their way of life,” Mr Young said.

Victorian Environment Minister Lisa Neville today said changes to firewood collection from public land was about putting locals first.

“In north Victoria, where supplies are running out, local residents and concession card holders will have priority access to free firewood.

“We are working to ensure that people who rely on firewood continue to have access to this fuel for heating and cooking this winter and beyond,” Ms Neville said.

Residents in Murray and Goulburn communities who are reliant on firewood for heating or cooking are encouraged to contact DELWP at NVFHHProject@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Community leaders fear elderly people using wood for heating and cooking are most vulnerable to the bans across northern Victoria.

For the first time since European settlement, public reserves and parks from Mildura to Shepparton will be closed to firewood gathering from this winter, with all public land wood collecting to end in northern Victoria within five years. The state firewood industry expects bans will apply across Victoria within a decade.

“We will have old people shivering to death if we’re not careful,” Moira Shire mayor and Murray Group of Councils chair, Gary Cleveland, said.

“Wood has always been available as a cheap energy source and in some of our towns we believe more than half the households use wood,” he said.

Campers who traditionally collect free wood opportunistically for their holiday fires may need to buy wood commercially before they enter parks.

“It will just encourage more illegal harvesting in the parks at greater risk to the environment,” Firewood Association of Australia general manager Alan McGreevy said.

“This is a green agenda which we are now seeing roll out across Victoria.”

A Government spokeswoman refused to comment on fears the firewood bans would be extended.

Jeff Coster, head of a group of 10 licensed firewood sellers in Gippsland, said a Government decision in 2011 to end the permit system for firewood collection had been a disaster.

“The north is just the first. The plan is pretty obvious: no more wood to be taken from public land right across the state,” Mr Coster said.

Even though firewood bans will start this year, the Government does not know what impact they will have.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning last week unveiled details of an investigation to find out who uses firewood so it can “manage the impact of declining red gum firewood supplies from public land”.

New rules began this month to restrict wood collection from public land to “locals only” until the bans kick in.

DWLWP’s Hume regional director, Christine Ferguson, said Mildura and Shepparton’s firewood supplies would be exhausted this year.

The department has promised to help residents identify alternatives such as gas or electrical and a project has been launched to help wood-reliant residents find other ways to heat their homes.

Ms Ferguson said she was aware many residents had used firewood as a cheap form of heating and cooking for many generations.

“We are aware the shortage will affect those who are reliant on firewood to heat their homes or cook meals,” she said.

“We hope to identify who these people are, provide assistance for the coming winter and support a transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”

However, Barmah resident Peter Newman disputed the Government’s assessment.

“We haven’t run out of wood at all, what a joke,” he said. “There are huge volumes of rubbish and knocked down trees on the forest floor, there always has been.”

Mr Newman estimated seven out of 10 homes in Nathalia and Barmah used wood.

“I really worry about old people, people on a pension who don’t have a lot of money who could poke around and pick up some sticks and things in the boot and their cars to burn and keep themselves warm,” he said.

Firewood will still be available from commercial suppliers, with a tonne of split red gum last week selling for $200-$250.

“People who live in bush areas see it as a benefit of living where they do, to burn some of the rubbishy stuff and clean up fire hazards,” Mr Newman said.

“The Government said it will look after the old folks, but how are they supposed to pay for new appliances? Some of them still use chip heaters for hot water.”

Ms Ferguson said some river communities would soon be connected to natural gas, which may provide an alternative for some households.

She blamed population growth and the creation of national parks such as Barmah as a reason for the wood shortage.

Environmentalists have accused the Government of bungling public firewood collection since permits were dropped in 2011.

Commercial merchants have been caught stealing the wood from the land set aside for the public and selling it.