A ‘scare campaign’ over national parks? The fight over the future of Victoria’s forests

Dr Chris Taylor (in the yellow jacket), who has been visiting Victoria’s Central Highlands since he was 10, walks with conservationist Sarah Rees. Photograph: Nadir Kinani/The Guardian

It’s a familiar walk for Chris Taylor to a towering mountain ash tree thought to be approximately 400 years old.

The research fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University has been visiting this stretch of forest, known as Victoria’s Central Highlands, since he was 10.