THE VALUE OF NATIONAL PARKS

 A recent visit to the Washpool National Park has reminded me again of the importance of these areas for biodiversity protection and the health of the natural world. In Australia and elsewhere biodiversity is increasingly under threat from multiple sources including urban and agricultural expansion, feral pests and the accelerating impacts climate change.  Our national parks and nature reserves provide a greater safeguard for what remains of our biodiversity than do other areas across the general landscape.

Washpool National Park, part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, was created in 1983 after a study found the area contained significant plant and animal populations that either were not found anywhere else in the state or were not well-protected in reserves.

Its creation resulted from a political decision by the state government.  This decision did not happen in isolation but followed action by community members recognising the ecological value of the area and their campaign to protect it from logging.  They were strongly opposed by the timber industry and some Grafton locals warning that if logging of the coachwood timber was not allowed, Grafton would become a ghost town. 

Grafton obviously did not become a ghost town following the creation of this magnificent national park. As well as protecting important ecosystems and their biodiversity, it has provided locals and visitors from further afield with a wonderful place for camping, hiking, picnicking, birdwatching and relaxing in a diverse natural area.

Those opposing the creation of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) have made similar warnings about the “ghost town” effect on the region’s economy.  Obviously there will be a difficult transition period for timber industry workers even though the state government has negotiated a worker support package for those directly impacted by the changes.

A years’-long strong community campaign to protect koalas and other threatened species has led to the government commitment to create the GKNP.  When it is gazetted, it will provide greater protection for important ecosystems and threatened biodiversity as well as increased opportunities for the development of nature-based tourism.

-        Leonie Blain

 Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 19 November,  2025.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK

 National Parks Association of NSW

Media Release

The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) welcomes the NSW Government’s announcement of the declaration of the Great Koala National Park.

 ‘This is an incredible moment for Australia’s National Parks’, stated NPA NSW President Liz Jeremy, ‘the culmination of more than a decade of determined advocacy for the future of koalas by local communities and conservationists’. 

‘We congratulate the NSW Government on finally making the Great Koala National Park a reality.  The road between NPA’s original 2015 report to the NSW Government and today’s decision has been a long and often frustrating one, but emphatically worth it’. 

Dr Douglas of NPA Coffs Coast Branch, stated ‘What has been achieved is much more than the permanent protection of 176,000 hectares of forest and koala habitat.  NPA’s vision for the Great Koala National Park was always about more than a change of land title, it was about connecting existing reserves with vulnerable habitats to secure a forest estate of international conservation significance.  A forest estate large enough to connect escarpment to coast, safeguard entire catchments and give our threatened forest fauna and flora the best possible chance of survival’.

‘While celebrating the new park we must also acknowledge that it won’t be enough to guarantee the survival of koalas in NSW.  The decade since the 2015 report proposal has provided a much better understanding of the distribution of koalas across existing reserves, State Forests and plantations.  The next step is to identify areas outside the park that will need to be managed in ways that allow for the movement and persistence of koalas’ Ms Jeremy noted. 

Liz Jeremy noted ‘We should all recognise the impact of the decision on the forestry industry and the families who rely upon forestry jobs.  NPA fully supports the Government’s proposed transition package, especially measures to increase investment in the establishment of plantations on degraded agricultural lands’.

NPA acknowledges the support it has gained from other conservation organisations on the north coast including the Nambucca Valley Conservation Association, Bellingen Environment Centre, Clarence Valley Environment Centre, North-east Forest alliance and North Coast Environment Centre.  We also thank the Nature Conservation Council of NSW and World Wide Fund for Nature for their ongoing support.

OPEN LETTER TO PREMIER MINNS ON KOALAS & LOGGING

The situation of koalas in NSW has been of major concern for years with fears the species could be extinct in the state by 2050.  This fear is not surprising as the state koala population is declining rapidly. It fell by a third between 1990 and 2010.

The main threats to koala survival have been habitat loss and disease. The devastating fires of 2019-20 made things worse.

The election in March 2023 brought the expectation that koalas would at last be given a better chance of avoiding extinction – at least in the area between Kempsey and Grafton - because of the new Government’s promise to establish the Great Koala National Park (GKNP). 

The GKNP proposal seeks the addition of 175,000 ha of publicly-owned forests to existing protected areas to form a 315,000 ha reserve over five local government areas – Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Nambucca Valley and Kempsey.

Progress towards fulfilling the election promise in the year since the election has been minimal.  In fact, koalas and their habitat have suffered because the NSW Government is allowing Forest Corp to continue logging in the areas which contain prime koala habitat.  Just how much of this important habitat will remain is a matter of great concern. And this is a major reason for the rise in activity by forest campaigners who are appalled at what is happening.

Concern about koalas and the accelerating biodiversity crisis has been growing in the general community as well as with scientists and conservationists.  The Australia Institute recently published an open letter to the Minns Government calling for the end of logging in public native forests and koala habitat.  It was signed by more than 100 political leaders, academics, environment and climate experts. 

It called for action on creating the GKNP, ending logging in public native forests, and abandoning support for and plans to develop carbon credits associated with NSW forests. Attached was a petition asking supporters to add their names to the open letter.

It concluded with “No delay. No excuses. No carbon offsets.”

-        Leonie Blain

 Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , April 24, 2024.

PENNY SHARPE TAKES HER HANDS OFF THE WHEEL AS SHE DRIVES KOALAS TO EXTINCTION

 

North East Forest Alliance

Media Release

31 July 2023 

Surveys undertaken for the North East Forest Alliance have identified numerous threatened species within an area now being logged in Newry State Forest, within the proposed Great Koala National Park, including confirming the ongoing occupation of a Koala Hub identified by the Government in 2017 as one of the most important areas to protect for Koalas.

It is grossly irresponsible for the Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe, to allow this irreplaceable Koala habitat, identified as both a Koala Hub and a Nationally Important Koala Area, within the proposed Great Koala National Park, to be logged, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said

“Penny Sharpe has taken her hands off the wheel as she drives Koalas to extinction.

“NEFA wrote to Minister Sharpe on 3 April pointing out that within the proposed Great Koala National Park over the next 12 month the Forestry Corporation was intending to log over 1,300 ha in 28 Koala Hubs¹ identified by the Office of Environment and Heritage in 2017 for protection as known resident Koala populations of outstanding importance.

“We thought that given their limited extent and outstanding importance for Koalas that it would be easy for her to rule them out for logging

“We provided her with a map showing the location of the Koala Hub in Newry and advised her that it was under imminent threat. A recent assessment by Biolink for NEFA confirmed that Koalas are still resident in this Koala Hub and recommended its protection.

“We also provided her with maps of Koala Hubs in Moonpar, Orara East, and Boambee State Forests that she has since allowed to be logged.

“Koala strongholds are being destroyed while Penny Sharpe stands aside.

“A survey just completed by for NEFA  by Bower Books Works in Newry identified five threatened plant species from 40 locations, a Greater Glider den tree, Koala scratches on numerous trees, and significant patches of high quality habitat for the nationally threatened Glossy Black Cockatoo, Koala and Greater Glider.

“Two of the threatened plant species and the Greater Glider den tree require protection under the CIFOA logging rules so we have  written to the Forestry Corporation and EPA for immediate action to protect them.

“The fact that these brief surveys have revealed additional threatened species and records highlights the inadequacy of Forestry Corporation’s surveys, and in particular the refusal of Penny Sharpe to require pre-logging surveys for nationally Endangered species such as Koalas and Southern Greater Gliders.

“Logging in Newry State Forest should be halted immediately, the Koala Hub protected, and independent surveys undertaken to identify the area occupied by Koalas and Greater Gliders, and all locations of threatened plants. 

“Penny Sharpe is now part of the problem, its time she came part of the solution to avoid the extinction of Koalas” Mr. Pugh said.

1.     Koala Hubs were identified in 2017, at the request of the Chief Scientist, the Office of Environment and Heritage analysed Koala records "to delineate highly significant local scale areas of koala occupancy currently known for protection", identifying “areas of currently known significant koala occupancy that indicate clusters of resident populations known as Koala Hubs”.

 

THE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK

A recent University of Newcastle report examined the economic and environmental benefits that could result from the creation of the proposed Great Koala National Park (GKNP) on the NSW Mid- North Coast.

Kevin Evans, spokesperson for the GKNP Steering Committee, said the research demonstrated “the Great Koala National Park would make a significant contribution to the NSW economy and be a major job boost for the Mid-North Coast region just when it is so desperately needed.”

Habitat loss is a major threat to survival of the koala as a species.   The GKNP proposal was developed to increase koala habitat protection by adding 175,000 ha of native state forests to existing protected areas establishing a 315,000 ha reserve.  This new park would stretch across the local government areas of Coffs Harbour, Clarence Valley, Bellingen, Nambucca and Kempsey protecting an area that is home to around 20 per cent of the NSW koala population.

The proposal was initiated by Mid-North Coast conservation groups who commissioned an independent scientific assessment by ecologist David Scotts of the public native forests that would need to be protected if we are to avoid koala extinction.

Mr Evans said the Newcastle University report included employment projections as forestry related jobs are transitioned over a ten year period to park management and restoration through a government funded transition plan.

“We fully support a government funded industry transition,” he said.

He believes that as NSW currently obtains over 85% of its timber requirements from plantation sources, an investment in expanding this resource should be a priority.

The urgent need for improved protection of koala habitat was confirmed by last year’s NSW Legislative Council inquiry into koala habitat which found that koalas could become extinct in NSW by2050 unless effective action was taken.  Significantly this inquiry said that the GKNP “has great merit”.

Mr Evans says that there is widespread community support for the proposal.  He wants the NSW Premier to live up to her promise of being the Premier to save our koala for future generations.

            - Leonie Blain

Published in the "Voices for the Earth" column in The Clarence Valley Independent , February 17, 2021. 

 

For more information on the proposed Great Koala National Park see   https://www.gknp.org/