Koala Inquiry call for Koala Rescue Welcomed

MEDIA RELEASE - 20 October 2019

The North East Forest Alliance has welcomed the urgent request by the Legislative Council’s Koala Inquiry to the NSW Premier to allow Koala carers into Braemer, Carwong and Royal Camp State Forests to rescue koalas that have survived the fires.

Though the scale of the problem, and the Government's refusal to do anything to rescue Koalas for the past 12 days. demands Government assistance, according to NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

Extent of Busby's Creek Fire 19 October, with Koala records

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.

AFTER 30 YEARS NEFA NEEDED MORE THAN EVER

MEDIA RELEASE 6/6/2019

On 5th June the North East Forest Alliance celebrated 30 years since its inaugural meeting at the Big Scrub Environment Centre in Lismore on World Environment Day in 1989.

"Over 30 years NEFA has made significant progress in its aims to protect oldgrowth, rainforest, wilderness and threatened species, unfortunately these wins are beginning to be wound back at a time when the necessity of protecting forests to avoid climate heating is more important than ever" NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

LIBERAL'S KOALA PROMISES TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

MEDIA RELEASE 3/5/2019

NEFA today welcomed the Liberal Party's commitment of $6 million to protect Koalas in north-east NSW's and south-east Queensland as too little too late.

If the Morrison Government really wanted to do something about Koalas then they would amend their Regional Forest Agreements to protect Koala habitat and prepare the required Recovery Plan, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

Timber NSW using grossly inflated job and economic impacts to deny Koalas needed protection

MEDIA RELEASE - 21 March 2019

The North East Forest Alliance maintains that Timber NSW's claims of job losses due to the creation of the Great Koala National Park are inflated more than 6 fold and are insignificant compared to the 7,400 jobs they have shed in the past decade.

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.

The North East Forest Alliance is calling upon the Forestry Corporation to reconsider their refusal to allow NEFA to engage a scat-detection dog to search for Koala High Use Areas in Gibberagee State Forest now that they have suspended logging.

As proven in studies properly trained dogs are the most efficient and effective way to search for Koala scats, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

"The Forestry Corporation is wrong to assume otherwise.

110 Koala scats were found by NEFA under a single tree in Gibberagee where the Forestry Corporation found none. More than 20 scats is the trigger to undertake intensive surveys to identify Koala High Use Areas, though it was too late as the area had already been logged. This is one of 4 Koala high use trees found by NEFA in a small area where the Forestry Corporation found none.

DECISION TO LOG OLDGROWTH AND RAINFOREST BASED ON FRAUDULENT CLAIMS

The NSW Government is using grossly inflated timber commitments to fraudulently justify logging oldgrowth forest and rainforest protected in the Comprehensive Adequate and Representative reserve system, according to the North East Forest Alliance.

With revelations that the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) has based its justifications for logging oldgrowth and rainforests, and other environmental wind-backs, on a 33% increase in timber commitments, NEFA is calling upon the Environment Minister, Gabrielle Upton to honour her predecessors promises by' intervening to direct the agencies to renegotiate an environmentally fairer set of logging rules based on existing wood supply obligations rather than the NRC's grossly inflated volumes.

"Since 2013 a succession of NSW Environment Ministers have repeatedly reassured environment groups that the new logging rules (Integrated Forestry Operations Approval) would result in no erosion of environmental values and no wind-back of the reserve system", NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

"With the NSW Government now proposing to log oldgrowth forest and rainforest, increase logging intensity, introduce clearfelling, reduce buffers on headwater streams, and remove protections for most threatened species on public land in north-east NSW, it is clear that they lied to us.

LOGGING OF PUBLIC NATIVE FORESTS HAS LOST ITS SOCIAL LICENCE

The North East Forest Alliance maintains that submissions to the NSW Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) show that the logging of public native forests has lost its social licence and that the community do not support the NSW and Commonwealth Government's proposals to extend the RFAs for 20 more years.

Of the 5,425 submissions to the RFAs only 23 supported the Government's proposal to extend the RFAs for 20 years and give additional five-year rolling extensions after each future five-yearly review, and nearly all these were from the industry.

The so-called 'Independent Review' of NSW's Regional Forest Agreements was tabled in the Commonwealth Parliament on 25 June 2018.

The review notes 'The majority of submitters would like the State to cease native forest logging on public land, indicating it damages biodiversity, environmental values and environmental services such as water, carbon capture and amenity, and provides a low economic return'.

"The Regional Forest Agreements have no credibility, their only purpose is for the Commonwealth to avoid its legal obligations for threatened species and heritage under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.", said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.