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 HOMES

AND 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.

View this video for more information

NSW'S 174 HOLLOW-DEPENDENT SPECIES NEED YOUR HELP NOW

Please 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.