Koalas, greater gliders and other threatened species have not been counted since 2017, well before the 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires and floods – but that has not stopped logging on an industrial scale in Clouds Creek State Forest and other native timber forests within the proposed Great Koala National Park in NSW.
The absence of current surveys of threatened species numbers and their movements in the forest means that only animals recorded more than 6 years ago and before the black summer fires are considered before logging begins.
You don’t have to be a ‘tree hugger‘ to realise the endangered koala will go extinct within a few decades, as predicted by credible & independent sources including the NSW Government’s own inquiry, unless their habitat trees are protected from logging.
Beginning and continuing logging in areas hit hard by the Black Summer fires and the floods that followed, without even stopping to count the numbers and where they have moved – if they even survived the fires – is irresponsible.
Forestry Corp’s ‘business as usual’ is not working for the koala or other threatened species, such as the greater glider. Logging procedures must change to include up-to-date wildlife surveys and events such as major floods and bushfires.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the Environment Sue Higginson said
“It’s actually shocking that there is currently no requirement to conduct ecological surveys in our native forests prior to the commencement of logging.
Only threatened species that were recorded several years ago are considered in logging operations which completely fails to account for species movement and impacts from bushfires and floods. No other proponent in NSW can operate like this”
“The recent move by the Environment Protection Authority to temporarily order a halt to logging operations in Tallaganda State Forest was due to the required species survey of Southern Greater Gliders being inadequate.
The mounting evidence, that even the cursory surveys for known species in logging areas are not being undertaken, is a clear indication of the failed regulation and compliance of native forest logging,”
“The NSW Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Agriculture should immediately require pre-logging ecological surveys to be conducted to ensure that threatened species are being protected from industrial logging.
Allowing currently planned logging to commence and underway logging to continue, under out of date surveys, is irresponsible and at complete odds with the Government’s commitment for no new extinctions,”
“The potential for more threatened species to be present in any given forest after the last 6 years of fires and floods is very high and critical habitat is being overlooked by the Forestry Corporation already,”
Greens MP Sue Higginson said
Koalas & Greater Gliders going extinct
The NSW parliamentary inquiry found that a government estimate that there are 36,000 koalas in the state was outdated and unreliable. Koalas will become extinct before 2050 in NSW unless there is urgent government intervention to prevent habitat loss, the report said.
“The report found that habitat loss and fragmentation was the biggest threat to koalas, yet at every turn we were handed evidence that showed our current laws are inadequate and facilitating the clearing of core koala habitat.
Committee chair, Cate Faehrmann said
The greater glider was added to Australia’s list of endangered wildlife in July 2022. The number of greater gliders have declined by 80% in just 20 years. As old growth forests and tree hollows continue to be destroyed by bushfires and land-clearing, greater gliders numbers continue to crash.
Michael West Media reports that scientific and legal evidence provided in reports, legal challenges, and other research shows that Australia is not complying with the Montreal Process Working Group (MPG) framework. The most recent State of the Forests report is dated 2018 and is not updated to include the extraordinary damage to native forests, biodiversity and ecosystems by Black Summer fires and climate impacts.
Logging in the Great Koala National Park without current threatened species surveys
Clouds Creek State Forest located within the Great Koala National Park area had been closed since March 2023 due to fire damage but logging operations are currently underway in some of the most ecologically significant areas despite no ecological surveys being undertaken since 2017.
“We need to end public native forest logging in NSW, that’s the reality. As long as the Government delays this reality there should be tighter controls on the protection of threatened species and at a minimum this requires up to date pre logging surveys be undertaken and the Forestry Corporation be immediately required to operate like every other proponent in NSW that is having an impact upon threatened species.”
“Today, I’ll be calling on the EPA to issue a stop work order for Clouds Creek State Forest. The likely presence of hollow bearing trees in Clouds Creek, that are critical habitat for threatened Greater Gliders, has not been assessed in the harvest plan. Trees that have been felled in this area have more than likely been den trees and killed Greater Gliders,”
“I am also calling on the Minister for Agriculture to fully implement the Post Bushfire Logging Review conducted by the Natural Resources Commission to ensure that recovery in native forests is allowed to continue without further industrial logging in fragile areas,”
Greens MP Sue Higginson said
Areas of Save Bulga Forest earmarked for logging, called compartments, were to be logged earlier in 2023 but relentless protests forced Forestry Corp to delay their plans. The compartments were again closed to the public in preparation for logging but Citizen Scientist’s discovery of greater gliders and their dens far outnumbered Forestry’s estimates, and their plans were again scuttled.
In issuing a Stop Work Order on Forestry Corp’s logging of Tallaganda State Forest, EPA Acting Executive Director Operations, Steve Orr said the greater glider have increased reliance on unburnt areas of the forest following the 2019/20 bushfires.
“Southern Greater Gliders are an endangered species and shelter in multiple tree cavities, known as ‘den trees’, over large distances”
“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.”
Mr Orr said.
See our other stories on the forestry & endangered species issues:
EPA’s Stop Work Order on logging in Tallaganda State Forest
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
