This report looks at the issue of the Key Threatening Process „Bell Miner Associated Dieback‟ (BMAD). This dieback has affected hundreds of thousands of hectares of NSW‟s forests from the Queensland border to the Victorian border. Millions of hectares of NSW‟s native forests are considered susceptible to this threat.

This report focuses on examples from the Border Ranges region in north east NSW.

Logging is implicated as the primary cause of BMAD. When the Forestry Corporation‟s management trials showed that their practices were making the problem worse they abandoned the trials and began targeting BMAD affected forests for intensified logging, in the full knowledge that the outcomes would be destroyed ecosystems.

Logging of BMAD affected forests is in contravention of the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management and thus the Forestry Act 2012 and Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals.

The costs of rehabilitating BMAD affected forests in the Border Ranges region is likely to already exceed $30 million, with costs rapidly increasing as the forests are further degraded.

Logging of BMAD affected and susceptible forests must stop until a sustainable solution to this problem is identified.

 Image: Bell Miner