Victorian logging could trigger ecosystem collapse, researchers say

Modelling says there is a 92% chance mountain ash forests will not be able to support current ecosystem by 2067

Decades of unsustainable logging has created an "extinction debt" in Victoria's central highlands that will trigger an ecosystem-wide collapse within 50 years without urgent intervention from the state government, ecologists have warned.

According to modelling produced by Australian National University researchers Dr Emma Burns and Prof David Lindenmayer, there is a 92% chance the mountain ash forests will not be able to support its current ecosystem of arboreal animals, like the critically endangered leadbeater's possum, by 2067.