Rokeby residents furious after firewood poached

Rokeby residents are furious the bush setting of their Rokeby-Crossover Trail is being massacred by firewood poaching.

Friends of Rokeby-Crossover Trail members and local residents allege offenders are entering the park area, in the dead of night, cutting down trees and removing firewood.

Residents say they have heard chainsaws running at early hours of the morning and the following day can see remnants of felled trees and removed wood.

They have called on authorities to take action and urge community members visiting the trail to alert police if they see anyone removing wood from the park.

A Friends of Rokeby-Crossover Trail (FRCT) spokesperson said more than 100 trees had been cut down and the firewood removed.

Many of the trees cannot be seen from the trail and are located on single lane tracks off the trail.

“I can hear the chainsaw going at two or three in the morning.

“It’s the worse case of domestic firewood poaching I’ve ever seen.

“We shouldn’t be seeing or tolerating this activity, it’s environmentally unacceptable.

“The strategy of Parks Victoria and police to stop this just isn’t working,” she said.

She said some residents had been threatened not to say anything and threatening notes had been left on tree stumps.

The woman said they also were aware of spotlighting, hunting and shooting activities.

“This is anti-social behaviour and illegal activity that is making residents nervous about using the trail.

“The longer this goes on the more tense the situation gets.  If something isn’t done soon, there could be an altercation,” she said.

The spokeswoman said the friends group had been working with Parks Victoria, DELWP and Baw Baw Shire to have seasonal closure gates installed at the trail entrance to protect the trail for users, allowing access to maintenance vehicles only.

“That would go some way to preventing this fraudulent poaching that’s getting worse and worse,” she said.

Another FRCT member said she had seen a lot of wood being carted out of the park and she wanted to see the right thing being done by the bush.

“It’s been very stressful.  I have been confronted and abused and threatened when I questioned where the wood was from.

“I could hear chainsaws going one night so I drove up there and they took off,” she said.

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