Balance needed in Independent Forestry Panel
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.
Read moreTime to stop logging homes of Endangered Pugh’s Frog
MEDIA RELEASE 7 August 2024
Pugh’s Frog (Philoria pughi) has recently been uplisted to nationally Endangered, with logging identified as a threat, leading the North East Forest Alliance to call upon the NSW and Commonwealth Environment Ministers to immediately change the logging rules to protect its habitat from logging.
Pugh's Frog (Credit Stephen Mahony)
Read moreSave Koala Homes
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.
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 moreTime to stop logging habitat of Endangered Pugh’s Frog
With Pugh’s Frog (Philoria pughi) about to be listed as nationally Endangered, the North East Forest Alliance is calling on Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to change the Regional Forest Agreement to protect its habitat from logging.
Pugh’s Frog inhabits soaks and seepages in the highest headwaters of streams on the Gibraltar Range and in the Timbarra and Girard areas, during the breeding season it constructs nests in mud under leaf litter where it raises its young watered by seepage. They live a sedentary life, outside the breeding season they will forage amongst leaf litter, mostly within a hundred metres of their nests.
“It is an old endemic, tracing its lineage back over 50 million years to the Gondwana super continent, though a few million years ago the Philoria genus became increasingly marooned on isolated mountain top islands, where they evolved into distinct species” NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.
Photo: Stephen Mahony
Read moreSave Our Oldgrowth Trees
HOLLOW HOUSING CRISIS AS OLDGROWTH TREES ARE LOGGED
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Hollows in big old trees are essential homes for many of Australia's animals, they can't survive without them. In NSW at least 46 mammals, 81 birds, 31 reptiles and 16 frogs, are reliant on tree hollows for shelter and nests. Oldgrowth trees have been decimated across the landscape, and with them populations of hollow-dependent animals. Across extensive areas there are not enough hollows left to meet the survivor's needs. In a life or death struggle, they have to compete for the dwindling numbers of suitable hollows. PLEASE WRITE TO THE NSW GOVT TO DEMAND THEY STOP CLEARING AND LOGGING ANIMAL'S HOMESAND START THE LONG PROCESS OF RESTORING THEM Millions of oldgrowth trees, and their inhabitants, were burnt in the 2019-20 wildfires. Many have nowhere to live, there is a housing crisis for hollow-dependent species. For their survival it is essential that we urgently save the remnant oldgrowth trees, and begin restoring them. Restoration is slow, it takes 120-180 years for a tree to begin to develop hollows, and it is not until they are over 220 years old that oldgrowth trees develop the big hollows large animals need. We need to protect the oldest trees left so that hollow-bearing trees can be restored as soon as possible NEFA want to stop logging of public native forests, but we can't wait until we achieve this to take action for our imperiled wildlife. We need the Government to act now to stop logging the surviving hollow-bearing oldgrowth trees, and protect the biggest trees remaining so they can become the hollow-bearing trees of the future. Before the fires the logging rules for State forests required the retention of up to 8 hollow-bearing trees per hectare, but in many forests there aren't that many left, and is some they have all been lost. In response to the fires, in June 2021 the NSW Natural Resources Commission recommended to the NSW Ministers for Forestry and Environment that they urgently change the logging rules for State forests to require that (1) where there aren't 8 hollow-bearing trees per hectare left, that the largest trees be retained to make up the difference, and (2) for each of these trees retaining 2 recruitment trees to become the hollow-bearing trees of the future. The problem is that since June 2021 the Ministers have refused to act on the NRC advice , so we need your help to convince them to adopt this NRC recommendation to give hollow-bearing trees, and the multitude whose recovery depends on them, a ch Here's more detail about this issue. Visit here for background information about the fires and the NRC recommendations Visit here for background about the importance of old trees for recovery. |
NSW'S 174 HOLLOW-DEPENDENT SPECIES NEED YOUR HELP NOWPlease write to the NSW Ministers for Environment and Forestry now asking them: Dear Minister ....., Please act now to protect all NSW oldgrowth trees. (Refer to any of the information above to provide context) Please take urgent action to protect and restore hollow-bearing trees across State forests by implementing the June 2021 advice of the Natural Resources Commission by changing the logging rules to require: (1) where eight hollow-bearing trees per hectare are not available, retaining the next largest trees as substitutes, (2) retaining two recruitment trees per retained hollow-bearing tree It is essential that the largest healthy trees are protected as recruitment hollow-bearing trees. Apply these protections to Private Native Forestry through the PNF Code of Practice Protect all trees over 100 years old. Yours Sincerely (etc) Its always best to add your own comments, and ask for a response.
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New PNF Codes fail threatened species
MEDIA RELEASE 3 May 2022
NEFA considers that that the new Private Native Forestry Code of Practice released on Monday is a step backwards, and will increase the extinction risk of our most imperilled species of plants and animals.
In general they are allowing increased logging intensity, reduced retention of old hollow bearing trees essential for the survival of a plethora of hollow-dependent species, and reducing protections for most threatened species, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.
“Under this code most threatened species of plants and animals will get no real protection what-so-ever.
“The only improvement is an increase in the exclusions around headwater streams, though at 10m this is still dramatically less than the 30m identified as necessary in numerous reviews.
NSW Koala Strategy fails Koalas
MEDIA RELEASE 9 April 2022
The NSW Government’s Koala Strategy released today will do little to turn around their extinction trajectory as it is not stopping logging and clearing of Koala habitat which, along with climate heating, are the main drivers of their demise.
“The Strategy proposes nothing to redress the logging of Koala habitat on public lands where at best 5-10 small potential Koala feed trees per hectare need to be protected in core Koala habitat, with the only other requirement being to wait for a Koala to leave before cutting down its tree” NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.
“We know that Koalas preferentially choose larger individuals of a limited variety of tree species for feeding, and losses of these trees will reduce populations. So protecting and restoring feed and roost trees is a prerequisite for allowing populations to grow on public lands.
“The most important and extensive Koala habitat we know of in NSW is in the proposed Great Koala National Park, encompassing 175,000 hectares of State Forests south of Grafton and west of Coffs Harbour.
“Similarly on the Richmond River lowlands the most important and extensive area known is the proposed Sandy Creek Koala Park, encompassing 7,000 ha of State Forests south of Casino.
Read moreNorth East Forest Alliance Statement for International Day of Forests
On International Day of Forests it is essential that we recognise that forests support our civilisation, climate and biodiversity. Forests are under unprecedent threat due to increasing droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and floods. At the very time we need them to take our carbon out of the atmosphere and store it safely in their wood and soils, and to mitigate flooding by storing and slowing the water during extreme rainfall events.
Big old trees are awesome, hundreds of years old, towering 8-12 stories high, apartment complexes for hollow-dependent animals with larders for Koalas, gliders, possums and a multitude of honeyeaters.
Forests improve our health, generate rainfall, cool the land, regulate streamflows, sequester and store carbon, reduce flood risk by storing water and slowing flows, reduce landslips by reinforcing soils, and support most of our biodiversity.
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