Across Tasmania, the illegal collection of firewood in native forests is common throughout the year — but the state's public forestry company says it has become "rampant", putting safety at risk and creating a black market.
In Tasmania the practice of illegally taking timber is sometimes referred to as "wood hooking".
Safety concerns about wood hooking were again brought to the fore with the death of a seven-year-old boy at Mt Lloyd in the Derwent Valley in 2015, when his mother's partner was cutting wood resulting in a falling branch crushing their ute.
Despite the tragedy, wood hooking in native forest areas continues apace.
In the nearby Plenty Valley, evidence of the practice is widespread.
New Norfolk resident Tim Morris has become increasingly frustrated with a forestry coupe that had logs removed for a road in 2020, but then was abandoned.
This resulted in wood hookers moving into the area, taking the felled logs and felling more for themselves.
Mr Morris, a former Greens MP, said he doesn't blame the wood hookers for trying to make an income, with fully traceable firewood difficult to source in the Derwent Valley.
But he said the practice should be far more regulated.
"At a bare minimum, people who are getting firewood from these areas should be supplying the customers with a certificate that says where the wood came from, the permit number if there's one applicable, and the moisture content of the wood, as well as their name and address and registration number," Mr Morris said.
"Then the customer would have surety about the quality of the wood that they're buying, and also about the legality of the wood.
"Because someone is buying this wood. They're either being told a lie by the guy who is selling it to them, or they're not asking. Both things occur, and it's widespread."
The issue was raised in parliament last month, with the state-owned forestry company Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) questioned about ways of addressing the problem.
STT said it is working with other agencies to find solutions, but that it was almost impossible to fully police activity on its 800,000 hectares of forestry estate.
'Thousands of tonnes' go missing a year
In native forest at Wielangta, east of Hobart, a roadside running through STT and Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) land is littered with fallen logs and debris from wood hooking over the past 12 months.
In some cases, large stringybark trees had fallen in the opposite direction as intended by the wood hookers, based on the wedge that had been cut.
STT southern region forest operations manager Dave White said their officers regularly encountered evidence of illegal wood hooking.
"Because it's done under the cover of darkness or on weekends, or after hours, we probably don't actually have a comprehensive understanding," he said.
"What we do know is when we come to places like this we can see a fairly significant impact. And we see it all around the state. It's thousands of tonnes that go missing a year."
STT issues licences for domestic consumption, allowing individuals to enter land after it has been logged, where they can collect dead and downed wood around the roadside.
Its logging contractors can also collect and sell approved firewood post-harvest.
Mr White said there was "scope" to look into greater regulation of the supply chain for more commercial sales, but at the moment, it was up to consumers to ask questions.
"Customers need to educate themselves about where their firewood is coming from. Learn to ask the questions, ask to see a permit, proof that you've harvested it legally, or it's come off a landowner's land with them knowing," he said.
With limited numbers of commercial firewood sellers, most of the market is on Facebook and Gumtree.
Mr White said STT staff had been threatened by illegal wood hookers when approaching them in the past, and it was difficult to police.
"If we come across something happening in the bush, we have to be a bit smart about our safety," he said.
"Often we'll be working alone in the middle of nowhere, and some of these people you just don't want to approach."
Tell customers the source
Tasmania has Australia's highest per capita consumption of firewood, and research by the University of Tasmania has found a significant majority of consumers are aware that wood is usually sourced illegally.
Towns and regional centres also suffer poor air quality in winter due to excessive firewood use, with green firewood, sold in the unregulated market, considered a major contributor by researchers.
The scale of the problem fascinated UTAS business and economics researcher Dr Nizam Abdu, who looked into whether a sustainable wood-labelling model could eventually address illegal wood hooking.
He carried out an online survey of 478 Tasmanians to determine their willingness to pay more for firewood, if there was a labelling system in place that included factors like the source of the firewood, how far away it had been harvested and if the sale contributed to environmental causes.
Dr Abdu said the results were encouraging, and gave him reason to believe a labelling system could be effective.
"Put it on a label, and place it on the trailer, or a truck, or a box, it doesn't matter. And tell the consumers this is the source of the wood, this is where part of your premium is going, this is where it comes from, and that the price is this much," he said.
"If the consumers understand the source of the wood is legal and sustainable, if it is safe, if they know where it is coming from, if it is from local or far distance and who is doing the business, that will potentially affect the market of the illegal wood collectors.
"It is not a silver bullet that can solve the problem immediately, but over time that will potentially reduce their supply capacity to the market, which will eventually over time reduce the problem of illegal wood harvesting."
