The Strzelecki region has over 200 plant and 107 animal species, many of which are classified as being rare and threatened, including the only original population of Koala in Victoria and South Australia.
Broad scale clearing for agriculture, settlement and industry has resulted in an 86% loss of Pre-European vegetation cover. Only 2% is protected in reserved areas – the smallest reserved area of a bioregion in Victoria.
You can see more pictures of modern Strzelecki logging practices here: Logging photos
Over 2004/5 about 800 hectares of eucalypts in the Strzeleckis was cleared, almost all being koala habitat. Tall Mountain Ash are logged and replanting is with Shining Gum, a non food tree for the Strzelecki Koala and not a local eucalypt species. All of the Reserve is located on leased Crown land within the Maryvale Pulp Mill Supply Area under the 1996 Amcor Wood Pulp Agreement. Almost all of the logs cut from the Strzeleckis end up at the Maryvale mill (now owned by PaperlinX) which will convert these trees into Reflex Copy Paper for your fax machine.
Unfortunately things are not looking good for the region with a recent 2008 agreement sacrificing even more old growth forest and native forest for pulp, thanks to corporate greed and general shortsightedness.
This depresses me so much I can't go on..but it occurs to me, given the downstream logging of Merriman's creek catchment we are custodians what may be a last bastion of the local rainforest
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