Victorian logging bans will likely remain in place until the native timber industry is phased out, after an appeal by state-owned forestry company VicForests was thrown out.

VicForests had appealed a Supreme Court decision to halt logging in parts of the state after finding the forestry company failed to adequately survey for protected glider species.

Court of Appeal president Justice Karin Emerton dismissed the appeal alongside Justices Cameron Macaulay and Stephen Kaye, and ordered VicForests to pay court costs.

In May, the Victorian state government announced plans to end native timber harvesting by 2024, four years earlier than planned, claiming the sector had become unviable due to ongoing legal action.

VicForests’ last annual report recorded a loss of $54.2 million.

– AAP