MEDIA RELEASE 27 August 2024

The North East Forest Alliance is concerned that the NSW Government’s recently announced Independent Forestry Panel is not independent and is calling for the appointment of a forest ecologist to provide some balance.

The three member Independent Forestry Panel can not be considered independent when Peter Duncan AM was once the Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Corporation and Mick Veitch was previously the ALP’s shadow Forestry Minister, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“We would welcome a truly independent and impartial review of logging of public native forests in NSW as the evidence is that it is neither economically nor ecologically sustainable.

NEFA President Dailan Pugh OAM discusses the dire situation in Braemar State Forest.

Why should we prioritise the protection of State Forests if we want to save Koalas?

• On the north coast 215,000 ha (20%) of DPIE's high quality Koala habitat (KHSM classes 4&5) occurs on State Forests
• On the north coast 234,000 ha (24%) of the Commonwealth’s Nationally Important Koala Areas occur on State forests.
• It is in public ownership, so large areas can be easily and immediately protected.
• Occurs in a forest matrix relatively free of urban fragmentation impacts (ie domestic dogs and traffic).
• Large areas degraded by loss of preferred koala feed trees >30 cm diameter still has tree cover capable of relatively rapid restoration of habitat values (compared to new plantings)

TO HELP SAVE KOALAS FROM EXTINCTION IN THE WILD BY 2050, THE NSW GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO:

1. Protect State Forests where we know Koalas live

We can start with protecting Koala Hubs identified in 2017 by the Office of Environment and Heritage as "highly significant local scale areas of koala occupancy currently known for protection". Almost 20,000 ha (19%) of Koala Hubs occur on State forests… This government considered them so important that they belatedly protected 8,400 hectares of Koala Hubs in the proposed Great Koala National Park (GKNP) in September 2023, though they refused to protect the the 11,400ha of Koala Hubs on State Forests outside the GKNP, and continue to log them.

And other known areas of particular importance, such as Braemar State Forest. In 2019 NEFA identified outstanding densities of Koalas in a pre-logging survey, witnessed >70% killed in the October wildfires, put out water to aid the survivors as the drought continued, watched as most habitat was reoccupied, and then in 2023 took the Forestry Corporation to court try to stop the logging after Penny Sharpe refused to intervene. Now the continued existence of this population is at risk as over 70% of their preferred mature feed trees are being logged.

2. Require they look before they log to identify other Koala homes

If the Forestry Corporation happen to see a Koala when logging, they need to wait for it to flee before they can cut down its tree. The Forestry Corporation have proven time and time again that they can't identify Koalas in occupied habitat, so surveys must be independent.

3. Retain all preferred Koala feed tree species in potential habitat to facilitate recovery

MOST IMPORTANTLY, IF YOU WANT TO SAVE KOALA'S HOMES WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CREATE THE POLITICAL WILL. HERE ARE TWO THINGS YOU CAN DO:

Lobby Premier Chris Minns on his website, asking for him to stop logging Koalas' homes on State Forests, request a response.

Make a submission to The NSW Koala Strategy, by either:

• simply requesting koalas' homes on State Forests be protected from logging, by emailing [email protected]
  
• or taking a few minutes to fill out their online form dealing with issues in more detail, see NEFA's submission guide on save Koalas' homes.  

The NSW Government is reviewing its 2021 Koala Strategy, the thrust of which is to do nothing about protecting Koala homes on State Forests, and only protecting Koala homes on private land where the landowners want to sell or enter voluntarily conservation agreements. It’s open slather for those wanting to destroy Koala habitat. If you care about Koalas, please take a few minutes to make a submission to help save Koala’s homes.

MEDIA RELEASE 2 February 2024

The NSW Government’s decision to abandon the requirement to identify and establish logging exclusions around the homes of Southern Greater Gliders and other threatened hollow-dependent species is another blow to their survival.

This decision attempts to over-ride the current legal requirement to identify and protect 50m around den trees of Southern Greater Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider, Squirrel Glider and Brush-tailed Phascogale, along with nest trees for Masked, Sooty and Barking Owls, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“The homes of these hollow-dependent nocturnal species can only be identified in nocturnal searches.

“The political deal done between the EPA and the Forestry Corporation removes the need for nocturnal searches, instead requiring the retention of 4-6 additional mature trees per hectare in modelled greater glider habitat.

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 March 2022

The North East Forest Alliance is calling on Premier Dominic Perrottet to block the imminent 5 year extension of north coast Wood Supply Agreements because of the massive loss of resources in the 2019/20 fires, the increased need to protect fire refuges for affected Koalas, the need to restore hollow-bearing trees, and the urgency of protecting forests as carbon sinks to mitigate climate heating.

In the 2019/20 wildfires 49% of north-coast State Forests burnt causing the deaths of millions of trees and animals, yet contrary to their own evidence and advice the NSW Government is intending to continue cutting down trees and destroying animal’s homes as if nothing happened, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

“In response to a question from Justin Field the Forestry Corporation revealed they are in the process of extending Wood Supply Agreements for north coast public forests, issued in 2003 for 20 years, unaltered for a further 5 years (1).

Following NEFA's finding last  Sunday of an exceptional Koala population in Braemar State Forest, south of Casino, NEFA is calling on the Premier to intervene to ensure that the required thorough searches for Koalas are undertaken and all Koala High Use Areas protected.

Koala scats were found under 42 trees in a 3ha area of Braemar State Forest marked up for logging, 81 Koala scats were found under this single tree where none had been found by the Forestry Corporation.

Forestry belatedly fined $16,500 for clearing and logging the exclusion zone of Endangered plant in Gibberagee

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has fined the Forestry Corporation $16,500 for clearing and logging within an exclusion zone for the nationally Endangered Narrow-leaf Melichrus in Gibberagee State Forest (east of Whiporie) in September 2017, though refuse to acknowledge that it was as a consequence of a NEFA complaint.

The Narrow-leaf Melichrus is named Melichrus sp. gibberagee as it is yet to be formally described. This species was discovered during pre-logging surveys brokered with the Minister for Forests by NEFA in 1997. It is only known from a single population in Gibberagee State Forest, and on adjacent private property. It is now listed as Endangered by both NSW and Commonwealth Governments.

NEFA STUDY REVEALS 2,500 HA OF OEH PRIORITY KOALA HABITAT LOGGED IN PAST 4 YEARS

MEDIA RELEASE - 15 March 2019

A NEFA study has identified that over the past 4 years the Forestry Corporation has logged 2,500 hectares of Koala habitat delineated by the Office of Environment and Heritage as the highest priority for protection in NSW.

Satellite image of claimed selective logging of a Koala Hub in Wang Wauk State Forest in December 2018. Koalas cannot survive this intensity of logging in their core habitat.

Following the NSW Government's latest assessment that logging is the primary initiator of Bell Miner Associated Dieback and their mapping of 46,000 hectares as badly affected north from Taree, the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) is calling for an immediate cessation of logging of forests affected by, and susceptible to, this logging induced dieback.

"The Forestry Corporation has to stop killing our forests, they have known for over 20 years that by opening up the canopy and promoting lantana, logging is the primary cause of this dieback, and their own trials in 2005 and 2007 showed that relogging affected stands makes it dramatically worse" said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

"This is deliberate and wanton vandalism. It is sickening to see the seas of lantana, with scattered sick and dying trees, left behind by these environmental vandals. We need to start rehabilitating these degraded forests by manually removing the lantana.

Following the finding of yet more widespread and ongoing breaches of logging laws, the North East Forest Alliance is calling on the Baird Government to restore the rights of the public to take the Forestry Corporation to court to enforce environmental laws,

"If the Baird Government refuses to enforce the logging rules, then let us do it" said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

"For years we have been finding the same sorts of logging offences, time after time after time. The Forestry Corporation are being allowed to flout environmental laws with impunity. The Environmental Protection Authority's (EPAs) lax regulation is clearly not working".