North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) continues to call for an end to the logging of public native forests as Forestry NSW losses on such logging rises to $29 million on the back of a $15 million loss in the 2022-23 financial year following on from a $9 million loss in 2021-22 & a $20 million loss in 2020-21 year

 

Snapshot image via Meredith Staunton on X/Twitter
Click on image to enlarge

According to NEFA, the FCNSW 2023/24 Biomaterial Report identifies Forestry NSW as logging 9,484 ha of native forests in the last financial year.

The current state minister responsible for the Forestry Act 2012 (NSW) is Tara Moriarty MLC, Minister for Agriculture. Under the Forestry Act 2012, Forestry Corporation of New South Wales (Forestry NSW), has two voting shareholders, the NSW Treasurer (currently Daniel Mookhey MLC) and Minister for Finance (currently Courtney Houssos MLC), who appoint the Board of Directors.

Forestry NSW as a government-owned corporation manages around two million hectares of multiple-use public native forests, including coastal native forests, cypress forests and red gum forests and, a small number of hardwood plantations.

The responsibility and accountability 'buck' has always stopped with successive NSW governments when it comes to forestry in this state and, in 2024 there is no legitimate excuse for the Minns Labor Government and Ministers Moriarty, Mookhey and Houssos to continue down this environmentally and financially ruinous path towards a multiple species flora & fauna extinction event.

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]

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)

Does NSW Premier Chris Minns, his Environment Minister Penny Sharpe or Agricultural Minister Tara Moriarty ever wonder just whose interests the forestry brands that lobby them conceal from view?

“Put the foresters back in charge of the forests.” 

Malcolm David McComb, Pentarch Group, quoted in The Monthly, November 2020

According to the 'privately-owned' Melbourne-based PENTARCH GROUP it commenced business in 1984, combining the expertise of five individuals with diverse commercial backgrounds. In the early 1990s, the group’s primary focus was on three key businesses - representing major international manufacturers of military hardware, exporting containerised hay to Japan, and exporting softwood logs to South Korea - through its Industrial, Forestry and Agricultural divisions.

By 2019 the Group was managing over 8,000ha of land - with est. 30 per cent of the defined forest area being native forest. 

That year NSW Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Forestry John Barilaro announced Pentarch Logistics Pty Ltd was receiving a $3 million grant to drive innovation and technology advancements in the NSW forestry industry.

In August 2021 the Group purchased the assets of Dormit Pty Ltd which operated two sawmills and associated operations located at Dandenong South and Swifts Creek in Victoria. That same year Boral divested its timber business to the Group in October 2021. Allen Taylor & Company, Duncan’s Holdings and their subsidiaries (collectively known as Boral Timber) now trade under the brand Pentarch Forestry. This acquisition saw Pentarch add eight sawmills, including part ownership of the Highland Pine mill at Oberon, to allegedly become the largest hardwood processor in NSW.

Pentarch Forestry exports in excess of 800,000tn per annum of plantation softwood and hardwood from Australian and New Zealand ports. This division is actively involved in forestry harvesting and haulage; port logistics including marshalling, storage and stevedoring; and international marketing and shipping.

These days its forestry division boasts that its key woodchip and logs export destinations are; China, India, Japan, Korea and the Middle East. While its sawn timbers are listed as being sourced from; Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. 

By 2022 the Pentarch Group operated 20 sites nationally with a high concentration of timber mills in NSW.

The Pentarch Group clearly states:

Timber sustainably sourced from our native forests is our most valuable and precious resource and Pentarch Forestry™ takes pride in finding ways to better use every part of that resource.

In particular Pentarch Forestry harvests Tasmanian hardwood logs from the north-west of that state and timber from native forests (including privately-owned native forest) on land around Nungatta, Mila & Delegate in NSW, as well as from Combienbar, Murrangower & Bendoc in Victoria and, apparently sees itself as helping to protect and manage a large permanent native forest estate.

[Mapping at https://pentarchforestry.com.au/sustainability-environment/sustainable-forest-management/]

The Group's milled native timber is ending up as everything from solid timber floor boards through to mass produced wooden pallets for industry and woodchips as a secondary product.

Its offices can be found at 18 different locations across five states. [See list & details at end of this post]

In its April 2022 submission to the NSW Legislative Council's INQUIRY INTO LONG TERM SUSTAINABILITY AND FUTURE OF THE TIMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY, Pentarch advocated for the permanent retention of multiuse State Forest. Also expressing a sense of frustration that the forestry industry had not been allowed carte blanche to clear the 2019-20 native forest fire grounds of all suitable timber. Apparently a firm believer in a forest restoration harvesting process. Leaving this reader with the suspicion that the Pentarch Group belongs to the 'lets keep the forest floor tidy' brigade.

2022 was also the year that Pentarch Forestry Pty Ltd had  its Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sustainability certification (first obtained in 2017) suspended when a renewal audit found that Pentarch’s due diligence system was out of date, regrowth native forest and plantation wood were at risk of being mixed together, and threatened species assessments were not being done.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison & Chairman Pentarch Group Malcolm McComb. IMAGE: Merimbula News Weekly, 23 June 2020

Despite the apparent ease of access to political decision makers large forestry corporations appear to enjoy at federal & state government level, this apparently doesn't satisfy all in the industry that their voices are the loudest. 

The Pentarch Group chairman also reportedly co-founded Forest and Wood Communities Australia which has a dedicated website, a Facebook page and an X/Twitter account with the less than subtle principal aim of pushing back against so-called "environmental extremists", "ideological idiocy", criticising the Victorian Government and pressuring the NSW Minns Labor Government. The social media accounts in particular have a tendency to mislead.

The faces fronting the Pentarch Group are on display at:

http://www.pentarch.com.au/pentarch_team.html.

However, the principal corporations in this group are very careful to conceal shareholder identities - all shares in the following three registered companies are beneficially held by the companies on behalf of unnamed individuals/corporations.

Although it is not hard to imagine that the Sedger, McComb, Yuncken, Cuthbertson and Dadd families might properly feature heavily on the shareholder list - along with a discreet number of self-managed super funds, investment entities and trusts. It is also not hard to imagine that the 'hidden' nature of such shareholder lists might potentially contain conflicts of interest for state and local governments dealing with the forestry industry.

It is noted that the Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW and the NSW Treasurer were meeting in 2023 with members of the forestry industry concerning what was loosely described as "forestry industry reform" and "forestry matters".

~~~~~~~~~~

PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 31/03/1994

Registered address & principal place of business:

'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,

SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)

STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN

Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid

• 838 Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

• 600 Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

Current roles in the following organisations:

PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD

ACN: 661 995 035

ABN: 98661995035

Address: Unknown

OCEAN2EARTH PTY LTD

ACN: 663 110 629

ABN: 71663110629

Address: Unknown

Current shares and interests in:

*675,000 CLASS I SHARES & 1,125,000 CLASS

N_SHARES Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: SOUTH EAST FIBRE EXPORTS PTY LTD

ACN: 000 604 795

ABN: 85000604795

Address: Unit 1, 250 Charman Road, CHELTENHAM VIC 3192

*600 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD ENTERPRISES PTY LTD

ACN: 607 144 089

ABN: 65607144089

Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551

*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: SAPPHIRE FORESTS PTY LTD

ACN: 607 256 780

ABN: 85607256780

Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551

*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD EXPORTS (TAS) PTY LTD

ACN: 619 876 345

ABN: 23619876345

Address: Jews Head, EDROM NSW 2551

*1,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: FORESTS IN PERPETUITY PTY LTD

ACN: 639 068 732

ABN: 84639068732

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

*73,740 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

ACN: 094 390 271

ABN: 88094390271

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD

ACN: 661 995 035

ABN: 98661995035

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

~~~~~~~~~~

PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 31/03/1994

Registered address & principal place of business:

'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,

SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)

STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN

Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid

• 838 Beneficially Held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

• 600 Beneficially Held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

Ultimate holding company for:

PENTARCH FOREST PRODUCTS PTY LTD

ACN: 059 465 879

ABN: 57059465879

Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181

ARI LEASING PTY. LTD

ACN: 072 963 798

ABN: 77072963798

Address: Unknown

PENTARCH LOGISTICS PTY LTD

ACN: 075 432 254

ABN: 99075432254

Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181

PENTARCH AGRICULTURAL PTY LTD

ACN: 101 274 613

ABN: 45101274613

Address: "KINGS GARDEN ESTATE", Level 1, 99 Coventry

Street, SOUTH MELBOURNE VIC 3205

SAPPHIRE HAULAGE PTY LTD

ACN: 132 292 436

ABN: 55132292436

Address: Unknown

NARROGIN HAY PTY LTD

ACN: 104 157 593

ABN: 73104157593

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

PENTARCH STEVEDORING PTY LTD

ACN: 108 439 185

ABN: 53108439185

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

MALLEE HAY PTY LTD

ACN: 123 956 089

ABN: 78123956089

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

PENTARCH FARMS PTY LTD

ACN: 123 956 105

ABN: 97123956105

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

~~~~~~~~~~

TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

ACN: 094 390 271

ABN: 88094390271

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 06/09/2000

Registered address & principal place of business:

Registered address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006

Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN

Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 73,740 Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

~~~~~~~~~~

Pentarch Group offices current as of 17.02.24:

TASMANIA

Massy Greene Drive

South Burnie, Tas, 7320

PO Box 3033

Ph: 03 6430 7333

VICTORIA

Level 1, 99 Coventry Street

Southbank, Vic, 3006

Ph: 03 9621 7900

Great Alpine Road,

Swifts Creek, Vic, 3896

Ph: 03 5159 4438

98 Indian Drive

Keysborough, Vic, 3173

Ph: 1800 818 317

96-106 Ordish Road,

Dandenong, Vic, 3175

Ph: 03 9706 5744

QUEENSLAND

838 Nudgee Road

Northgate, Qld, 4013

Ph: 1800 818 317

Suite 12 Level 1,

84 Wises Road

Maroochydore, Qld, 4558

PO Box 5561

Ph: 1800 818 317

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

176-178 Magill Road

Norwood, SA, 5067

Ph: 1800 818 317

NEW SOUTH WALES

Eden Log Export Facility

Lot 2, Edrom Road

Eden, NSW, 2551

Ph: 02 6496 0252

Eden, NSW

Eden Chip Export Terminal

Edrom Road, Jews Head

Eden, NSW, 2551

Ph: 02 6496 0222

420 Herons Creek Road

Herons Creek, NSW, 2443

Ph: 02 6585 7188

43 Mill Road

Koolkhan, NSW, 2460

PO Box 437

Ph: 02 6644 7280

13056 Summerland Way

Kyogle, NSW, 2474

PO Box 187

Ph: 02 6632 1866

148 Tweed Valley Way

Murwillumbah, NSW, 2484

PO Box 56

Ph: 02 6670 8700

6016/6018 Princess Highway

Narooma, NSW, 2546

PO Box 75

Ph: 02 4476 7908

Unit D1, Regents Park Estate

391 Park Road

Regents Park, NSW, 2143

Ph: 1800 818 317

50 BTU Road

South Nowra, NSW, 2541

PO Box 5014

Ph: 02 4447 8262

PRINCIPAL SOURCES:

• ASIC company extracts retrieved 16.02.24
• The Pentarch Group website at http://www.pentarch.com.au/

• Industry news media
• Submission 233, NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into Long term sustainability and future of the timber and forests products industry. 
• Pentarch Forestry, Forestry Management Plan, September 2019.
• NSW Government, 2023 Ministers' Diary Disclosures at https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/the-cabinet-office/access-to-information/ministers-diary-disclosures/2023
• The New Bush Telegraph, NSW Biggest Native Forest Logger Loses Sustainability Certification, 10 September 2022.
• Michael West Independent Media, Big logging company Pentarch pinged for shifty forestry practices, 7 September 2022.
• Forest and Wood Communities Australia at https://fwca.org.au/news/  https://twitter.com/woodcommunities & https://www.facebook.com/WoodCommunities/

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