David John Stephens pleaded guilty to "remain[ing] in a timber harvesting safety zone without authorisation" on April 20 last year, when he entered the "Gluestick" logging coupe and filmed two VicForests contractors, causing one of them to stop work.

The court heard one of the contractors had subsequently recognised Mr Stephens at a campsite.

When the accused was approached by Game Management Authority officers two-and-a-half weeks later, he told them he believed VicForests were breaking the law by logging within 100m of a wedge-tailed eagle's nest and repeatedly requested that line-of-sight measurements be taken of the distance involved.

He had been issued with a $545 infringement notice but had elected to have the matter heard and determined by the court.

Appearing for Mr Stephens, Environmental Justice Australia lawyer Natalie Hogan said the background to the offence was VicForests' March 2022 approval of a plan for the "salvage logging" of areas affected by the storm events of 2021 and 2022, including in areas the government had undertaken to protect in a new Wombat-Lerderderg national park.

Her client had become aware of the presence of a wedge-tailed eagle in the Gluestick coupe and wanted to warn the logging operators about it, she said.

Mr Stephens, who was at the time a committee member of the group Wombat Forestcare, had entered the coupe "essentially ... out of concern for a particular species" because "other options" had been exhausted.

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Subsequently, his concerns proved to be founded when correspondence from the government's Timber Harvesting Compliance Unit sent to Wombat Forestcare's convenor showed logging in a neighbouring coupe had come within 90m of another eagle's nest.

The court heard Mr Stephens, who grew up in a Swan Hill farming family and moved to Melbourne to go to school, had a long-term commitment to environmental and community welfare issues.

After moving to Daylesford in 1989 he bought land near the Wombat Forest and was moved to initiate a "Stand Up for the Wombat Forest" campaign by the extent of logging there.

The disability support pensioner and father-of-four had been involved in a wide range of community welfare and environmental issues, and the vast majority of his work had been lawful and had seen him seek out "roles where he could influence structural, institutional and legal change", Ms Hogan said.

The prosecutor emphasised the impact of Mr Stephens' action, which he said stopped work and raised significant safety issues, suggesting a fine of $300 to be donated to the CFA might be appropriate.

However, Magistrate Megan Aumair said the harvesting work going on at the time was "in breach of the regulations because it was conducted within 100m of a wedge-tail eagle nest".

"I respect entirely your motivation," she told Mr Stephens.

"It pains me to think a beautiful eagle's nest was at risk and that was your concern that day."

Despite this, there had been a breach of legislation and "a message [needed to be] sent".

Under new forest protest laws that came into effect just days ago, Mr Stephens faced a fine of up to around $10,000.

However, after finding the charge proven, Magistrate Aumair dismissed it.

Coincidentally, the hearing came on the day the Victorian government announced an end to native forest logging in the state from January 1, 2024.

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