ABC News, 9 June 2022:
The NSW Agriculture Minister has signalled the government has no plans to phase out logging of native hardwood in state forests.
Key points:
All North Coast Wood Supply Agreements have been extended until 2028
The Agriculture Minister says selective harvesting of native forests is a renewable industry and does not plan to phase out the practice
Critics say the contracts are 'reckless' and unsustainable post-bushfires and further threaten the habitats of endangered animals
The state government announced a five-year extension of North Coast Wood Supply Agreements last week.
Minister Dugald Saunders said all agreements due to end next year had been renewed in order to provide "certainty" for the industry to "invest in their businesses".
The agreements cover the area spanning from the Mid North Coast to the Queensland border, and include state forests in Dorrigo, Wauchope, Kempsey, Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Taree, Wingham, Gloucester, Glenn Innes and Casino.
Mr Saunders confirmed the main terms were unchanged, meaning Forestry Corporation would continue to supply existing quantities and species to timber companies in exchange for payment…..
North East Forest Alliance, media release, 9 April 2022:
The NSW Government’s Koala Strategy released today will do little to turn around their extinction trajectory as it is not stopping logging and clearing of Koala habitat which, along with climate heating, are the main drivers of their demise.
“The Strategy proposes nothing to redress the logging of Koala habitat on public lands where at best 5-10 small potential Koala feed trees per hectare need to be protected in core Koala habitat, with the only other requirement being to wait for a Koala to leave before cutting down its tree” NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.
“We know that Koalas preferentially choose larger individuals of a limited variety of tree species for feeding, and losses of these trees will reduce populations. So protecting and restoring feed and roost trees is a prerequisite for allowing populations to grow on public lands.
“The most important and extensive Koala habitat we know of in NSW is in the proposed Great Koala National Park, encompassing 175,000 hectares of State Forests south of Grafton and west of Coffs Harbour.
“Similarly on the Richmond River lowlands the most important and extensive area known is the proposed Sandy Creek Koala Park, encompassing 7,000 ha of State Forests south of Casino.
“These are public lands that we know are important Koala habitat that need to be protected from further degradation if we want to recover Koala populations. There are many other areas of important Koala habitat on State forests in need of identification and protection from logging.
“The centrepiece of the NSW Koala Strategy is to spend $71 million on private lands, buying properties and implementing conservation agreements over up to 22,000 hectares.
“This will not compensate for the Liberal’s promises to the Nationals, as peace terms in the 2020 Koala Wars, to remove the requirement to obtain permission before clearing core Koala habitat, to end the prohibition on logging core Koala habitat, to open up all environmental zones for logging, and to stop core Koala habitat being added to environmental zones.
“Throwing money at piecemeal protection of private land, while allowing some of the best Koala habitat to be cleared and logged will not save Koalas
“Similarly their strategy to spend $31.5 million to restore and plant new Koala habitat could help, but only if they first stopped clearing and logging existing Koala habitat.
“Rather than the proposed piecemeal approach, what we need for private lands is for the Government to fund Councils to prepare Comprehensive Koala Plans of Management that identify where the core Koala habitat and important linkages are, and then to direct funding to best protecting those lands.
“The NSW Koala Strategy is set to fail because it does not fulfill the most fundamental requirement of stopping existing Koala habitat from being cleared and degraded, and lacks a strategic approach to identify the highest priority lands for protection and revegetation” Mr. Pugh said.
Koala strategy: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/threatened-species/programs-legislation-and-framework/nsw-koala-strategy
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBlLkEcG0Ew
NSW FORESTRY CORPORATION is salvage logging KOALA HABITAT in CLOUDS CREEK and ELLIS STATE FOREST AGAIN IN 2022.
These wet sclerophyll public native forest compartments are within the proposed GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK and were extensively burnt during the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires in November 2019.
This short video clip is a time series of satellite images taken from 16 September 2018 through to 9 June 2022, showing the impacts of logging and bushfire on the local landscape.
The forests here on the Dorrigo Plateau adjoin the NYMBOI-BINDERAY NATIONAL PARK and surround the Clouds Creek Pine Plantations in the southern end of Clarence Valley in northern NSW.
They are managed by the Grafton office of NSW Forestry Corporation, Hardwood Division.
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (NSW OEH) has mapped the forests here as preferred koala habitat and the Clouds Creek state forest is recognised as a priority Koala Hub in need of protection to prevent NSW Koalas becoming extinct by 2050.
The Chaelundi Bioregion is a higher elevation, biodiversity hotspot which lies within the north western bounds of the Great Koala National Park proposal and provides forest connectivity across the eastern ranges critical to providing climate adaptivity for a multitude of threatened species living in these old growth, subtropical and warm temperate rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest areas above 600 metres asl.
Sign the Great Koala National Park Petition: https://www.koalapark.org.au/petition
Save Our Oldgrowth Trees
PLEASE WRITE TO THE NSW GOVERNMENT TO DEMAND THEY STOP CLEARING AND LOGGING ANIMAL'S HOMES AND START THE LONG PROCESS OF RESTORING THEM.
https://www.nefa.org.au/hollow_housing_crisis
IF YOU ARE A NSW RESIDENT - SIGN THE NSW e-Petition: End Public Native Forest Logging
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/Pages/ePetition-details.aspx?q=quge-8rdRlyn4PTcuMj_PA
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