Dodging the issue of Bell Miner Associated Dieback again

Dailan Pugh, April 2021.

When I moved to live in the upper Clarence River valley in the early 1980’s I quickly learnt that the tinkling of Bell Miners (Bell Birds) was a harbinger of death, of understories infested with lantana and overtopped by sick and dead eucalypts.

Accounting for burning in issuing new Wood Supply Agreements.

Dailan Pugh, April 2021.

From August 2019 until January 2020 a series of wildfires burnt through 2.4 million hectares of north-east New South Wales (north from the Hunter River), encompassing 29% of the region and around half the remnant native vegetation. Due to the drought the fires were unprecedented in their extent and the intensity with which the wet forest refugia burnt.

Forest Corp returning to the scene of the crimes,  Cherry Tree State Forest.     

Jim Morrison

Following an extensive list of breaches to regulations in 2015, logging is scheduled to  begin again in Cherry Tree State Forest  in August this year.

The North East Forest Alliance is calling for an immediate 10% reduction in wood supply commitments to north-coast sawmillers from public forests because of the widespread death of trees due to the Black Summer bushfires, and a freeze on any new commitments until sufficient plots are sampled to accurately quantify remaining timber volumes.

The Forestry Corporation report ‘2019–20 Wildfires, NSW Coastal Hardwood Forests Sustainable Yield Review’ undertakes a preliminary desktop review of the likely impacts of the Black Summer wildfires on timber resources.

Media Alert: NE NSW Joins Statewide Save Our Koalas Day of Action

In the face of inclement weather the people of Northern NSW are rallying in their thousands from  Murwillumbah to Sydney this weekend to #SaveOurKoalas.

In Murwillumbah, Byron Bay, Lismore, Clarence Valley, Bellingen, Nambucca Heads, Armidale, the Hunter Valley, Central Coast and Sydney members of the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) are gathering to voice their outrage at the latest "Koala killer" SEPP from the Berejiklian Government.

MEDIA RELEASE 9 March 2021

The North East Forest Alliance has described the announcement by Barilaro, Stokes and Kean that they are going to resurrect the Koala killing bill under a different guise as a death blow for Koalas and a major wind-back of democratic rights in NSW.

The Government’s intent is to allow core koala habitat to be indiscriminately logged and cleared, and to take away Council’s ability to require consent for logging, as well as their ability to create environmental zones, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

MEDIA RELEASE 8 March 2021

The North East Forest Alliance has described the Forestry Corporation’s widening of a track through rainforest around a Hoop Pine plantation west of Urbenville (in the upper Clarence River valley) that resulted in the clearing and damage to 5-6 hectares of world heritage quality rainforest, mostly in the Tooloom National Park, as a callous and indiscriminate act of vandalism.

The Forestry Corporation’s bulldozing of whole trees out of the ground into the rainforest was reckless and indiscriminate vandalism, it caused immense damage to rainforest assessed as being of world heritage value in a national park, those responsible must be held to account and the rainforest rehabilitated, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

MEDIA RELEASE – 17 January 2021

North coast conservationists have described NSW’s renewable energy plan as an environmental tragedy due to its intent to fast track the replacement of coal with native forests as fuel for power stations under the pretence that it is renewable energy. 

“This will increase CO2 emissions and contribute to the rapidly worsening climate and biodiversity emergencies and take money from genuine renewable projects”, said North Coast Environment Council Vice-President, Susie Russell.

“When Matt Kean launched his $32 billion renewable energy plan in early November it was claimed that the aim was to replace the state’s ageing and polluting coal-fired power plants with renewable solar, wind and hydro power, what he didn’t say was that the plan apparently includes rebooting some of those coal plants with even more-polluting wood from native forests”, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

In the next six months Hunter Energy intends to restart the mothballed 151 MW Redbank Power Station, near Singleton in the NSW Hunter Valley, fed by native forests to make it one of world’s ten biggest biomass power plants.

MEDIA RELEASE – 24 November 2020

The imminent rebooting of the mothballed Redbank Power Station (near Singleton) with north-east NSW’s forests will make it Australia’s most polluting power station and an existential threat to the future of our children and wildlife, according to the North East Forest Alliance.

Hunter Energy is currently seeking expressions of interest for timber from across north-east NSW to fuel their Redbank Power Station, with plans to restart the facility in mid 2021 fed by native forests to make it one of world’s ten biggest biomass power plants.

The claims are that it will power 200,000 homes, which was identified in 2017 North Coast Residues Report as requiring one million tonnes of biomass to be taken from north-east NSW’s forests and plantations each year, with 60% of this coming from private forests, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

“This is shear madness as burning this volume will release some 1.8 million tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere each year to fuel climate heating, increased droughts, heatwaves and more intense bushfires, while increasing forest degradation and hastening species extinctions.

“The community needs to urgently speak up to stop the NSW and Commonwealth Governments from allowing this environmental disaster” Mr. Pugh said.

MEDIA RELEASE - 18 November 2020

The North East Forest Alliance sincerely thanks Liberal Catherine Cusack for coming to the rescue of Koalas by refusing to support the National Party's Koala killing bill when it went to the Upper House for ratification last Thursday.

In his recent opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald Peter FitzSimons described Catherine Cusack as a hero of the Liberal Party, citing her as stating “I sent a message to Premier last week saying I couldn’t support it if goes ahead.”

The Greens, Labor Party, Animal Justice Party and Justin Field are opposing the National Party's Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2020, so the Government needs every vote to get it passed.

As a result of Catherine Cusack's refusal to support this draconian legislation it was deferred last Thursday and is now due to be voted on by the Upper House this Thursday said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

"We trust that Catherine Cusack will maintain her principled stance and vote the bill down,

"Catherine Cusack was a member of the bipartisan inquiry 'Koala populations and habitat in New South Wales' that exposed the grossly inadequate protection for Koalas on private land and their likely extinction by 2050 unless we take real and meaningful action to save them.

"In a perverse reaction to the inquiry the National Party threatened to resign from the coalition unless existing Koala protections were substantially reduced.

"While Premier Gladys Berejiklian claimed to stand strong, she effectively capitulated to their demands by narrowing the definition of core Koala habitat in the Koala State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) to make it harder to identify core Koala habitat, and gave the Nationals free reign to make dramatic changes to the Local Land Services Act.

"Not only are the Nationals seeking to remove the prohibitions on logging and broadscale clearing of core Koala habitat, they are also trying to stop Councils from being able to include core Koala habitat in environment protection zones, and trying to prohibit Councils from being able to regulate logging and clearing in environmental zones.

"Catherine Cusack has shown that she has enough integrity to stand up against National Party bullying for the survival of Koalas. She is the saviour for the 67% of Koalas that live on private lands" Mr. Pugh said.