“The two states have timed highly controversial logging operations to start at exactly the same time,” according to the convener of the forest activist group Chipstop, Harriett Swift.

“We learned on Friday that the long awaited logging of Bermagui State Forest would start yesterday within hours of hearing that bulldozers were moving onto Brown Mountain in East Gippsland,” Ms Swift said.

The Bermagui logging has been the subject of pro-active preparations by the NSW Police who have threatened a zero tolerance approach to protesters.

Brown Mountain is part of the Snowy catchment and much prized by conservationists for its “valley of giants”.

“Forestry agencies clearly intend that the simultaneous logging operations will ensure that skilled activists from one state may not be available to assist colleagues in the other,” Ms Swift said.

“It may be no coincidence that these logging operations come hard on the heels of widely reported attacks on conservationists attempting to save Tasmanian forests last week. “NSW and Victorian forestry agencies may also expect these attacks to have drawn some activists away from this region,” she said.

Ms Swift said it was a pity that NSW and Victoria couldn’t manage that level of co-operation on useful activities such as saving the Murray River.