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. 

 

 

 

 

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.

LOGGING KOALAS TO EXTINCTION

North East Forests Alliance Media Release

May 28 2023

The North East Forest Alliance is calling on upon the NSW and Commonwealth Environment Ministers to urgently intervene to protect the most important Koala habitat identified by their governments, after an assessment of the Forestry Corporation’s 12 month Plan of Logging Operations for the NSW north coast found they include 41,000 ha of Nationally Important Koala Areas and 2,700 ha of Koala Hubs.

Both Governments have undertaken assessments to identify the most important Koala habitat for protection, and yet they have allowed the Forestry Corporation to go on logging these habitats without any changes to the inadequate 2018 logging rules, even in areas where Koalas were decimated by the 2019/20 wildfires, NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said.

“If our governments were genuine about saving north coast Koalas then they would immediately protect the 234,000 ha of Nationally Important Koala Areas and 15,000 ha of koala hubs they identified on State forests” Mr. Pugh said.

In accordance with its National Recovery Plan, in 2021 the Commonwealth identified Nationally Important Koala Areas “as priority koala habitat for incorporation into state protected areas”. On the north coast 233,945 ha (23.6%) of Nationally Important Koala Areas occur on State forests.

At the request of the NSW Chief Scientist, in 2017 the Office of Environment and Heritage analysed Koala records "to delineate highly significant local scale areas of koala occupancy currently known for protection". On the north coast 15,318 ha (24.4%) of Koala Hubs occur on State forests.

NEFA’s report Logging Koalas to Extinction compared these identified priority areas with the Forestry Corporation’s May 2023 12 months Plan of Operations for logging, to quantify how much of this most important mapped Koala habitat is now being logged.  

“The Forestry Corporation’s 12 month Plan of Operations contains 40,803 ha of Nationally Important Koala Areas, with 9,634 ha actively being logged today.

“To add to the problem, 16,855 ha (41%) of this nationally significant habitat was burnt in the 2019/20 wildfires, so the resident Koalas are already severely depleted.

“The Forestry Corporation’s 12 month Plan of Operations contains 2,716 ha of Koala Hubs, with 528 ha in compartments actively being logged right now.

“The Governments are spending hundreds of millions to protect bits and pieces of Koala habitat, and plant seedling feed trees, on private lands.

“On public lands they spend tens of millions each year to subsidise logging of thousands of hectares of Koala habitat while cutting down tens of thousands of the mature feed trees they need for food and shelter” Mr Pugh said.

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NEFA DEMANDS FULL SURVEY AFTER FINDING KOALA REFUGIA

 

In light of the increasing evidence of the devastating impacts if the bushfires on Koalas, the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) is renewing its calls for a thorough independent survey to identify the full extent of Koala refugia in Myrtle State Forest after finding a significant Koala fire refuge on 3 September..

In a brief audit of 7 hectares of burnt forest in Myrtle State Forest  NEFA identified 1,118 Koala scats under 18 trees, with 516 scats under one tree, in an area where the Forestry Corporation have never identified Koalas.

Despite the Government's refusal to look before they log, NEFA have proven that Koala fire refugia exists in Myrtle State Forest, and are likely to be more widespread, making it clear that a full survey needs to be undertaken if the Government has any intent of honouring their promise to save Koalas, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh.

"Rather than continuing to intentionally and blindly log surviving koala refugia the Government must undertake surveys to identify and protect them from further degradation", Mr. Pugh said.

"The recent report by Steve Phillips for WWF found an average 71% reduction in Koalas in burnt forests.

"The scats we found in Myrtle State Forest are all post-fire, indicating the colony was once a lot larger.

"This surviving Koala colony is of exceptional importance for recovery of the decimated Banyabba population, it is grossly irresponsible for the Government to now log it.

"The new logging rules require the Forestry Corporation to protect 10% of the potential logging area in perpetuity as Wildlife Habitat Clumps and Habitat Tree Clumps, and the rules for burnt forest require an additional 7% to be temporarily protected.

"There are a variety of criteria for selecting these exclusions, including that they maximise inclusion of the most important Koala habitat, such as the area we have identified.

"The problem is that there is no requirement to undertake surveys to identify the most important wildlife areas to be protected in perpetuity, rather it is up to the whim of a forester. So while 17% of the potentially loggable area of this forest is required to be protected, there is no requirement to first identify Koala refugia for inclusion.

"NEFA's Preliminary Audit of Myrtle State Forest found that the Forestry Corporation were selecting the most heavily burnt and degraded forests for permanent exclusions. As a result of our complaint logging was postponed on the 24 August when the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) intervened to oversee the Forestry Corporation's selection of exclusions.

"NEFA's request to the EPA that a scat detection dog be used to undertake a thorough search for Koalas with a view to identifying remaining core Koala habitat for protection was dismissed.

"The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) 2020 have recently undertaken surveys of 15 areas of national parks in north east NSW using a combination of scat-detection dogs and modelling to comprehensively identify the remaining Koala refugia, noting 'Identifying fire refugia areas and understanding their spatial configuration within the surrounding burnt matrix is crucial to post fire species recovery and management'.

"This highlights that the Government's refusal to survey for Koalas on State Forests is ideological because contrary to their pretence they don't want Koala fire refugia to be identified or excluded from logging" Mr. Pugh said.

 

NEFA's report 'The identification of Koala refugia in Myrtle State Forest' is at https://www.nefa.org.au/audits

 

SAVING KOALAS FROM EXTINCTION

In the Daily Examiner recently , I was appalled to read one person's assessment that new laws aimed at protecting koala habitat would spell the demise of the timber and agricultural industries.

I realise it's everyone's right to have, and express their opinions, but how anyone can spout that type of utter rubbish is beyond me. The agricultural industry had been pretty successful in Australia for more than 200 years, albeit at enormous environmental expense, but we all have to eat. However, to suggest that stopping farmers from cutting down koala feed trees, which have always been there up until now, would somehow cause the industry's collapse, is ludicrous.

The native forest timber industry, which the writer also claims will be threatened with collapse if these laws are enacted, would have gone belly-up decades ago if tax-payers hadn't been forced to subsidise it. By rights, having incurred million dollar losses year after year for the past two decades, state forest logging should have been shut down years ago. At least that would have likely halted the downward spiral in koala numbers, and perhaps even allowed a modest recovery.

Right now, the NSW Government is spending huge amounts of money supporting a range of programs and initiatives to save koalas under the Saving our Species program. These include land acquisitions, feed tree-planting, monitoring and reporting programs and distribution of information.

However, while habitat enhancement is essential to the recovery of koalas, the fact that there is still widespread land-clearing and logging on a scale that far outstrips the habitat creation efforts of the Saving our Species' program, will ensure the continued decline of koalas into oblivion.

Other possible initiatives include investigations into captive breeding, training of vets in the treatment of koalas, and support for wildlife carer organisations, all seemingly last-ditch attempts to stave off extinction, rather than a proactive approach to providing land for koalas to recover across their natural range. The latter would be a logical approach, but we live in a world where logic is in increasingly short supply – witness the panic buying of toilet paper!

            -John Edwards

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on March 23,  2020