23 JUNE UPDATE

What's next?

The GFD Steering Committee is taking steps towards reframing our third Dialogue around the recent announcement to end native timber harvesting in Victoria by 2024. If you're keen to be involved - as co-chair, as a member of the advisory task group, or by contributing to the terms of reference and scoping paper - please get in touch.

Yarram Dialogue

The 'Plantations in the landscape' Dialogue is now tentatively scheduled for the second week of November. The Task Group is meeting monthly and actively seeking co-chairs to help make this Dialogue a winner - get in touch if you'd like to get involved.

Our Dialogues

Keep up to date

Our new events calendar is now up and running! It lists upcoming meetings as well as links to the minutes from past meetings - keep on scrolling and check it out below!

Spread the word

The Communications and Engagement sub-committee is looking for bright sparks with marketing and communications backgrounds from across Gippsland. Please let us know if you can think of anyone with the expertise to help extend our reach.

Get in touch

Getting to know...

Aly Nicholl

GFD's Admin and Operations Support superstar Aly Nichol grew up in Greta on a dairy farm before studying Applied Science at university and spending a year volunteering at Mittagundi Outdoor Education Centre near Omeo—which is where she first fell in love with Gippsland and its forests. She has lived, worked, volunteered and recreated in Gippsland's environment ever since, and now lives in Bruthen with her family.

Can you tell us about your work with the GFD?
I am the administration and operations support for the GFD. I support GFD members in preparing and summarising meetings and growing and developing GFD's processes and membership group. Currently we have a steering committee, three sub-committees and a dialogue task group that are meeting monthly, and we meet bi-monthly with The Forests Dialogue.

Why did you choose to get involved with GFD?
I really appreciate that we need all kinds of people in the world to keep our natural environment functioning and I feel that the GFD is a perfect space to bring people together to find common ground for the benefit of Gippsland's forests and communities.

How do you think the GFD is going?
To be honest, I think we were all a bit nervous heading into our first dialogue last year. But our first night laid really solid foundations and we have a strong cohort of passionate, experienced members who have taken the process on board and crafted a safe space for people to talk, listen and plan for the future.

And finally, what’s your favourite patch of forest?
I guess my longest relationship with a forest is the area surrounding Mittagundi. I love being able to look out at snow-capped Mount Wills in winter and watch the water drip from the leaves and then explore the diversity of plants as spring emerges in such a unique and spectacular part of Australia.