STOP state or private contract logging within and around the proposed boundaries of the NSW Great Koala National Park

 Pine Creek Choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuo7ZZ5NZ9A

"If the government holds out 20 years… we’ll hold out one day more!" [Meredith Stanton, Clouds Creek NSW, X /Twitter 1 November 2024]

Cartoons of the Week

David Pope

David Rowe

Cathy Wilcox

WORLD WILDLIFE FUND 2024: AUSTRALIA SCORES THREE Fs ON THREATENED SPECIES REPORT CARD

World Wildlife Fund - Australia

THE 2024 THREATENED SPECIES REPORT CARD

4 September 2024

*SELECTIVE EXCERPTS*

In September 2022, WWF-Australia launched its first Threatened Species Report Card, which provided a simple but scientifically robust way to track and communicate Australia’s progress in recovering our threatened species.

The methods behind the report card were developed in collaboration with conservation scientists from the University of Queensland. After the 2022 launch, the methods were improved through a peer review process, and published as a scientific paper in an international journal (Wardet al. 2024).

We have now refreshed the report card grades with 2024 data and have compared them with the 2022 results outlined in the scientific paper.

WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE OUR 2022 REPORT CARD?*

• 163 species have been newly listed as threatened

• 40 species have had their threatened status upgraded, e.g., from Vulnerable to Endangered

• 3 species have had a genuine improvement in their threat status, because the rate of their decline has slowed or stopped. These are:

o The Red Knot (Calidris canutus) which moved from Endangered to Vulnerable

o The Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris), which moved from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable

o The Northern Siberian Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica menzbieri), which moved from Critically Endangered to Endangered

 

• There have been no new extinction listings since our 2022 Report Card. However, 15 species have been listed as extinct or extinct in the wild in the last 10 years.

*Includes listing changes between 8 March 2022 and 30 June 2024.

GRADING

We calculated a score between 0 and 1 for each indicator, where 1 is the ideal scenario. We then assigned grades using equal intervals, where:

• an A grade is greater than 0.83,

• a B grade is 0.67 to 0.82,

• a C grade is 0.5 to 0.66,

• a D grade is 0.33 to 0.49,

• an E grade is from 0.17 to 0.32, and

• an F grade is less than 0.16.

As the reader will observe, in this report Australia received a shockingly bad overall assessment:

Funding - FAIL/F Grade

Recovery Plans - FAIL/ F Grade

Protection - LOW PASS/ C Grade

Threat Status Improvement - FAIL/ F Grade

Persistence - SECOND CLASS PASS/ B Grade

Full WWF The 2024 Threatened Species Report Card (released September 2024) can be read & downloaded at:

https://assets.wwf.org.au/image/upload/f_pdf/file_Threatened_Species_Report_Card_Technical_Report_2024

AUGUST 2024: a reminder to motorists that the endangered Coastal Emu has new chicks moving across paddocks & local roads in the Clarence Valley

The Daily Examiner online, 21 August 2024:

Ryan Walsh took this photo of endangered coastal emus near Grafton in the Northern Rivers.

There’s less than 50 coastal emus left on the planet – all living in a relatively small area of the Northern Rivers – so it’s no wonder locals are quite protective.

As young chicks start to emerge at this time of year, adding slightly to the endangered population, the community is on high alert – sharing updates and urging motorists to slow down.

Ryan Walsh has shared a dramatic image of three of the rare emus snapped on McIntyres Lane, at Gulmarrad near a highway overpass north of Grafton in the early evening. Mr Walsh warned motorists to keep a look out for the large birds on the move.

The emus cover large distances to forage and often cross roads in their travels, where they face a stark risk of being struck by cars and other vehicles.

“Yeah, the locals are very protective because we don’t want to lose our beautiful emus,” Mr Walsh said.

“There is one emu sign on the approach to the bridge – it’s dangerous, as coming from the opposite side you wouldn’t have seen them until you were on them.”

Clarence Valley Council urges landholders to install emu-friendly fencing that can help the last of the endangered animals survive and hopefully thrive.

Clarence Valley Council collaborates with the state government and several community groups including Coastal Emu Alliance on programs to try and save the coastal emu from extinction.

Work includes a citizen science tracking project and a campaign pushing for the use of more emu-friendly fencing......

Coastal emus remaining in the Clarence region are generally found between Red Rock and Evans Head, with a key hotspot in the Brooms Head area.

A coastal emu with chicks. Picture: Caring for Our Coastal Emus / Clarence Conversations

As part of council efforts to warn motorists, signs have been placed across the region. There’s even two large solar powered flashing lights using radar to detect and warn approaching vehicles installed along a key seven kilometre stretch of Brooms Head Rd.

While residents do their best to safeguard the emus, chicks have been emerging after being ‘brooded’ (basically sat on gently to keep warm, as smaller birds do too) for eight weeks by the males, who will continue to raise the chicks.

Locals like Lou Law noticed the first chicks of the season emerging this week and shared rare photos of one male – “Kevin” – and his tiny brood to keep the community in the loop.

“The kids are excited to see Kevin with his babies – they are so tiny you have to zoom right in to see them,” Ms Law posted on social media.....

And Northern Rivers koalas continue to die on our roads.....

"Your paws in my hands...my reality as koala rescuer." 

A video by LinguIna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIzHTHuIJ7Q

Echo, 20 August 2024:

Many locals and kids from Byron Bay and Suffolk Park were devastated at the news that Moji, the koala they had all been watching and caring for over the past several months, was found dead on the road this morning.

‘The person who hit Moji didn’t stop to see if he was ok, two young girls kindly moved him off the road and called WIRES,’ said Mark from WIRES. [my yellow highlighting]

Moji the koala is another victim of careless driving. Photo supplied

Moji had taken up residence in trees at the golf club but the scattered feed trees meant he and other koalas have to cross the road to ensure they can get enough to eat.

‘Many locals and kids who used to stop on their bikes and watch him,’ Deb Pearce from the Byron Youth Service (BYS) told The Echo.

‘This morning we received a call about a deceased koala opposite Crystalbrook,’ explained Mark. ‘I quickly rushed over to discover it was Moji. He had been hanging around the golf course for the last couple of months, hadn’t seen him for a while and today he obviously tried to return.

‘I’m absolutely gutted, me and Melissa, a fellow wildlife rescuer, have put many hours trying to keep him and a couple other koalas safe in the area. Bangalow Koalas kindly kept their VMS signs up all this time to warn drivers to slow down. Thanks to the drivers who drove with care and those who weren’t hopefully you can see what it means to those who do care and drive with more caution.’ ......

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)

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

Feb 2021 — EPA 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 2021 — EPA 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 2021 — EPA 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 2020 — EPA 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