The 27-year-old pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, April 18 to illegally taking up to two cubic metres of river red gum timber from the Loch Garry Wildlife Reserve and illegally driving off formed roads in the reserve.
He was fined an aggregate of $1000 with conviction and ordered to pay costs of $334.
He is the fourth Shepparton person to be fined.
Three other Shepparton men were fined a combined amount of $5000 in January and February for similar offences in in the Lower Goulburn National Park in September 2021.
All four men were caught through Operation Rivergum on concealed cameras in the reserve and park.
Operation Rivergum was a joint operation between the Conservation Regulator and Parks Victoria from 2020 to 2022 to address illegal firewood removal from vulnerable ecosystems along the Murray, Ovens, Goulburn and Loddon river corridors.
It targeted people removing firewood in large quantities for commercial gain and in doing so, destroying areas of wildlife habitat and native vegetation.
In Victoria firewood can only be collected in designated collection areas during the autumn and spring collection seasons, with the autumn season currently open until June 30.
This year the Conservation Regulator is targeting firewood theft across the state with Forest Fire Management Victoria and Parks Victoria through Operation Hollows.
Authorised officers are patrolling forests, parks and reserves, and use concealed cameras and other methods to detect offences.
For more information on where you can collect, visit www.ffm.vic.gov.au/firewood/firewood-collection-in-your-region
The community is encouraged to report information about suspected firewood theft to 136 186.
