The Cherry Tree Road was formally recognized as an area of Aesthetic value by the CRA Cultural Heritage Working Group during the Comprehensive Regional Assessment (CRA) in the late 1990’s.

While many people assume that Cultural Heritage is primarily about Indigenous values, our Cultural Heritage also includes non-Indigenous values such as historic, scientific, social and aesthetic values which also can qualify for protection under the State Heritage Act.

MEDIA RELEASE 28 February 2022

The North East Forest Alliance is calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to intervene to stop logging of important Koala habitat in Yarratt State Forest near Wingham in accordance with the June recommendations of the Natural Resources Commission and the Commonwealth’s February Conservation Advice for now Endangered Koalas.

As a signatory to the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has responsibility for NSW’s refusal to protect important Koala habitat on State Forests, and must modify his approval to provide rapidly declining Koala populations with the protection they urgently need, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

DPI Forestry’s Koala habitat ranking, OEH Koala Hubs and Koala records in Yarratt State Forest.

Conservation groups are dismayed by the NSW Government’s rejection of the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry 'to prevent the burning of wood from native forests to generate energy' and exclude its being classed as renewable energy.

Contrary to the Government’s claims of moving to net zero carbon and doubling Koala populations, burning native forests for electricity puts us and Koalas on an extinction trajectory, said North East Forest Alliance spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

The recent NSW parliamentary inquiry into ‘Sustainability of energy supply and resources in New South Wales’ found the burning of forest biomass for power generation is “not economically or environmentally sustainable, and it generates significant carbon emissions”, recommending “the government takes steps to declassify forest biomass as a form of renewable energy and ensure it's not eligible for renewable energy credits”.

MEDIA RELEASE 30 January 2022

Scott Morrison announcement of $50 million for Koalas is a smokescreen to cover-up his Government’s approval for increased logging and clearing of Koala habitat, while allowing climate heating to run amok, threatening the future of both Koalas and the Great Barrier Reef, according to the North East Forest Alliance.

“Without good policies on habitat protection and climate change no amount of money will save Koalas, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

“If Scott Morrison was fair dinkum about protecting Koala habitat the first thing he would do is to stop their feed and roost trees being logged and cleared. Money is no good for Koalas if they have nowhere to live.

“The second is to take urgent and meaningful action on climate heating, as Koalas and their feed trees have already been decimated by intensifying droughts and heatwaves in western NSW, and bushfires in coastal areas.

“If the Morrison Government doesn’t take urgent action on climate heating then neither Koalas nor the Great Barrier Reef will have a future.

MEDIA RELEASE 11 January 2022

NEFA have called upon the new environment Minister, James Griffin, to fulfil his responsibilities and immediately implement the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) minimalist recommendations to reduce the risks of logging compounding the massive impacts of the 2019-20 fires, including on Koalas.

It is now over 6 months since the NRC advised the Ministers for Environment and Foresty to immediately tell the Forestry Corporation to implement their recommendations, until the logging rules were changed, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

MEDIA RELEASE 24 November 2021

NEFA say they have confirmed that that Cherry Tree State Forest is core Koala habitat and are calling on the Minister Kean to stop logging their homes if his claims of saving Koalas from extinction and doubling populations are to have any credibility.

A NEFA assessment on Sunday has confirmed that Koalas and their habitat are widespread in Cherry Tree State Forest, making it core Koala habitat that would have logging excluded if it was on private land, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

“There is no doubt that Koalas are widespread in compartments 3 and 4 of Cherry Tree State Forest, and have been for at least the past 23 years, and it appears they are using most suitable feed trees.

“The forest in the logging area is dominated by Koala use tree species, and thus is highly suitable Koala habitat and qualifies as core Koala habitat as defined in State Environmental Planning Policy (Koala Habitat Protection) 2021.

MEDIA RELEASE 15 November 2021
Logging is underway in compartments 3&4 of Cherry Tree State Forest, on the Richmond Range near Mallanganee, with an action planned by Forest Defence NSW this morning.

With logging underway in Cherry Tree State Forest, NEFA have written to the EPA and Minister Kean asking for it to be stopped until outstanding issues are dealt with. It is particularly concerning that buffers are not being applied to rainforest given that it is known that logging significantly increases the risk and intensity of fires, and 30% of north-east NSW’s rainforests were burnt in the 2019/20 wildfires, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.
“As Koalas are present in the area there needs to be surveys to identify core Koala habitat for protection.

NEFA calls on the NSW Government to immediately act on Tuesday’s COP26 commitment given in the ‘Glasgow Leader’s Declaration on Forests and Land Use’, signed by 105 countries including Australia, ‘to working collectively to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030’ (1).

This pledge for forest protection provides a glimmer of hope amidst the unfolding global disaster caused by the refusal of some countries, including Australia, to reduce our emissions from fossil fuels, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

MEDIA RELEASE 12 October 2021

The North East Forest Alliance has described the latest Natural Resources Commission (NRC) report that denies logging of Koala feed trees has any impact on Koalas as dangerous propaganda that further threatens their survival by denying Koalas the increased protection they urgently need.

NEFA considers that the use of Koala recordings that indicate the presence of a Koala somewhere in the vicinity is not appropriate for detecting the impact of logging on Koalas and do not accept that the NRC can justifiably claim from DPI Forestry’s fundamentally flawed study that “the Coastal IFOA conditions and protocols did not adversely impact koala density”, said spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

“This is contrary to the EPA’s 2016 study that found “areas of higher activity positively correlated with greater abundance and diversity of local koala feed trees, trees and forest structure of a more mature size class, and areas of least disturbance”.

NEFA is calling upon the NSW Government to follow the leads of Western Australia and Victoria by immediately adopting a plan to phase out logging of public native forests because of their vital roles in taking up and storing carbon and providing homes for so many of our threatened species.