Save habitat to save Koalas
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.
Read morePlea to Premier to intervene to stop 5 year extension of Wood Supply Agreements
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).
Read morePremier must stop logging of Koala habitat
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.
Read moreForestry fined $16,500 for Endangered plant
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.
Read more2500ha of Priority Koala Habitat Logged
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.
Read moreSTOP KILLING OUR FORESTS AND START REHABILITATING THEM
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.
Read moreNEFA ASKS TO BE ALLOWED TO STOP ONGOING ILLEGAL LOGGING
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".
Logging rules 're-write' a sham
It took a freedom of information request, by the North Coast Environment Council, but the Environment Protection Authority have finally released the membership of the Threatened Species Expert Panel advising on the re-writing of the logging rules for public forests.
The documents show that far from being independent experts they are Government employees, dominated by current and former employees of Forestry Corp.
Read moreForest Slaughter
There is a new threat to our public native forests: an extreme clear fell logging proposal.
The new logging licences currently being negotiated by the Forestry Corporation and the Environment Protection Authority, known at the IFOA or Integrated Forestry Operations Approval, are a major step backwards for our forests. They want to zone 150,000 hectares of public forests from Grafton to Taree into an intensive logging zone where clear felling is the norm. North of Grafton and south of Taree the plan is for a massive intensification of logging.
Only a few trees will be required to be protected. This would turn these public native forests into pseudo-plantations, drying up streams and devastating wildlife habitat. The koala and 32 other animal species that are threatened with extinction will be seriously affected.
In the Clarence and Richmond catchments the proposed new rules will see thousands of hectares of stream side forest and threatened species habitat become available for logging.
Dailan Pugh has done a detailed analysis of the impacts. The full report can be found here:
New_IFOA_Changes_in_Forest_Protection-Clarence_Richmond.pdf
We now need to spread the word about this. Standby for campaign actions and be ready to write submissions opposing it when the new IFOA is put on public exhibition.
EPA Assurances Rejected
ROW OVER MASSIVE CLEAR-FELL ‘TRIALS’ CONTINUES
Assurances by NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) that ‘all is well’ in the region’s native forests have been rejected, as “not believable, nor based on reality”, North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) spokesperson Mr John Corkill, said today. The comments are the latest in a major public dispute over the EPA’s support for proposed logging “trials” at massively increased levels of intensity.