Research across the world shows that logging substantially increases fire risks in Australian native forests.

There has been much controversy over the links between logging and wildfire in Australian forests. Advocates for the native forest logging industry deny that such links exist – yet a significant and increasing body of robust scientific evidence shows that they most definitely do. These demonstrated links have been found from empirical studies in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. They have also been identified from work in western North America and provinces in Canada such as Ontario and Quebec. There is now even a collective term for the elevated fire severity problems caused by logging – it is called Disturbance-Stimulated Flammability.

Other evidence shows the reality that logged and regenerated forests are more flammable than intact (unlogged) forests. This includes studies of fire risks in plantations versus native forests. In Australia, logged and regenerated native forests are four times more likely to burn than plantations.

The stark scientific reality is that the effects of logging on flammability have been identified by different research groups working independently in different places and analysing different datasets. This is what is called triangulation........

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