New data released today reveal the looming threat to biodiversity in Victoria's state forests. 

The recent IPBES report regarding the accelerating rates of species extinction sets the context for this research. 

It is widely understood that reducing the complexity of ecosystems renders them less stable and less resilient. Aggressive logging,such as we are seeing in the Rubicon State Forest reduces the complexity of forest ecosystems when it replaces a complex forest with a much more limited ecosystem, designed to reproduce the ash but not the complexity. 

The new research findings by Dr Nick Legge of the RFPG focus on the increasingly unbalanced age class profile of the Victoria's state forests and particularly the Central Highlands. 

The threat to ecosystem health associated with an extremely 'young' forest is an immediate and specific threat to biodiversity which should trigger the precautionary principle.  Read the report here.