When Native Forest is felled over large areas, it is prescribed that a very few 'seed' and habitat trees be left standing. These trees, without their surrounding forest for protection frequently die or are blown over.
Too often even these are not left, one excuse for this being that they might attract lightning.
Bulldozers scour and compact the soil.
Those animals and birds not killed by the felling will have to fight for scarce territory in neighbouring forest, which is already fully occupied. Most die.
The area is then burnt, using napalm to ensure a hot fire which is supposed to return nutrients from the remaining 'trash' to the soil and to encourage seed germination. This is designed to favour commercially valuable timber species, to hinder regrowth of other species.
The burning creates enormous smoke clouds. Big burns look as if there has been a huge explosion. The fire releases thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, vastly overwhelming well meaning and well publicised attempts to plant trees elsewhere to absorb carbon dioxide. The fire too frequently escapes into the intact surrounding forest, damaging its value both as habitat and as timber.
Forest trees and plants on the edge of the surrounding forest are exposed to much more wind, heat and frost, than they have been adapted to . Many die, all are stressed. These effects are specially savage if the logging goes close to or into remaining pockets of rainforest, as these communities evolved over many hundred or thousands of years, in sheltered situations, and have no tolerance to disturbance or to fire.
Isolated patches of remaining forest lead to inbreeding and decline of species which cannot cross the gaps between them in search of mates. Many areas left untouched are too small or too narrow to provide protection or feeding territory to the species living in them. The smaller the area and the longer its edges the more an area suffers damage by storm, weeds, feral animals and man's activities.
The area may then be left to regenerate naturally, planted with local species, or planted with species not natural to the area. Regeneration has been very poor in some areas.
In some areas native animals such as wallabies have multiplied as a result of the temporary new open areas growing grass, to be poisoned by the logging industry because they also eat tree seedlings.
Introduced weeds such as blackberries, thistles and ragwort tend to colonise the disturbed and bare earth. Weed control, never adequate, has been further cut back as a short term economy by the Victorian Government.
Regenerated forest lacks the diversity of the original forest.
The clearfelling and burning are designed to favour only the species favoured by the loggers.
If regeneration is poor only the most desirable commercial species are planted, using our taxes to pay for the work.
Planted trees are likely to be of species and strains not native to the area, and so less desirable or unsuitable as habitat for the creatures which evolved to live in the area.
Uniform plantation crops are more prone to epidemics of insect pests and other diseases.
The regrowth forest is then effectively plantation, lacking the diversity of age and species of the forest that it has replaced. Because it is dominated by eucalypts it is more prone to wildfire. The capacities of neighbouring rainforest as fire buffers and as pools of genetic diversity are damaged.
The changes to the microclimate that result from the removal of the forest tend to lead to lower overall rainfall in the area. When heavy rains do fall, they run off the denuded ground much more quickly, causing shorter but higher flood peaks.
These carry much soil into the creeks, silting the rivers, damaging roads, bridges and fencing, and affecting all the creatures that live in and from the rivers, including farmers and fishermen.
Regrowth forest takes up much more water than does old growth forest. So the regrowth areas produce less water for streams, water catchments, and farms.
For example, two successive expert committees were called to examine logging in the Upper Thompson River catchment (which provides a large proportion of Melbourne's water as well as irrigation water for Gippsland). They advised that the water lost from the catchment as a result of logging was worth more than the royalties paid for the timber.
In spite of this the Victorian Government authorised the logging, continues to subsidise it using our taxes to provide for roadmaking, fire protection and regeneration.
At the same time the Government charges extraordinarily low royalties for the timber taken.
Modern clearfelling techniques, with extensive use of heavy earthmoving equipment is causing much more radical changes to the soil and to forest ecology than did earlier less intensive logging.
Use of fertiliser to promote faster regrowth can lead to increased loads of nutrients in the rivers and lakes.
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