Victoria’s state-owned forestry corporation has been told to suspend the release of new areas of native forest for logging, in a decision the timber industry says has put scores of regional small businesses in peril. The Andrews government has intervened to stop VicForests putting out its next timber release plan, due to concerns about threats to protected wildlife and the impact of recent bushfires and climate change on the state’s forests. The timber release plan – a document that identifies areas, called coupes, that can be logged over the next three to five years – is already more than a year overdue. On Thursday VicForests said the Andrews government had directed it not to proceed with a timber release plan until further policy work was completed. …Internally, the Victorian Environment Department has been pushing for an end to native timber harvesting within all old-growth forests – a recommendation the Andrews government has not run with.