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.

We are in a dangerous feedback loop where regrowth following logging and extreme fires is fuelling more intense fires. With extreme fire weather increasing we need to break out of this vicious cycle while we still can. Stopping logging and allowing current regrowth to mature beyond 40 years will significantly help. The latest study emphasises the need to reduce fire threat by maintaining cover of older forest near settlements.

Since its Biodiversity Month we thought it was a good time to highlight the biodiversity hotspot that is Oakes State Forest in the Kalang headwaters. Oakes is found in the heart of Gumbaynggirr Country, west of Bellingen.

“The writing is on the wall for wood-fired power stations”, said NEFA spokesperson Susie Russell.

“We are relieved that both Liberal and Labor politicians who participated in the parliamentary inquiry into “Sustainability of energy supply and resources in NSW” have recommended that native forest biomass not be allowed in energy generation facilities.