Leadbeater’s possum and Victoria’s Central Highlands’ forests: flawed science and environmental activism as drivers of forest management change

Abstract

ABSTRACTAspects of the scientific discipline of forestry have endured decades of environmental activism aimed at discrediting it. Much of this activism has entailed strategic avoidance of inconvenient truths while promoting myths, half-truths and pseudo-science as though they are absolute fact. However, arguably of greater concern are more recent instances of false or unsupported claims about native forest management contained in some conservation-focussed research published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.This paper examines recent scientific literature which addresses Leadbeater’s possum and broader conservation issues in the forests of Victoria’s Central Highlands. In assessing its contribution to the public and political discourse on forest management we identified the following six areas where much of this research is contentious:Leadbeater’s possum population estimatesThe proportions of forests respectively catering for conservation or wood productionValue of active forest management strategies for conserving Leadbeater’s possumForest carbon stocksThe concept of ecosystem collapseValue of environmental services derived from native forests.This contentious research is characterised by the omission of critically important context, reliance on flawed or wrong assumptions and errant citation practices. In the past, there would have been an expectation of such problems being identified and excluded during effective peer review by appropriate scientists. That this is no longer guaranteed is indicative of broken academic protocols.We conclude that there is evidence of a disturbing synergy between some peer-reviewed science and environmental activism in fashioning and promoting a questionable case for forest management change—in this instance, through advocacy of a proposed new national park that would restrict or end a range of public activities and decimate a significant and sustainable local timber industry.