Save Our Strathbogie Forest S25 Ep3

Bertram Lobert, president of the Community Group, ‘Save Our Strathbogie Forest’ (SOSF), joins Nelly and Ruth on EarthChat Tuesday to tell us about their conservation efforts to improve the management of the Strathbogie Forest. A recent campaign with the Victorian Government successfully advocated for a halt to native forest logging in 2019. In 2024, in a legal case brought by Save Our Strathbogie Forest against the State of Victoria/Dept. of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, the Federal Court ruled that the evidence before the court was insufficient to argue that the four proposed planned burns were likely to significantly impact the nationally threatened Southern Greater Glider who’s survival is completely dependent on access to hollow-bearing trees. Despite this disappointment, there was an upside in the process, the court found that planned burns for fuel reduction are not exempt from the EPBC Act, as the Victorian Government has insisted for the last 25 years. This in itself is a ‘big deal’. Later in August, the full bench (three Justices) of the Federal Court, at Appeal, strengthened this finding. Bert sincerely believes that adopting the First Nations’ ethos of ‘healing country’ with a strong bioregional context is an integral part of our collective human response to several of the planetary crises we face, namely climate change, the sixth extinction, freshwater use and land system change. SOSF consults with the Taungurung Land and Waters’ Council in their efforts to strive for policy and actions that better protect the forest’s natural values. Join us to hear how he and the SOSF overcome the challenges inherent in convincing those ‘in power’ to rethink their approach to forest management to ensure critical habitat is protected not only so the many species who depend on them can thrive, but how they in turn can reciprocally fulfill their role of contributing to the overall health of the forest. Bert is a post graduate in zoology, geography and ecology from Monash University, and his current projects involve threatened species conservation, ground-water monitoring, wetland conservation, nature communication and forest management. His greatest love is having the time to simply be out in the field to collect data.