Please contact these NSW ministers via the contact form on their websites linked below.

Call on them to protect Cherry Tree State Forest from logging. 

To:

• Matthew Kean, Minister for Energy and Environment:

https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/minister-for-energy-and-environment

• Paul Toole, Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW:

https://www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/ministers/nsw-deputy-premier

Use the draft letter below as a guide;

Dear Minister ...,

I understand that Cherry Tree Forest in northern NSW, near Casino, is to be logged imminently by Forestry NSW Corporation, under your control.

I and many other concerned citizens in the area are very much opposed to this. The forest is a formally recognised component of a regional wildlife corridor running from the Border Ranges along the Richmond Range, towards Grafton. This area is considered an important biodiversity hotspot.

I and other locals have teamed up to document the presence of koalas in the area proposed for logging. Other threatened fauna known by local residents to occur in compartments include Quoll, Phasgergale, Black Striped Wallaby, Rufus Bettong, Greater Glider, Yellow Bellied Glider, Powerful Owl and more.

Threatened plants occurring recognised in the area include Ripple leafed Mutton Wood and Onion Cedar.

Endangered ecological communities include Grey box, Grey Gum, Moist Sclerophyll Community and Lowland Sub Tropical Rainforest. There are also numerous old hollow-bearing trees essential for habitat of various threatened species. These should all be permanently protected.

The steep hills of the Richmond Range divide the catchments of the Clarence and Richmond rivers. Protection of steep upper headwater gullies and lower order streams along the range is fundamental to the health of these two important rivers. The soils of the Walloon Coal measures that occur in Cherry Tree State Forest are particularly susceptible to erosion and mass movement. Logging disturbance presents a very high risk of sediment pollution. Local community and aquatic wildlife desperately need their catchments protected from these threats.

It is well established that logging exacerbates the risk and intensity of fires in forests. Cherry Tree was spared the devastating wildfires that impacted on many of the surrounding State Forests and National Parks in 2019, significantly increasing its importance as a biodiversity refuge. This now needs to be left undisturbed to age and develop as a wildlife refuge, thus providing catchment protection and increased carbon storage.

I ask for your urgent intercession so that Australia’s COP26 pledge to end deforestation can be immediately actioned locally through cancellation of logging at Cherry Tree, and its inclusion into the adjoining formal reserve system.

Yours Sincerely