Showing posts with label extinction crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extinction crisis. Show all posts

Monday 4 March 2024

North East Forest Alliance & Environmental Defenders Office fight on to protect the continued existence of native forests and the biodivsersity they contain

 

Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), March 2024 Newsletter, 29 February 2024:









Hope for NSW forests: Court decision upholds community’s right to challenge native forest logging


In the shadow of claims made by the NSW Forestry Corporation, communities have been led to believe that they have no rights to challenge decisions about industrial logging in NSW native forests or seek action over unlawful conduct when logging destroys hollow-bearing trees and critical habitat for threatened species.


But two recent court decisions have shattered those claims after EDO’s client successfully ran an argument which hasn’t previously been tested in the courts. After 20 years of resistance by the Forestry Corporation, it is now legally recognised that communities with a special interest have the right to hold the state-owned logging agency to account over its forestry operations in native forests.


NSW forests are remarkable for their diverse ecosystems, unique biodiversity and cultural significance. Encompassing semi-arid woodlands to lush rainforests, these globally recognised forests are home to an extraordinary array of plant and animal life, much of which is unique to the region.


Protecting our forests is one of the most important things we can do to manage climate change, preserve our precious biodiversity and prevent further species extinctions. Yet Forestry Corporation NSW logs around 30,000 hectares of state forest every year. Sadly, many of these forests are logged to be turned into low-value products, such as woodchips, that are exported to make cardboard and toilet paper.


Weak laws failing our forests


NSW Forestry Corporation is the state-owned logging agency that undertakes industrial logging in public native forests, including in nationally important koala habitat and areas that are still recovering from the catastrophic impacts of the 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires. It is entrusted with managing two million hectares of public forests, yet in the past three years alone, Forestry Corporation has been fined 12 times for illegal logging activities. There are 21 investigations still pending. 1


Forestry Corporation operates under bilateral agreements with the Federal Government, called ‘regional forest agreements’, or RFAs, which allow logging to bypass normal federal environmental scrutiny. No other industry benefits from such an allowance. Under the current system of RFAs, threatened species such as the koala, greater glider and gang-gang cockatoo are being driven to extinction and the ecosystems and landscapes that we depend on are being destroyed at an astounding rate.


For some 20 years, Forestry Corporation has asserted that the community cannot seek to challenge its public native forestry operations. On 20 November 2023, the NSW Land and Environment Court rejected that position.


Court decision confirms community right


The EDO represented the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) in mid-2023 challenging logging approvals in Myrtle and Braemar State Forests. The forests were severely damaged by the ferocious Black Summer Bushfires, which wiped out an estimated 70 per cent of the local koala population.


While NEFA was not ultimately successful, the court confirmed for the first time that the Forestry Act does not prevent persons with a special interest from taking legal action over forestry operations in NSW, including disputing logging approvals.


This is particularly important as NSW laws explicitly attempt to reduce the community’s right to challenge Forestry Corporation conduct regarding industrial native forest logging.


Forestry Corporation also argued that the court cannot judicially review harvest and haul plans because all forestry operations had already been approved by the relevant Ministers in the overarching regulation, the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA). However, the court again rejected that position and found that such operational plans are open to challenge.


Forest groups fight on after disappointing court decision


Building on the NEFA decision, South East Forest Rescue (SEFR) then took a step further with court action in January 2024. SEFR is seeking an injunction to stop Forestry Corporation from conducting any forestry activities in certain state forests until adequate surveys for greater, yellow-bellied and squirrel gliders have been performed. SEFR is being represented by XD Law.


SEFR argued that Forestry Corporation is breaking the law by not performing adequate surveys for den trees and necessary exclusion zones around den trees are not being implemented. It is the first time in 25 years that the Forestry Corporation has been brought to court by citizens for failure to comply with native forestry regulations, in particular failure to conduct adequate surveys for gliders.


Drawing from the findings in the NEFA decision, her Honour found that persons with a special interest can also seek to enforce the conditions of the CIFOA against Forestry Corporation.


These two decisions mark a significant departure from the status quo of the past 20 years and set important precedent for the community to hold the Forestry Corporation to account over native forest logging.


President of NEFA, Dailan Pugh said regarding NEFAs legal challenge:


While NEFA were disappointed that our legal challenge to the logging of important Koala populations in Braemar and Myrtle State Forests was not successful, it’s promising that the case did establish that NEFA have the civil right to enforce NSW’s logging rules, opening a door to litigation we thought had been shut to us since 1998.”


We thank the EDO for the immense effort they put into this case and creating future opportunities for NEFA, and other groups, to challenge the culture of complacency around logging fostered by lack of public accountability.”


1 Register of Crown forestry investigations (nsw.gov.au)


Friday 16 February 2024

Less than a year into its first term in office is the NSW Minns Labor Government shaping up to be just another environmental vandal?


In late December 2023 two matters were obvious. Firstly, even a cursory look at Forestry Corporation of NSW's collection of penalty notices, warnings and secondly adverse judgments indicated the list was growing longer [see Background] and secondly, its corporate business losses remained a drain on the NSW state treasury with annual financial statement showing est. $15 million loss on native hardwood timber operations in 2022-23, following est. $9 million loss in 2021-22 and est. &19.1 million loss in 2020-21 [based on Forestry NSW annual reports].


Something had to give and the NSW Government has obviously decided it wasn't going to be the logging practices of Forestry NSW.


I rather suspect (bearing in mind Coastal IFOA conditions can only be amended jointly by the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Agriculture) that both the Premier and the timber industry may have decided that the current Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW was the politician to target - 2023 being her first time in any ministerial position and her previous five shadow portfolios since May 2019 having nothing to do with either agriculture or forestry and little to do with regional NSW.


In the second half of 2023 this minister was directly involved in nine meeting concerning "forestry matters".


MEETING NUMBER ONE 20.07.23: Minister Moriaty & Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, University of Melbourne Business School, Australian Workers’ Union, CFMEU Manufacturing Division, Treasurer Mookhey, [Environment] Minister Sharpe re "Forestry matters".


After that in no particular occurrence order, meeting parties were:

Minister Moriaty & CFMEU;

Minister Moriaty & ForestWorks;

Minister Moriaty & Australian Forest Products Association;

Minister Moriaty & M&M Timbers, Greensill Bros, Mark Banasiak MLC [Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party];

Minister Moriaty & Australian Forest Products Association, The Pentarch Group;

Minister Moriaty & E Fitzpatrick & T Lions, Fitzpatrick and Co, Client – Timber NSW;

Minister Moriaty & Pentarch Group, Dr Michael Holland MP [ALP]

Minister Moriaty & South Coast Timbers, Dr Michael Holland MP [ALP].


Whereas the Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage's meeting schedule for the same period shows a more limited interest in forestry issues and one suspects that she may have passed the buck after that 20 July 2023 meeting.


  • MEETING NUMBER ONE 20.07.2023: Joint meeting Minister Sharpe & Moriarty, Mookhey with Australian Climate & Biodiversity Foundation, Uni Melb Business School, AWU, CFMEU re "Forestry industry reform".
  • Minister Sharpe & North East Forest Alliance re Forestry & GKNP;
  • Minister Sharpe & Hurford Group - re Private Forestry.


This ministerial sharing arrangement appears to indicate the city-centric Minns Labor Government is holding fast to the fallacies surrounding its native timber industry as Forestry Corporation NSW losses mount and the timber industry lobby groups become a persistent earworm.


It is noted that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of the NSW Government Planning and Environment Cluster sitting in the portfolio of the Minister for Environment and Heritage, did not have a seat at the table during any of these meetings and yet it appears to have been the vehicle used to introduce further reductions in levels of protection for native wildlife in state forests.


Sadly, the following media releases demonstrate why and how, what native hardwood forests remain within state forests are about to become the government-endorsed playground of an out-of-control Forestry Corporation NSW.


NSW EPA, media release, 2 February 2024:


New protections for endangered southern greater gliders

02 February 2024


Endangered Southern Greater Gliders across the east coast of NSW will be better protected under NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) amendments to forestry rules that will protect more hollow-bearing trees in operations where gliders are present.


From 9 February, changes to the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA) protocols will come into effect, requiring Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) to meet new protection requirements for southern greater gliders.


EPA Chief Executive Officer, Tony Chappel said the change was a significant step-forward in the long-term protection of gliders as well as other native animals reliant on hollow-bearing trees such as possums, owls and parrots.


This change means that instead of depending on unreliable point in time surveys to find the habitat of the gliders, we will assume the species is present and conserve their habitat,” Mr Chappel said.


“This ensures the critical habitats of some of our most endangered and much-loved native animals are protected.


We have reviewed extensive research, sought expert views and believe this change strikes the right balance, resulting in significant ecological and regulatory improvement to the current arrangements.


We have also consulted FCNSW to ensure any potential timber supply impacts are known and managed.


If non-compliances with these new conditions are found, the EPA will not hesitate to take appropriate regulatory action to ensure greater gliders are being protected in forestry operations.”


The changes can be found on the EPA website here


The new CIFOA requirements include:


  • A 50-metre exclusion zone around known recorded locations of greater glider dens.


  • Protection of extra greater glider trees in addition to existing hollow bearing and giant tree requirements:


*Six trees per hectare greater than 80cm in diameter in high greater glider density areas, in addition to the eight hollow bearing trees currently required to be protected.


*Four trees per hectare greater than 50cm in diameter in lower density areas, in addition to the eight hollow bearing trees currently required to be protected.


*The retention of additional hollows and future hollow-bearing trees in areas where greater gliders are less likely to occur.


  • Greater glider trees must prioritise hollows (especially ones with evidence of use) where they exist.


  • Undertaking of a monitoring program to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of these new rules for greater gliders.


A new map that shows where these different greater glider areas occur.


World Wildlife Fund Australia, news release, 2 February 2024:


Conservation groups outraged; scientists not consulted


The NSW Environment Protection Authority will no longer require Forestry Corp to search for and identify the den trees of endangered greater gliders before logging operations.


Instead Forestry Corp will be required to protect just six extra trees per hectare, greater than 80cm, in addition to the existing requirement to protect eight hollow-bearing trees.


I’m shocked, this is a huge step backwards. Decisions like this will hurtle this species much more rapidly towards extinction. The EPA executive is abdicating its responsibility to protect threatened species,” said Dr Kita Ashman, Threatened Species & Climate Adaptation Ecologist, WWF Australia.


The issue of greater glider den trees came to a head when Forestry Corp bulldozed thousands of trees in Tallaganda State Forest, one of the last greater glider strongholds.


Last August the EPA launched an investigation saying it had no confidence Forestry Corp had properly searched for den trees and protected them with 50 metre exclusion zones, as the government-owned corporation was required to do.


Now the EPA has removed the requirement that Forestry Corp search for den trees.


Eminent greater glider scientists were not consulted about these changes. We need a fundamental shift in how forests are managed if greater gliders are to survive. The EPA needs to take leadership and improve forestry rules to better protect greater gliders and all threatened species,” said Wilderness Australia Operations Manager Andrew Wong.


Known greater glider den trees will still be protected with exclusion zones. But who’s going to identify them if there’s no requirement for Forestry Corp to do it. That job will be left to citizen scientists but it’s unclear whether they’ll be legally able to access logging areas before they’re bulldozed. This is a complete mess,” said South East Forest Rescue Coordinator Scott Daines.

[my yellow highlighting]


NSW EPA, media release, 9 February 2024:

Forestry protocol

09 February 2024


The commencement of the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA) protocol and the site-specific biodiversity condition for greater gliders will be postponed by a week.


Last week, we announced changes to the protocol which will have an important role in protecting hollow bearing trees.


We have been consulting with stakeholders and considering their feedback to ensure we find the most appropriate way to address concerns while achieving long-term protections for this endangered species.


Existing requirements remain in force during this period and we will not hesitate to take regulatory action, including stop work orders, where we think there will be non-compliance.


Until the protocol and site-specific biodiversity conditions are finalised, we will treat all glider habitat forests as high risk.


We want to thank all stakeholders for working with us as we refine these changes.



BACKGROUND


A brief look at the history of Forestry NSW warnings, penalties.........


NSW Environmental Protection Agency (NSWEPA), media release, 22 December 2023:


Forestry Corporation ordered to pay $104,000

22 December 2023


Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) is required to pay more than $100,000 after illegally felling hollow bearing trees in Mogo State Forest on the South Coast in March 2020.


The sentence was handed down after FCNSW challenged one of three $15,000 penalty infringement notices issued by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), for breaching site-specific operating conditions following the damaging 2019/20 black summer bushfires.


Under these conditions, FCNSW was required to permanently retain all hollow-bearing trees to prevent the loss of habitat for hollow-dependent species.


Following the challenge, FCNSW was found guilty of the offence under the Forestry Act 2012 in Bega Local Court in November 2023. The Magistrate was satisfied all four trees had visible hollows before they were cut down.


The sentence was delivered in Batemans Bay Local Court yesterday, convicting FCNSW and ordering them to pay a fine of $20,000 and $84,340 to the EPA as legal costs.


EPA Executive Director of Regulatory Operations Jason Gordon welcomed the sentence and said the court’s decision supports the EPA’s position that the visibility of tree hollows must be assessed broadly, and requires scrutiny from several different angles.


All hollow-bearing trees, living or dead, are important because they provide vital habitat for endangered and native species,” Mr Gordon said.


They can take decades to naturally form and provide a necessary refuge for animals from the weather and predators, as well as safe sites for roosting and breeding.


Any decrease in the availability and variety of tree hollows can lead to a significant loss of species diversity and abundance.


This outcome is a great result for the EPA and signifies the care needed when conducting forestry operations to comply with conditions and ensure homes for our wildlife are protected.”


In sentencing, the Magistrate said there’s no reason for a casual approach to environmental protection and the community views environmental offences as extremely serious.


The Magistrate required FCNSW to publicise the offence and the orders made against it in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bay Post/ Moruya Examiner which would send a clear message of deterrence.


A partial list of Forestry Corporation NSW ( FCNSW) penalty notices and prosecutions July 2018 to June 2022:


Jun 2022 — EPA fines FCNSW — $15,000 for allegedly failing to comply with post-fire conditions South Brooman State Forest.

Jun 2022 — EPA prosecutes FCNSW for alleged breaches of post-fire conditions at Yambulla State Forest, near Eden after the 2019/20 bushfires.

Jun 2022 EPA prosecutes FCNSW $135,600 + 150,000 in legal costs fines and costs totalling $285,600 have been levelled against FCNSW after the Land and Environment Court found tree felling in exclusion zones had done “actual harm” to koala habitat Wild Cattle Creek State Forest on Dorrigo Plateau.

Apr 2022EPA penalty infrigement notice to FCNSW $45,000 felling hollow bearing trees across three areas — Mogo State Forest  

Feb 2021EPA penalty infrigement notice to FCNSW — $15,000 failed to mark a riparian exclusion zone boundary, contrary to the requirements of the Integrated Forestry Operations Approval held by FCNSW — Olney State Forest 

Feb 2021EPA issued two penalty notices and one official caution to FCNSW —  $30,000 —  inspections of the area following a harvesting operation identified 10 freshly cut mature trees within the hard and soft protection zones of a second order stream; a significant amount of debris pushed into a stream bed; and evidence of machine access, and earthworks caused by harvesting machinery within a protected zone — Ballengarra State Forest  

Mar 2021EPA two penalty notices three official cautions $33,000 — notices: for allegedly not including the critically endangered Swift Parrot records in planning for operations, and cautions: an alleged failure by FCNSW to mark-up eucalypt feed trees, an essential source of food for the birds, prior to harvesting  — Boyne, Bodalla and Mogo state forests  

Apr 2020EPA penalty notice —  $31,100 —  three alleged offences —  state forests Tantawangalo (not marking an adequate number of trees for retention and not marking the boundary of an environmentally sensitive area as an exclusion zone, required to protect the habitat of the Powerful Owl) and Bago (not marking an adequate number of habitat trees that needed to be retained).

Apr 2019 — $16,500 failed to implement the required protections for the rare threatened plant despite knowing of its location — Gibberagee State Forest

July 2018 — $30,000 breaching their environment protection licence and causing water pollution Gladstone State Forest



Thursday 14 September 2023

PROPOSED GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK - STATE OF PLAY SEPTEMBER 2023: and now for a some good news

 




Map of the proposed Great Koala National Park (white outline). Red polygons show planned logging over the next 12 months. White polygons are 'koala hubs’ - the most important sites of koala habitat in NSW [Nature Conservation Council (NSW), 2023] Click on image to enlarge



Nature Conservation Council (NSW)

Media Release, 12 September 2023



Critical Koala Habitat protected from logging: NCC welcomes moratorium of logging



The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, today welcomes the announcement by Ministers Sharpe and Moriarty that critical koala habitat in the future Great Koala National Park will be granted immediate protection from logging.


This is a historic step forward by the Minns Government. “From today, 8400 hectares of the most important koala habitat in the world will be protected from logging,” said Nature Conservation Council acting CEO Dr Brad Smith.


The NSW Government today announced the process to establish the Great Koala National Park, as well as a halt to timber harvesting operations in the 106 koala hubs within the area being assessed for the park.


As the NSW government notes “The 106 koala hubs cover more than 8,400 hectares of state forest. Koala hubs are areas where there is strong evidence of multi-generational, high-density populations of the iconic animal. Koala hubs cover approximately 5% of the Great Koala National Park assessment area, but contain 42% of recorded koala sightings in state forests in the assessment area since 2000.


The move comes after analysis by the Nature Conservation Council released in June found that 17.7% of state forest that constitutes the Great Koala National Park proposal was to be targeted for logging over the next 12 months – a 300% increase on the previous two years.


Critically, the analysis found that logging was planned in areas the NSW government has identified as the most important areas of koala habitat in NSW (OEH Koala Hubs) including Wild Cattle Creek, Clouds Creek, Pine Creek and Boambee State Forests.


"This is a big win for the environment movement, koalas and the forests of the mid north coast” Dr Brad Smith, NCC Acting CEO said.


What we’ve seen today is Ministers Sharpe and Moriarity recognise and respond to the community who want to protect their local forests, koalas and First Nations heritage from the devastating impact of logging.”


This decision is a win for the people of NSW, who rallied, protested and demanded better - in some cases tying themselves to the giant trees that will now remain standing. 


This decision is also a recognition that logging has a devastating impact on koalas and biodiversity. We applaud them for ensuring that the most important areas of koala habitat in NSW be protected.”


Protecting the most precious 5% of the Great Koala National Park area gives these koala populations a fighting chance.


Of course we’re also concerned about the remaining 95% of the proposed park area, and we look forward to working through that assessment to ensure it’s also protected from logging as soon as possible.


We also welcome the confirmation that 8400 hectares constitutes 5% of the park, meaning the Minns Government is delivering on their election promise by assessing all 175 000 hectares of forest that constitutes the Great Koala National Park proposal.”


Statement ends



Monday 4 September 2023

In the space of three days state-owned Forestry NSW has apparently thumbed its nose at the Land & Environment Court and exposed itself to the international community as an environmental vandal

 

Echo, 1 September 2023:




Aunty Alison and Aunty Lauren on Gumbaynggirr Country at Newry State Forest. Photo supplied


Gumbaynggirr Elder Uncle Micklo and the oldest and most senior Gumbaynggirr Elder living on Gumbaynggirr Country Uncle Bud Marshall brought a successful application to the Land and Environment Court (L&EC) that halted logging at the Newry State Forest on 22 August. They were supported by Gumbaynggirr elders Aunty Alison and Aunty Lauren.


The Judge accepted an undertaking from Forestry to stop all logging in the forest to allow for a site inspection by Gumbaynggirr Elders of sacred and significant sites in the forest that the NSW Forestry had been logging. It had been arranged for the elders to go for the inspection on Friday, 1 September, however, at the last minute they were contacted by NSW Forestry to cancel the site inspection.


The Judge also accepted an undertaking that the stop on logging should extend to the substantial hearing set down for November 14, 16 and 17 in the L&EC.


Last night (31 August) Forestry said they were going to call off the site inspection, then they said they wanted to delay for another two weeks. They are due back in court on Tuesday (5 September) and the site inspection is supposed to have taken place,’ said Al Oshlack, from the Indigenous Justice Advocacy Network who helped organise the stop work order. [my yellow highlighting]


We had a driver organised and they were going to go out to a number of sites in Newry Forest today (Friday, 1 September). Everyone is really upset because they have been locked out for a long time by Forestry with fences and cameras etc in place.’


Mr Oshlack told The Echo that Forestry appears to use a person named Mr Potter to sign off on their cultural heritage requirements. However, Mr Oshlack said they have been unable to find any Gumbaynggirr people who either know Mr Potter or who have been consulted about sacred and cultural sites in the area by Forestry NSW.


We have been asking around to find out if anyone knows who Mr Potter is but we haven’t been able to find anyone who knows this person so far,’ Mr Oshlack said.


I spoke to Gumbaynggirr people who have been looking for him and they said “We went to five different Gumbaynggirr families and no one has heard of him.”….



The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 September 2023:


Professor Helge Bruelheide, professor of botany at the University of Helle in Germany, was stunned by what he has seen exploring the forests in and around the promised Great Koala National Park on the state’s North Coast this week.


It is spectacular. All the variants of this Gondwana rainforest – cool and warm, temperate rainforest and also the subtropical rainforest – is something that is so unique globally that you wouldn’t find it in this particular combination elsewhere,” said Breulheide, one of the leading scientists in his field, who visited with 30 of his colleagues from around the world as they prepared for a conference on forest preservation to be held in Coffs Harbour next week.




Professor Helge Bruelheide at Border Ranges National Park, north of the proposed Great Koala National Park.


It’s incredible walking through the forest and seeing a different tree every 5 meters. It is unique in the world. And it is also ancient, what we have seen remnants of a vegetation that is long gone on Earth. Australia is a bit of an ark conserving this fantastic biodiversity.


I mean, I knew that from the books but touching it and seeing these wonderful trees is something different. We were completely shocked that this was being logged for paper pulp and timber. Particularly this type of forest, we really couldn’t understand that.” [my yellow highlighting]


It was not just the fact of the logging that stunned, but Bruelheide, but the nature of it. Rather than so-called single-stem logging that is common in places like Germany, where single trees are targeted and removed, loggers here take out whole sections, leaving behind a few trees in compartments (a section of forest identified for logging) that have been identified as critical feed or habitat trees for some endangered species.


I feel like I was time travelling back to the 60s when this was all over the place,” says Breulheide of what he saw inside a patch of the Moonpar State Forest identified on the Forestry Corporation website as Section 345…..


Overview of a Moonpar State Forest Section 345 in May 2023

Moonpar State Forest Section 345
IMAGE: via @CloudsCreek, 7 May 2023


Closer view of segment of Moonpar State Forest Section 345, May 2023, showing felled native trees. SNAPSHOT: Google Earth Pro

Click on images to enlarge