UPFDATE 20 December 2023 – The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has extendeded the Stop Work Order affecting specific areas within Tallaganda State Forest, near Captains Flat.
This extension of the Stop Work results from Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) not yet informing the EPA of the completion of required surveys aimed at identifying and safeguarding den trees for the Southern Greater Glider. Ongoing communication with FCNSW is underway.
Originally instituted by the EPA on 30th August 2023, the Stop Work Order has revealed 89 endangered Southern Greater Gliders and 20 den trees in the designated areas. These regions were initially designated for timber harvesting or scheduled harvesting activities.
UPDATE 10 November 2023 – The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has extended a Stop Work Order affecting specific sections of Tallaganda State Forest and will remain in effect for an additional 40 days, until 20 December, 2023.
This extension comes as the Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) is yet to rectify shortcomings identified in prior Stop Work Orders aimed at locating and safeguarding den trees for the Southern Greater Glider.
Forestry Corporation conducted pre-logging surveys for Greater Glider den trees in Tallaganda during the day, when nocturnal greater gliders were asleep. Forestry Corp identified just one den tree.
“Since the first Stop Work Order was issued in August, the EPA has recorded 89 endangered Southern Greater Gliders and 20 den trees in the areas subject to the order that were earmarked for harvesting by FCNSW”
EPA Executive Director Operations, Jason Gordon, said
The Stop Work Order was first issued verbally on 30 August, in writing on 31 August, amended on 6 September, extended on 4 October and extended again on 10 November 2023.
The EPA is also continuing its investigation of additional suspected violations identified within Tallaganda State Forest, stemming from ongoing inspections prompted by community complaints.
These inquiries include various alleged infractions against the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA). These purported transgressions involve potential harm to the habitat of endangered species and/or ecological communities, alleged impairment of environmentally sensitive zones, and alleged lapses in retaining trees as stipulated by the CIFOA.
Separately, the EPA has initiated talks with FCNSW to enhance the survey prerequisites outlined in the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA). This hopes to safeguard the Southern Greater Glider habitat in the future.
06 Oct 2023 – The logging activities in Tallaganda State Forest on the South Coast, which were originally scheduled by the NSW Forestry Corporation, have experienced a new delay. This postponement has been extended until November 13, 2023, due to recent findings by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). The EPA has reported the discovery of 89 endangered Southern Greater Gliders and 20 den trees in the designated industrial logging areas, prompting the delay.
The EPA had issued a Stop Work Order on Forestry Corp on 30 August (see below) after greater glider deaths were reported by citizen scientists. The planned logging also stopped at Bulga State Forest, near Taree, another home of known greater gliders, which are listed as endangered.
Forestry Corp has been relying on wildlife surveys done in 2017, years before the devastating Black Summer bushfires and massive floods which followed soon after. Greater Glider populations and their movements after the fires have not been counted for seven years.
Greater Gliders extend stop work order in Tallaganda State Forest
Greens MP and spokesperson for the Environment Sue Higginson has been working tirelessly to protect these last populations of greater gliders was relieved that the Stop Work Order has been extended …
“The temporary stop work order that was issued in August has been proven justified following the formal recording of 89 endangered Greater Gliders in Tallaganda“
“The NSW Forestry Corporation failed to conduct the required assessments for known species in Tallaganda. They are ignoring their duties to survey habitat for known species and if it weren’t for community action, the NSW Government would have let them get away with it. This is a systemic problem and is not limited to Tallaganda, we are destroying threatened species habitats, including Greater Glider and Koala habitat, across the entire NSW public forest estate”
“The ecological surveys that inform logging operations in NSW can be up to 10 years old for some forests and most full species surveys were undertaken before the 2019/20 bushfires that caused massive loss to plant and animal species. We cannot expect that these ecological surveys are still accurate and it turns out that the Forestry Corporation is disregarding them anyway”
“I have written to both the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for the Environment to ask that they order ecological surveys to be undertaken in native forests that are subject to logging plans and to recognise the extent that the logging of native forests is directly contributing to the severity of fires and floods in NSW.”
“No other proponent in NSW is allowed to undertake environmentally harmful activities at such a scale without undertaking full ecological surveys, so why is the Forestry Corporation being allowed to”
“It is a massive relief to know that the Greater Gliders of Talleganda are being spared destruction, but the reality is they, along with other threatened species, are being destroyed elsewhere across the public forest estate. Greater Gliders were listed as endangered last year but the fact is we do not yet have a clear understanding of the real conservation status of the species.”
“The EPA has identified that Greater Gliders are an important indicator species that are critical to identify and protect, to ensure that other forest dependent species are also protected. Greater Gliders and their den trees were already surveyed in Tallaganda, but they are also recorded in many state forests that are being logged without any requirement to check for animals or retain habitat trees,”
“The NSW Government must act or their no new extinction policy will fail. There must be comprehensive and independent ecological surveys undertaken before any logging in native forests is allowed to commence. Without this protection, the Forestry Corporation will continue to log areas that are critical for plants and animals that are threatened with extinction”
Ms Higginson said.
EPA’s Stop Work Order on logging in Tallaganda State Forest
30 Aug 2023 – The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has issued Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) an immediate Stop Work Order to cease harvesting in parts of the Tallaganda State Forest, south east of Canberra.
Following a community complaint, EPA officers inspected several active logging compartments in Tallaganda on Tuesday 30 August and located a deceased Southern Greater Glider around 50 metres from forestry harvest operations. It is not yet known how the glider died.
EPA Acting Executive Director Operations, Steve Orr said the discovery of a deceased glider was extremely concerning given their increased reliance on unburnt areas of the forest following the 2019/20 bushfires and its proximity to active harvest operations.
“Southern Greater Gliders are an endangered species and shelter in multiple tree cavities, known as ‘den trees’, over large distances,” Mr Orr said.
“Den trees are critical for the food, shelter and movement of gliders and FCNSW is required to protect them and implement 50 metre exclusion zones around identified den trees.
“While community reports suggest around 400 Southern Greater Gliders may be living in the Tallaganda State Forest, FCNSW has identified only one den tree and we are not confident that habitat surveys have been adequately conducted to ensure all den trees are identified.
“The EPA has a strong compliance and enforcement program for native forestry, and we will take immediate action where warranted, including issuing stop work orders for alleged non-compliance.”
FCNSW has been ordered to immediately cease all harvesting, haulage operations, and any road and track construction work in the areas of concern in the Tallaganda State Forest. The order is in place for 40 days and can be extended.
FCNSW must immediately comply with the Stop Work Order. Failure to comply with a Stop Work Order is a serious offence and can attract a maximum court-imposed penalty of up to $1,650,000 and a further $165,000 for each day the offence continues. Similar penalties apply in respect of a breach of the Forestry Act.
The EPA’s investigation is ongoing.
The Greater Glider death comes just days before the National Endangered Species Day.
Critical habitat for the endangered Greater Glider is being logged in Tallaganda State Forest on the South Coast of NSW by Forestry Corporation despite it being one of only two large areas of habitat to have survived the 2019/20 bushfires.
The World Wildlife Fund, Wilderness Australia and NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson have all written to the Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe, calling for an immediate stop to work in Tallaganda Forest while independent surveys can establish the location of Greater Glider habitat trees.
Analysis by the Nature Conversation Council shows that rather than being an isolated incident, greater glider habitat is being logged all over NSW.
Map: Greater Glider population density (yellow) overlaid with planned logging operation (white)
“Our research shows that logging is planned in critical glider habitat right across the south coast” Dr Brad Smith, NCC acting CEO said today.
Citizen Scientists
NCC has been working with local environmentalists and scientists to develop a toolkit to help people from across NSW to monitor, report and stop illegal logging activities.
The Breach Watch website and handbook (PDF, 5 megabytes) is designed to support people to survey a forest before it has been logged (both from home and in the field) report future of previous breaches to the EPA. This can lead to measures like ‘exclusion zones’ being implemented to protect critical habitats and species, and fines issues for egregious breached in logging conditions.
“Everything in this toolkit is entirely legal. It offers concerned citizens with a tangible way they can protect the forests. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be working with groups on the ground to further support people prevent or report breaches illegal logging activity.
“The strategic use of citizen science was instrumental in the recent decision by the Victorian Government to end to native forest logging by 2024.
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“The logging of Greater Glider Habitat in Tallaganda State Forest could be the nail in the coffin of extinction for Greater Gliders,” Greens MP and Spokesperson for the Environment said.
“Just last week the Biodiversity Conservation Act Review was tabled in Parliament and found that the laws in NSW are failing the environment and that native forest logging is damaging forest ecosystems and the habitat of native species. Now here we are looking at state sanctioned extinction logging underway in habitat that is critical to the survival of the endangered Greater Glider.
“Forestry Corporation have only recorded a single Greater Glider den tree in the 5,000 hectare area that they intend to log, this is completely at odds with most reports on the Greater Glider population in Tallaganda that show this population is just one of two large populations remaining in the State.
“The Minister must use her powers to order a halt to the logging operations in Tallaganda so that this vast discrepancy in population reporting can be resolved, Forestry Corporation have either failed to conduct adequate surveys or they are willfully misleading the Government and people of NSW.
“The independent review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act headed up by Ken Henry AC explicitly stated that laws that have an objective to protect the environment must take precedence over laws that facilitate environmental harm. What is happening in Tallaganda is precisely what the review says needs to change. Forestry Corporation have compiled with the letter of the Forestry Act and are now logging critical remnant habitat of an endangered species with impunity. We can’t keep destroying the habitat of species that are on the brink of extinction.
“I’ve written to the Minister and called for her to intervene now, to keep her promise of no new extinctions in NSW, because without the Government taking action now, Greater Gliders will be reduced to just one large population area in the entire state.
“If logging in Tallaganda continues, Greater Gliders will be pushed to extinction and this Government will be looking down the barrel of its own political failure.
Why is the greater glider endangered?
Without old growth forests and the hollows found in those established trees to call home, greater gliders cannot survive. Tree clearing, forest destruction, bushfires and climate change are placing greater glider populations at risk.
New research by the Australia Institute shows that a majority of voters from all major parties support bans on native forest logging in NSW.
“Native forest logging in NSW must end immediately and protection and transition arrangements put in place for the environment, communities, workers and industry,” said Greens MP Sue Higginson and spokesperson for the environment. “The majority of voters from all parties want to see the end of native forest logging in NSW, there is nothing left in the way for the State and Commonwealth Governments to end native forest logging,”
NSW is on the frontline of the extinction crisis and forest dependent threatened species like the Koala and Greater Glider cannot afford for us to keep logging our native forests.
See also:
Greater Glider heading for extinction
NSW Forestry Corp have a fight on their hands to Save Bulga Forest
Midcoast Council Votes to Save Bulga Forest on Biripi Country
Lola Koala’s tree-sit in Bulga Forest continues a tradition of forest protest
Forest defenders and climate activists arrested in Bulga State Forest
Locals protest NSW Forestry logging in Bulga Forest
Flawed habitat maps could derail government plans to save the Koala
Knitting Nanna blocks saw mill & stops logging trucks
