Bagawa State Forest, on the Mid-North Coast near Coffs Harbour NSW is the scene of ongoing logging protests, illegal forestry practices and multiple fines from the Environment Protection Authority. This blog page records the history of the logging in Bagawa.
Forestry Corporation, the state-owned forestry operation which runs at a loss, has been fined for multiple breaches of the environment laws by the EPA at Bagawa, and is still supported by the state minister Tara Moriarty. Forestry Corp have been fined well over half a million dollars since the Black Summer bushfires destroyed huge forests in NSW.
Despite calls for the unsustainable native forest industry to transition to plantation forests, Forestry Corp, the unions and ALP government refuse to budge, claiming that their current jobs are more important.
Forestry Corp fined for illegal logging in Bagawa
Updated 16 March 2024 – Yet again, the NSW Forestry Corporation faces repercussions for violating environmental regulations, receiving a $45,000 fine for engaging in unlawful logging activities within Nadgee State Forest in the South and Bagawa State Forest in the North.
Tara Moriarty, the Minister for Agriculture who is responsible for Forestry Corp, personally inspected operations at Bagawa State Forest in 2023.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “The Forestry Corporation continues to breach vital environmental protections, they are serial offenders and cannot be trusted to comply with their operating approvals,”
“Minister Moriarty has got to put a stop to this, she is running protection for this rogue state owned corporation and they are committing environmental crimes under her nose at sites where she has visited,” Ms Higginson said.
Left Image supplied: Minister for Agriculture The Hon. Tara Moriarty MLC with Forestry Corporation of NSW Senior Ecologist Chris Slade in Bagawa State Forest.
Right: Bagawa State Forest Harvest Plan Map. This map shows the harvest plan for the Bagawa State Forest logging operation. To help the interested public understand and participate in the management of our public forests, these maps are available to the public from
https://www.forestrycorporation.com.au/operations/harvest-plans
“Our precious public native forests in NSW are not safe under the management of the Forestry Corporation, they are intentionally allowing areas mapped for protection to be logged while attacking community members that are calling them out,” Ms Higginson said.
“What will it take before Minister Moriarty intervenes in the Management of a corporation under her direction? She is putting community and the environment at risk of further harm by ignoring the serious breaches and crimes committed by the Forestry Corporation,” Ms Higginson said.
NSW Minister Tara Moriarty visits Forestry Corp at Bagawa State Forest
21 June 2023 – Newly appointed minister responsible for forests, Tara Moriarty has visited Forestry Corporation of NSW in the Bagawa State Forest near Coffs Harbour in NSW.
Bagawa state forest was the site of protests in 2020 following the Black Summer bush fires and again in 2022.
When the Koala extinction industrial logging operations began in Bagawa SF in August 2022 they were entirely illegal because they were operating with no Harvest Plan in place. A Harvest Plan is a legal instrument that needs to be in place for operations to be lawful.
Bagawa State Forest narrowly escaped burning in the Liberation Trail mega-fire and provided key water security to neighbours and surrounding agricultural industries.
Before industrial logging from 2022 – 2023 Bagawa State Forest contained globally significant Koala habitats and the habitats of numerous Threatened and steeply declining forest fauna species including the Endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo (with <8000 left after decimation in Black Summer fires), Spotted-tailed Quoll, Greater Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider and a host of endemic and threatened flora species.
These forests were also amongst the most diverse tall Eucalypt forests in all space and time. All these values have been badly impacted by the taxpayer funded, badly loss making and ecocidal industrial logging of Forestry Corporation and previously healthy forests are now a sea of Lantana.
Bagawa is a key part of the Great Koala National Park and needs to be allowed to recover from the harms done by logging and for the globally significant biota in it to re-establish their populations.
Formerly moist forests have been badly dried out and made much more fire prone than before the logging. This is endangering the lives and properties of neighbours who narrowly avoided being burnt out in the November 2019 Liberation Trail mega-fire.
Mark Graham, ecologist
In September 2022, the NSW Environment Protection Authority responded to a complaint by Mr Graham:
Dear Mr Graham
Thank you for your email of 15 August 2022, reporting alleged damage to four retained trees within Bagawa State Forest and alleged failure of Forestry Corporation of New South Wales (FCNSW) to publish a harvest plan.
Your allegations have been the subject of an investigation by the EPA. The investigation included reviewing the report you provided, conducting a site inspection, consulting with technical specialists and reviewing harvest plan records.
The investigation confirmed that the four trees you identified had sustained impacts which appeared to be associated with recent roadworks. However, the damage sustained to each tree did not meet the definition of “damage”, as defined in the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA) Protocols.
The investigation also confirmed that the relevant harvest plan was not visible on the FCNSW portal to members of the public at the time of your complaint. The portal shows the plan (titled HFD_Harvest_Plan_Bagawa_SF_BGW001_V1.1.pdf) has an upload date of 22 June 2022. However, an administrative error resulted in the plan not being visible to the public.
The EPA has reminded FCNSW about the CIFOA requirements to protect retained trees from damage and make forestry operational plans publicly available at least two business days prior to the commencement of operations.
Thank you for bringing these matters to the EPA’s attention.
See also: Forestry Corporation failing to comply with the law: Auditor General
What can NSW Government do to stop koala extinction
Forest action spreads to Doubleduke & Lorne State Forests
NSW Nationals motion on the Forestry Industry, 31 May 2023
A burnt & logged nature reserve is not a nature reserve
Legal challenge to New South Wales Regional Forest Agreement (RFA)
Taxpayers hit with $5 million bill for Forestry Corp to log koala habitat
Friends Of Bagawa Stand To Safeguard State Forest, August 2022
Upper Orara farmer Stephen Thompson suggests the Bagawa State Forest logging is a “smash and grab, because The Great National Koala Park plan could happen”.
“The loggers need to be in and out, quickly take what they can and leave.
“That’s such a shame, beautiful areas like this that have got 35 years of growth…lost,” he said.
Logging was stopped at Bagawa State Forest in 2020
Logging was stopped at Bagawa State Forest in 2020, the fourth time logging was halted on the NSW Mid North Coast in six weeks by the Gumbaynggirr Conservation Group (GCG).
Only a week after being issued a ‘stop work’ notice for illegally logging giant habitat trees at Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, Forestry Corporation moved into Bagawa SF to continue tree felling.
Bagawa SF is recovering from the devastating December 2019 Liberation Trail Fire that burnt over 150,000 hectares of land.
“Five million hectares of NSW forests burnt last summer, and three billion animals were lost with them. We need every last patch of native forest left to refuge dislocated species, regulate our climate and grow into our future forests,” a GCG spokesperson said.
“This is a recovering forest. It’s recovering from fires and ongoing historical logging from Forestry Corp. It’s already home to Koalas, Yellow-bellied Gliders and Glossy Black Cockatoos – just imagine what it could become if Forestry Corporation left this recovering forest alone.”
Despite the EPA having issued a new rule to prohibit intensive harvesting in burnt areas, they have given an exemption for Bagawa SF over a critical shortage of timber supply. This exemption overrules the new law that was introduced to protect struggling species impacted by the fires.
The Gumbaynggirr Conservation Group is a historic alliance between Gumbaynggirr Custodians, local community and environmental groups that have come together over a shared concern about native forest logging across local State Forests.
Forestry Corp’s press release, June 2023
On 21 June 2023, Forestry Corp issued the following press release:
Ecology, community and renewable timber were on the agenda last week as the NSW Minister for Agriculture, The Hon. Tara Moriarty MLC spent time in Bagawa State Forest near Coffs Harbour.
Minister Moriarty said the field visit provided a deeper understanding of how State forests are managed to balance multiple uses and objectives.
“State forests are unique because they are managed for a much wider range of uses than any other public forest type. Forestry Corporation is appointed to balance environmental conservation, tourism, fire, pests and weeds, roads, access for primary production such as apiary and grazing, and renewable timber production,” Minister Moriarty said.
“As the Minister for Agriculture, I have made it a priority to get out in the field to understand hands-on how these objectives are balanced.
“In the Coffs Harbour region, State forests contain natural forests managed for conservation and tourism, native forests that have been continually harvested for timber and regrown for 100 years as well as hardwood timber plantations.
“I was pleased to meet with Forestry Corporation’s Senior Manager Environment and Sustainability Dean Kearney and Senior Ecologist Chris Slade, who explained how these different forest types are managed, the detailed environmental planning processes that are followed and some of the monitoring and research underway in these forests.
“Forestry Corporation is a land manager that also produces timber, and the region’s forests are extensively used for mountain biking, four wheel driving, trail biking, horse riding, dog walking, community clubs from archery clubs to pony clubs, and events ranging from orienteering and regaining to car rallies.
“Balancing these multiple uses and users is complex and there are teams of staff involved in carrying out environmental surveys and planning and managing forest operations, as well as teams who develop and manage tourism sites, build partnerships with community groups and Aboriginal communities, maintain roads, carry out fire hazard reduction and fire fighting, and manage pests and weeds.
“Over the coming weeks I also hope to spend time in the field visiting other forest types including softwood plantations and to meet with stakeholders.”
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Forestry Corporation rebrands NSW native forest as ‘plantation’ to allow logging
Forestry Corporation failing to comply with the law: Auditor General
What can NSW Government do to stop koala extinction
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Legal challenge to New South Wales Regional Forest Agreement (RFA)
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