Victoria, Australia contains approximately 32,000 hectares of temperate rainforest in various regions, which represents 0.14% of the State's total area. The areas with rainforest include: East Gippsland, Strzelecki Ranges, Wilsons Promontory, Central Highlands, and Otway Ranges. The rainforests vary between cool temperate, warm temperate, and mixed cool temperate.
Protection In Victorian forests subject to timber harvesting operations rainforest is protected by the Code of Practice for Timber Production (DSE 2007), which requires that:
"Rainforest communities in Victoria must not be harvested. Rainforest communities must be protected from the impacts of harvesting through the use of appropriate buffers to maintain microclimatic conditions and protect from disease and other disturbance."
However, mixed cool temperate rainforest has not been completely mapped in Victoria, and no pre-logging surveys occur to check for this forest type. Old-growth forest, with trees dating from pre-1900s, are also meant to be protected.
Victorian rainforests occurring inside national parks are protected from logging.
Rainforest does not regenerate following clearfell, coupe logging, which is practiced in Victoria.
Plant species
There are many plant species found in the various rainforests of Victoria, which differentiate it from wet sclerophyll forest. This is a combined list of differential species from the various rainforest areas in Victoria.A Field Guide to Rainforest Identification in Victoria. 2008. David Cameron. Department of Sustainability and Environment.
Nothofagus cunninghamii, Myrtle Beech Hymenophyllum australe, Austral Filmy-fern Hymenophyllum flabellatum, Shiny Filmy-fern Rumohra adiantiformis, Leathery Shield-fern Crepidomanes venosum, Veined Bristle-fern Blechnum chambersii, Lance Water-fern Blechnum nudum, Fishbone Water-fern Grammitis billardieri, Common Finger-fern Microsorum pustulatum, Kangaroo Fern Todea barbara, Austral King-fern Blechnum fluviatile, Ray Water-fern Blechnum patersonii, Strap Water-fern Blechnum penna-marina, Alpine Water-fern Parablechnum wattsii, Hard Water-fern Cyathea cunninghamii, Slender Tree-fern Cyathea × marcescens, Skirted Tree-fern Dicksonia antarctica, Soft Tree-fern Polystichum proliferum, Mother Shield-fern Pellaea falcata, Sickle Fern Asplenium flaccidum, Weeping Spleenwort Asplenium gracillimum, Mother Spleenwort Stellaria flaccida, Forest Starwort Uncinia tenella, Delicate Hook-sedge Carex appressa, Tall Sedge Carex alsophila, Forest Sedge Isolepis inundata, Swamp Club-sedge Uncinia nemoralis, River Hook-sedge Gahnia melanocarpa, Black-fruit Saw-sedge Atherosperma moschatum, southern sassafras Parsonsia brownii, Twining Silkpod Leptospermum grandifolium, Mountain Tea-tree Libertia pulchella, Pretty Grass-flag Wittsteinia vacciniacea, Baw Baw Berry Australina pusilla, Shade Nettle Urtica incisa, Scrub Nettle Coprosma nitida, Shining Coprosma Acrothamnus maccraei, Subalpine Beard-heath Oxalis magellanica, Snowdrop Wood-sorrel Fieldia australis, Fieldia Pittosporum undulatum, Sweet Pittosporum Myrsine howittiana, Mutton-wood Sambucus gaudichaudiana, White Elderberry Pomaderris aspera, Hazel Pomaderris Hackelia latifolia (syn. Austrocynoglossum latifolium), Forest Hound's-tongue Acacia melanoxylon, Blackwood Bedfordia arborescens, Blanket Leaf Podocarpus lawrencei, Errinundra Plum-pine Syzygium smithii, Lilly Pilly Cissus hypoglauca, Jungle Grape Leichhardtia rostrata, Milk Vine Rubus moluccanus, Queensland Bramble Rubus rosifolius, Rose-leaf Bramble Morinda jasminoides, Jasmine Morinda Notelaea venosa, Large Mock-olive Tristaniopsis laurina, Kanooka or Water Gum
References