The document, tabled in Victoria's parliament, found that the ecosystem is facing "major" threats that are devastating flora and fauna.

It has handed down 74 recommendations and found that the state is grappling with a storm of problems including noxious weeds, invasive species, climate change and habitat loss.

More news: Surgeon resigns, leaving fresh uncertainty on Bendigo clinic bid

Yet the report makes a "glaring omission", Bendigo and District Environmental Council' Wendy Radford said.

"It fails native forests in that it doesn't recommend an earlier date for removing logging or resource destruction from these precious, publicly owned repositories of biodiversity," she said.

Those repositories could be critical to humanity's survival, she said, citing concerns raised at the inquiry.

The inquiry heard native bee species as an example of pollinators that are now often critically endangered and, in some cases, extinct.

More extinctions would put extra pressure on introduced bee species pollinate crops. Those species are not necessarily thriving, globally.

In Europe alone, there has been a 75 per cent decline in "insect pollinator biomass" over the last 30 years, one expert told the parliamentary inquiry.

More on the crisis in Bendigo's forests:

The inquiry's report raised those concerns, even if it did not make the same link to forest management as Ms Radford.

"It is crucial to prevent further decline in native species - not just for individual species themselves, but for the vast array of ecosystems services they provide," the inquiry found.

Victoria has the highest number of threatened flora and fauna species in Australia, it noted.

Somewhere between one quarter and a third of all Victoria's terrestrial birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals are at risk of extinction, along with "numerous invertebrates and ecological communities", according to evidence tabled at the inquiry.

Reptiles have become increasingly likely to be listed as critically endangered or vulnerable, the inquiry found.

On the edge of the city, Greater Bendigo Snake Control's Tameeka Stevens was recently called out to what a client thought was a baby brown snake.

Instead it was a vulnerable striped legless lizard.

"Both snakes and turtles are becoming frequently displaced, as well as other not so common or endangered reptiles such as the striped legless lizard ... and the pink-tailed worm-lizard, which is [also] listed as vulnerable, Ms Stevens said.

Killing native snakes is illegal though there are many anecdotal stories of people doing it anyway.

It is unclear how many of them might be killing non-venomous lizards, some of which are found nowhere else in Victoria.

Overall, Victoria's native species numbers have dropped "significantly", the inquiry found, and species that have not been listed as threatened are not being "holistically protected".

It feeds into criticisms of forest management in the Wellsford made by BDEC

"A prime example is the recent sighting of six lace monitors out there, and yet there is still no action to protect their habitat," Ms Radford said.

"It is still open to damaging, sometimes illegal, unregulated firewood collection."

Earlier this year, a Junortoun resident took Ms Radford and the Bendigo Advertiser out to parts of the Wellsford where highly organised illegal wood harvesters appeared to have struck.

Ms Radford said the lost trees showed how vulnerable the forest was.

She added that under current laws there are other parts of the Wellsford where people can legally cut up trees for firewood, despite the toll it takes on habitat.

That is expected to be phased out by the end of the decade under current government plans.

Ms Radford said that lace monitors were among animals that needed undisturbed habitat to avoid the sorts of localised extinction events that have become too common in many parts of Victoria.

"In order to breed, female lace monitors need very old and large trees, which the Wellsford has, surrounded by healthy, undisturbed forest floor."

The inquiry did urge the government to consider rethinking logging, including by consulting First Nations experts about salvage logging, as well as more reviews and better definitions around what counts as an "old growth" forest.

Ms Radford believed the parliamentary report did a series of very important things that could one day protect Wellsford's lace monitors as other species clinging to forests across the state.

The report found that habitat destruction was a key driver of ecosystem decline, along with an idea to mandate governments act when land was identified as critically dangerous.

The inquiry found recovery programs for endangered species needed proper funding and, in many cases, for governments to follow through with action statements on how to protect plants and animals already listed for protection.

Below, both volumes of the new report. Story continues below.

DELWP recently committed to creating and updating action statements for all 2000 species on its lists, it told the inquiry.

Some experts told the inquiry that making a statement was not enough without a matching mandatory need to implement protection plans.

The inquiry recommended that happen as "a matter of urgency".

Other recommendations included the government taking action across a range of topics including invasive species, climate change and land management.

The government is currently considering the report and is expected to respond within six months.

In the meantime, Ms Stevens the snake catcher says one thing is vitally important.

"I hope the greater Bendigo community will take these matters seriously and look to invest more in protecting our native flora and fauna," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: