Destructive logging in the Great Koala National Park exposed

 MEDIA RELEASE 

National Parks Association (NPA)

27th March 2025

A report  (The Plan to Keep Logging the Great Koala National Park) produced by the National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) and Wilderness Australia shows the depth of destructive logging taking place across several forests within the proposed Great Koala National Park right now, including Sheas Nob, Ingalba, and Orara East State Forests. 

Previous analysis by the North East Forest Alliance has shown that since the Minns Government was elected, 7,185 hectares have already been logged within the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) assessment area. Additionally, 1,924 hectares are currently being logged, with another 3,469 hectares scheduled for the next six months. If delays continue,12,578 hectares could be destroyed, threatening the survival of one of the most important koala populations in NSW. 

NPA CEO Gary Dunnett stated, “The Great Koala National Park proposal was designed around two basic principles: to protect as much as possible of the core Koala habitats and populations of the region; and to focus exclusively on existing National Parks and State Forests.  

‘The reason for concentrating on public lands is that determining their future is the responsibility of the Premier of the day.   

‘This report paints a stark picture of what this means for Premier Minns’ reputation- the longer he delays declaring the new park, the more koalas will be needlessly lost” concluded Mr Dunnett. 

 

 

 

 

Governments host global nature conference while koala and greater glider homes are being logged

 

FOREST ALLIANCE NSW

Media

October 8 2024

 

The Forest Alliance NSW has restated calls to urgently end native forest logging in NSW to stem the decline of biodiversity in Australia.

The call comes as the Federal and State Environment Ministers host the Global Nature Positive Summit in Sydney over the next three days which aims to drive investment in nature and strengthen activities to protect and repair our environment.

 Justin Field from the Alliance said, “45 football fields a day of native forests are being logged in NSW including the homes of threatened species like the koala and greater glider. There is clear hypocrisy in asking for private investment to protect and restore nature while allowing and funding its destruction through native forest logging.”  

Susie Russell from the North Coast Environment Council said, “the NSW Government is currently logging their promised Great Koala National Park and the state owned logging company has been fined and reported for repeated illegal logging including in greater glider exclusion zones. The state and federal governments could act today and stop the destruction. They need to explain to summit delegates why they are failing to do so, when many other jurisdictions have already moved to protect their native forests.”

Steve Ryan from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW said “Australia is ashamedly a global leader in mammal extinctions. If Governments are serious about reversing the decline of nature and the loss of our beautiful animals, we need to stop allowing native forests to be logged.

Stuart Blanch from the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia (WWF-Australia) said, “forests need protection, timber workers need jobs, home buyers need more sustainable timber. Private investment in plantations can play a role to be sure, but native forest logging needs to end and that should be the starting point in a ‘nature positive’ plan.” 

Dr Sophie Scamps, Independent Federal MP for Mackellar said, “Australia needs to get serious about protecting our natural environment and our great Aussie bush. It isn’t rocket science. We could simply stop subsidising the logging of our native forests, it is a loss-making enterprise being propped up by taxpayer subsidies after all. Equally simple would be to end the exemption of native forest logging from our national environment laws.

 “If the Albanese Government was serious about being Nature Positive it would take these commonsense and simple steps. Instead the Albanese Government is pushing off responsibility for protecting our environment to the private sector without taking these critical first steps themselves," Dr Scamps said.  

 

Balance Needed in Independent Forestry Panel

North East Forest Alliance 

MEDIA RELEASE 27 August 2024

The North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) 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.

“In 2022/23 the Forestry Corporation lost $15 million on its native forestry operations, costing the NSW Government $1,281 per hectare to log the homes of Koalas and Greater Gliders. In addition the Forestry Corporation was paid $31 million of taxpayer’s money for its community service obligations in 2022/23, while also receiving regular massive public handouts.  

“Logging increases the risk of extinction of many threatened species, reduces stream flows and inflows to regional water supplies, increases wildfire risks to local communities, spreads weeds, increases erosion, while reducing the carbon stored in forests and forests’ ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere” Mr Pugh said.

For north east NSW Blueprint Institute (2023) found that ending native forest logging in 2023–24, and instead utilising the land for carbon sequestration and tourism will deliver a net benefit valued at $45 million in present-day dollars. This includes the estimated cost of providing transitional packages to the industry as it shuts down, as well as the cost of breaking wood supply agreements that extend to 2028.

“NEFA considers that if the NSW Government was fair dinkum about undertaking an independent assessment they would ensure the assessment was undertaken by a balanced panel that will fairly deal with our evidence.

“The appointment of an independent ecologist could provide the balance needed” Mr. Pugh said.

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GOVERNMENT SLEIGHT OF HAND WEAKENS GREATER GLIDER PROTECTIONS

North Coast Environment Council Media Release

2^nd February 2024

The NSW Government is being tricky with its numbers, suggesting they have improved protection for Greater Gliders when they have actually weakened it according to NCEC Vice-President, Susie Russell.

Instead of being honest with the people of NSW and acknowledging that we can’t have all the unique and precious animals our forests still support AND a native forest logging industry. The animals need undisturbed forest and the other rampages across the landscape leaving devastation in its wake. It is one or the other. They are lying when they suggest we can have both.

“Today’s announcement by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, removing the requirement for Forestry Corporation to look for Greater Gliders, and other animals home den trees prior to logging is another nail in the coffin of these already endangered creatures.

“It looks like nature has lost and the Government is opting for telegraph poles, pallets, floorboards and woodchips rather than koalas, owls, quolls and gliders.

“The Government needs to immediately begin to buy back wood contracts to take the pressure off our wildlife,” Ms Russell said, “because animals like endangered Greater Gliders die when their den trees die, and they die when their home range is cleared by logging machinery. That’s one reason they are endangered, and the EPA is meant to protect the environment, not the logging industry.”