The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC) has released new analysis revealing that up to 19,000 hectares of forest in the proposed Great Koala National Park could be destroyed by Forestry Corporation NSW before next April.
The NCC’s interactive map shows both past and planned logging activities within the proposed park, which is home to one in five of the state’s koalas. Story continues following this advertisement:
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Jacqui Mumford, Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, criticized the ongoing deforestation, stating, “Forestry Corporation have been destroying vast swathes of habitat in the proposed new park, right as it’s being assessed for inclusion. This is some of the most important intact koala habitat in the state and it should be protected, not put on the chopping block, while decisions are made about the National Park.”
Mumford expressed concern over the extent of the logging, which has continued despite the area’s pending assessment for national park status.
She called for an immediate halt to logging activities within the proposed park, emphasizing, “We don’t want to see one more hectare destroyed in this park. We need to see a moratorium on logging in the proposed park now.”
The analysis suggests that Forestry Corporation is accelerating its timber extraction efforts in anticipation of the park’s protection.
Since the state election, industrial logging has continued in over 90% of the proposed park. These forests have already suffered extensive damage from decades of logging.
Forestry Corporation is attempting to redefine the park’s borders, reducing its size and excluding critical koala habitat by falsely labeling them as ‘plantation forests.’
Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales interactive map showing the compartments in FCNSW’s harvest plan is available here . Click layer, ‘logging since 2003′ to view a comprehensive logging history.
Above in green are the forests proposed for gazetting as the Great Koala National Park. Red are forests planned to be logged in 2024-25. Yellow is what was logged in the last year. Click through to find an interactive version of map.
Mumford highlighted the urgency of the situation, pointing out that NSW Labor’s key election promise to protect koala habitat on the Mid-North Coast remains unfulfilled more than a year after taking power.
“Over the past year, Forestry Corporation has continued to decimate the forests that are being considered for inclusion in the park,” she said. “This area will become a national park and we need to be protecting its values.”
Last year, Environment Minister Penny Sharpe declared a moratorium on logging within ‘Koala Hubs,’ protecting 5% of the proposed park.
However, Mumford argued that leaving 95% of the proposed park vulnerable to logging is inadequate for the survival of koalas in the wild.
“If we don’t stop them, Forestry Corporation will destroy the park before it is protected,” she warned.
“This is an area that is home to one in five of the state’s surviving koalas. With this species on the brink of extinction, we can’t afford another year of destruction of this key koala habitat. Otherwise, come 2050, we might have a Great Koala National Park without any koalas.”
Mumford urged the NSW Government to implement a moratorium on logging within the proposed park’s boundaries, stating, “The government knows this park is going to happen. Forestry Corporation knows it’s going to happen. Allowing logging to continue is an abandonment of these forests and the reason they were identified as being worthy of protection.”
She concluded with a stark warning, “If the government is serious about ensuring koalas exist in the wild beyond 2050, then a moratorium on logging in the proposed Great Koala National Park, where a fifth of the state’s koalas live, is an urgent necessity.”
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