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.

Conservation groups have thanked NSW Minister for the Environment, Mark Speakman, for making the time to accompany them on a brief tour of north-east NSW's forests, for listening, and for showing interest in their concerns about our ailing public native forests.

On Saturday representatives of the North Coast Environment Council and the North East Forest Alliance took the Environment Minister on a tour of forests at Royal Camp and up the Richmond Range, west of Casino.

Logging Dieback

Logging Dieback is the dominant form of Bell Miner Associated Dieback affecting forests in northeast NSW.  Bell Miner Associated Dieback (BMAD) is spreading through our forests as a consequence of logging opening the canopy and promoting understorey dominance by lantana. It is principally a problem of wet forests and gullies, though is increasingly affecting surrounding forests subject to lantana invasion. For over two decades the Forestry Corporation have intentionally procrastinated over the causes and management of BMAD so that they can go on logging affected and susceptible stands. (see The Battle to Redress Logging Dieback)

March 2018: Dailan Pugh has reviewed the extent and effect of Bell Miner Associated Dieback (BMAD) on the NSW section of the Border Ranges (North and South), one of Australia's 15 Biodiversity Hotspots and part of one of the world's 36 Biodiversity Hotspots. These forests are recognised as being of World Heritage Value.

Read the Review: Killing Our Forests with Their Songs

Read an earlier NEFA report For Whom the Bell Miners Toll.

The causes of logging dieback continues to be debated but many scientists agree that logging and weed invasion are the primary causes of logging dieback. (see The Causes of Logging Dieback).