The Oil Bore coupe was logged in 2019 and listed as "regenerated" by 2020.

Ed and his fellow campaigners put in a complaint to the Office of the Conservation Regulator (OCR) alleging the legal requirement to regrow the forest wasn’t complied with.

The OCR investigated, and found there was no breach of the law, saying there was “no direct evidence … the regeneration did not comply with the [legal] requirements.”

But internal OCR documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws by Ms Blakers, did suggest the regeneration failed to comply with the law.

An internal Case Decision Record says that the regeneration outcomes there “do not meet prescriptions in the Code” and resulted in “large areas of fragmented habitat and canopy floristics vastly different to that prior to harvesting”.

Despite that, the OCR concluded that since no harvesting operations were now occurring in those areas, they weren’t able to give any orders to VicForests. Essentially, since the logging company had declared it “finalised”, the regulator decided it had no power in relation to that coupe anymore.

In a statement, the OCR told the ABC it didn’t find any evidence VicForests had failed to meet its legal requirements.