Manning Valley logger breached private native forestry rules
A Mid North Coast logging company has been fined more than $34,000 after a court found it breached private native forestry rules designed to protect waterways and surrounding vegetation.
In the Taree Local Court, O’Connor Logging Pty Ltd was ordered to pay the penalty following offences committed at a property in Belbora in 2023. The company’s director, Stephen Sean O’Connor, was also convicted and placed on a two-year conditional release order requiring him to be of good behaviour.
The prosecution was brought by the NSW Environment Protection Authority after a series of inspections identified forestry activity within a riparian exclusion zone — the protected buffer area around creeks and waterways.
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According to the EPA, operations in the zone damaged native vegetation and led to an estimated 140 tonnes of sediment being washed into waterways that flow into Burrell Creek, a tributary of the Manning River near Taree.
EPA Director of Operations John Forcier said compliance with the Private Native Forestry Code of Practice was mandatory, not discretionary.
“The Private Native Forestry Code of Practice exists to safeguard native vegetation, soil and waterways, and complying with these requirements is not optional,” Mr Forcier said.
The court heard that a snig track and two log dumps were constructed within the sensitive riparian zone. Inspectors also found unstable stream crossings that were not adequately built to prevent erosion.
“Riparian exclusion zones are established to ensure soil erosion and water pollution does not impact natural aquatic ecosystems and our inspections found much of the work occurring well within these buffer zones,” Mr Forcier said.
He added that the community expected forestry operations to be managed sustainably and that enforcement action would follow where environmental risks were created.
As part of the court’s orders, O’Connor Logging must also publish a notice of the offence in the Manning River Times and pay the EPA’s legal costs of $15,000.
The case serves as a reminder that company directors can be held personally accountable for environmental breaches committed under their watch, particularly where operations affect waterways and downstream ecosystems.
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