MEDIA RELEASE 27 April 2023

The North East Forest Alliance is renewing calls to end the logging of public native forests in light of a report detailing that NSW taxpayers will reap a $45 million benefit from stopping logging of North East NSW’s public forests immediately.

With logging causing populations of many forest dependent species to rapidly decline, spreading weeds, causing widespread dieback, reducing stream flows, and increasing fire risk, there is a need for immediate action, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“As climate heating gathers momentum, the increasing temperatures, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires are compounding impacts.

“We urgently need to help our forests recover from past abuses, to allow them to sequester atmospheric carbon out of harms way, regrow big trees for nectar and hollows, and regain their natural resilience.

“And we can make money at the same time” Mr. Pugh said.

https://www.blueprintinstitute.org.au/branching_out_exploring_alternate_land_use_options_for_the_native_forests_of_nsw

MEDIA RELEASE Monday 17th April, 2023

Forest advocates are celebrating a win this week following an EPA order that FCNSW ‘cease operations’ across Doubleduke State Forest while giant trees are properly mapped.

“This is excellent news, and what the community has been fighting for for months,” said ecologist Anastasia Guise, who has been involved in citizen science surveys of the forest. “Our citizen science team have documented an incredible number of giant trees in this forest, hundreds of years old.”  

“All trees over 100 years old should not be logged at all. This is part of the largest forested wetland in northern NSW and an important stronghold in the State for the three large forest owls, the Powerful, Masked and Barking Owls. A colleague also recorded the Sooty Owl last week. These species are all listed as vulnerable and at threat of extinction. Another stronghold was the Pilliga – but that’s being trashed by CSG.”

“The forest is also core koala habitat, with dozens of felled trees covered in koala and glider scratches, and documented reckless damage to retained koala feed trees” Ms Guise said. 

On 28 and 29 March 2022 our case against the Commonwealth and NSW Governments challenging the validity of the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement was held in the Federal Court. It is likely to be some months before Justice Perry hands down her judgement.

For 30 years NEFA has been taking action for our forests. When we formed in 1989, our aims were the protection of rainforest, oldgrowth, wilderness and threatened species. NEFA has doggedly pursued these goals including through rallies, blockades, court cases, submissions, lobbying, and protracted negotiations.

Media Release January 9, 2023

Long-time forest campaigner and NEFA spokesperson, Susie Russell, was arrested today at Bulga State Forest.and given bail conditions prohibiting her from entering into any part of the Bulga Forest.

The arrest came as the Save Bulga Forest community ramped up their campaign of civil disobedience calling for an end to logging native forests and in particular the Bulga Forest.

“It was clear I was singled out for arrest”, Ms Russell said. “There were about 30 people on site supporting the young tripod-sitter. I was there, but diligently keeping outside the boundary of the closed area, which was tricky because the distance that was closed was not specified in the closure notice, so I erred on the side of caution.

MEDIA RELEASE 14 November 2022

The North East Forest Alliance is celebrating the withdrawal of the Government’s Private Native Forestry Bill at the eleventh hour, providing a reprieve for koalas and communities until after the next election.

We would particularly like to thank the Member for Tweed, Geoff Provest for threatening to cross the floor and vote against his own Government’s bill, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“This is the second time that these same proposed legislative changes have been defeated by a member of the Government, last time it was Catherine Cusack crossing the floor to defeat the Local Land Services Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill.

MEDIA RELEASE 11 November 2022

Perrottet’s Private Native Forestry logging bill is an all-out assault on Koalas, while taking away community rights to have a say in how, when and where logging occurs by giving them to the National Party controlled Local Land Services.  

The Liberal-National government has removed protection for Koala habitat on State forests, now Perrottet intends to put the nail in their coffin by stopping protection of core Koala habitat on private lands, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said

Perrottet has gone further to ensure that in the future any high conservation value forest that a council includes in an environmental zone will also be able to be logged, while removing council’s ability to require consent for logging, and extending logging approvals to 30 years.

“It is a death sentence for our endangered Koalas, and an attack on our rights to protect them.   

MEDIA RELEASE 31 October 2022

The North East Forest Alliance urges the NSW Government to obtain its own costings for stopping the logging of public native forests in light of Frontier Economic’s estimate that a generous government-funded structural adjustment package, including for the 1,000 affected workers, would only cost $302 million, with this cost greatly outweighed by a range of positive economic and environmental benefits.

Frontier Economic’s report ‘Transition support for the NSW native forest sector’ prepared for WWF, and released at The Vanishing Koala conference on the weekend, makes it clear that we would be far better off economically if we stopped logging public forests, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“By stopping logging of public native forests we can re-direct the immense public subsidies into assisting affected workers and communities transition, while realising real economic and environmental benefits from avoiding CO₂ emissions, increasing carbon storage, increasing tourism, increasing water yields and restoring habitats of threatened species, such as the Koala.

Clearing of high quality Koala habitat for plantation, Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, 2022.

MEDIA RELEASE 29 September 2022

To mark Save the Koala Day (Friday 30 September), the North East Forest Alliance is appealing to the NSW Government to stop approving core Koala habitat for clearing and logging, if they have any genuine intent to stop Koalas becoming extinct in the wild by 2050.

The NSW Government’s spending of tens of millions on Koala hospitals, open range zoos and planting seedlings won’t stop Koalas becoming extinct in the wild unless they save and stabilise surviving Koalas by protecting their existing homes, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“Every day the NSW Government is allowing the Forestry Corporation to cut down mature Koala feed trees in public forests, and farmers to bulldoze them, while their propaganda arm goes into over-drive pretending that Koalas don’t need their feed trees.

MEDIA RELEASE 15 September 2022

While not agreeing with all its findings, NEFA welcomes the report of the ‘Inquiry into the long term sustainability and future of the timber and forest products industry’ released this afternoon as making a contribution to the debate over the future of public native forests, and making some worthwhile findings and recommendations.

“Given the narrow industry-focussed terms of reference for the inquiry it did not give due consideration to the impacts of logging on public native forests and alternative uses“ NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“Though its recommendation for a cost benefit assessment of the native hardwood forestry sector to consider the most beneficial use of public native forests is supported.

“There is no doubt that there are far greater financial and societal benefits to the community from protecting public forests for carbon sequestration, recreation, tourism, water supply, and habitat.

With Pugh’s Frog (Philoria pughi) about to be listed as nationally Endangered, the North East Forest Alliance is calling on Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to change the Regional Forest Agreement to protect its habitat from logging.

Pugh’s Frog inhabits soaks and seepages in the highest headwaters of streams on the Gibraltar Range and in the Timbarra and Girard areas, during the breeding season it constructs nests in mud under leaf litter where it raises its young watered by seepage. They live a sedentary life, outside the breeding season they will forage amongst leaf litter, mostly within a hundred metres of their nests.

“It is an old endemic, tracing its lineage back over 50 million years to the Gondwana super continent, though a few million years ago the Philoria genus became increasingly marooned on isolated mountain top islands, where they evolved into distinct species” NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

Photo: Stephen Mahony