As native forest logging ends in parts of Australia, governments and industry are turning to large-scale forest thinning as a tool to reduce bushfire risk, prompting a new debate over how best to protect communities in a warming climate. Research shows thinning can lower fire severity under some conditions, especially when paired with prescribed burning, but its effectiveness often diminishes during extreme fire weather — the very conditions driving the most destructive fires. Scientists warn that removing trees can alter forest structure, dry fuels, release stored carbon, and eliminate critical wildlife habitat, meaning the ecological and climate costs may be substantial in high-conservation forests. The controversy reflects deeper tensions over land use, public safety, and economic transition, with critics arguing that large-scale thinning risks becoming logging by another name while supporters see it as a necessary adaptation to escalating fire danger.

Additional related coverage by Rhett Ayers Butler: Is “forest thinning” just logging by another name?