Map of the proposed Great Koala National Park (white outline). Red is areas Forestry Corporation NSW plans to log in the next 12 months, white polygons are ’koala hubs’ - the most important sites of koala habitat in NSW, and green is state forests that constitutes the GKNP proposal.  

NCC calls for halt on logging in Great Koala National Park

May 23rd 2023

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state's leading environmental advocacy organisation, has today released analysis showing that 17.7% of state forest that constitutes the Great Koala National Park proposal will be targeted over the next 12 months by Forestry Corporation NSW (Forestry Corp).  

NSW's 12 Month's of Operations Plan Portal shows that Forestry Corporation NSW plans to log 30,813ha (over 17%) of state forest that constitutes the Great Koala National Park (GKNP) proposal. 

NCC has also developed this map in order to help members of the community visualise this plan and highlight the imminent threat koalas are facing.  

Critically, the analysis found that logging is planned in areas the NSW government has identified as the most important areas of koala habitat in NSW (OEH Koala Hubs) including Wild Cattle Creek, Clouds Creek, Pine Creek and Boambee State Forests. 

“The NSW Government committed to protecting koalas by creating the GKNP, but before the assessment process even begins, Forestry Corp plans to log nearly 20% of the park. This absolutely cannot happen if we want koalas in the Great Koala National Park” NCC CEO Jacqui Mumford said today. 

“Forestry Corp knows this national park is coming, and they are deliberately ramping up operations within its boundaries to extract as much timber from it as possible.” 

“The ridiculous thing is that for the last couple of years under the Coalition government taxpayers subsidised FCNSW to the tune of $29 million. The new Labor government has a real opportunity to stop the destruction of koala habitat and sending taxpayers the bill" Mumford continued. 

Analysis by NCC has also found that in the 2021-2022 financial year the hardwood division of Forestry Corporation NSW, which is responsible for the native forest logging, ran at a loss of $9 million. This followed from 20-21 FY where the division ran at a loss of $20 million.  

Logging compartments of native forest that fall within the proposed Great Koala National Park has cost the NSW taxpayer an estimated $5 million ($4,991,823.2) worth of subsidies since 2020. (see below) 

“It seems absurd to have to say it, but the NSW taxpayer should not be paying to kill koalas” 

Statements attributable to NCC Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford 

“The Great Koalas National Park proposal was developed by leading scientists, ecologists and local environmental groups, including the National Parks Association, who identified the most important areas of koala habitat in NSW. All of these areas need to be protected if we are to ensure the survival of koalas in the wild." 

“I call on the NSW government to immediately halt logging in areas that will become the Great Koalas National Park and undertake a thorough and publicly available assessment on the impact of Forestry Corporation NSW's planned logging activities on koala populations.” 

“Forestry Corp operated as a rogue agency under the previous government, and every day we hear new reports of them breaking the law. They have been fined or prosecuted 10 times since 2020 for breaches such as illegally felling protected giant trees, felling trees with hollows, and felling koala feed trees.” 

“Victoria and Western Australia are now both ending native forest logging by 2024, while Queensland is stopping logging south of Noosa by next year. NSW is now the laggard in this space, and it's time for the NSW government to step up." 

“This is a watershed moment for the Minns Government. Will you act in line with community expectations and desires and protect koalas or risk their extinction.” 

Additional information 

Koala hubs: In 2017, at the request of the Chief Scientist, the Office of Environment and Heritage analysed Koala records "to delineate highly significant local scale areas of koala occupancy currently known for protection", identifying “areas of currently known significant koala occupancy that indicate clusters of resident populations known as Koala Hubs”. The previous government refused to publish the report and allowed the Forestry Corporation to go on logging them, and they still are. 

State Forests logged within the GKNP since 2020 
 
FY 2021-2022  
 
Using the annual Sustainability Reports released by FCNSW, analysis shows that there were 160 compartments logged in state forests across the state in 21-22.    
 
This equates to a loss of $56,250 per compartment logged when taking into consideration the $9 million lost over this year. 
 
Coffs Harbour City Council TOTAL= 20 cpts at $1,125,000 

• Wedding bells (17 cpt) 
• Conglomerate (3 cpt) 

Clarence Valley Council TOTAL= 8cpts at $450,000 

• Wild Cattle Creek (4 cpt) 
• Clouds Creek (3 cpt) 

• Ellis (1 cpt) 

Nambucca valley council TOTAL= 6 cpts at $337,500 

• Tamban (6 cpt) 

FY 2020-2021  
In the FY 2020-21, the Hardwood Division of Forestry Corporation ran at a loss of $20 million.  
 
There was a total of 104 compartments logged during this period, meaning it lost $192,307.7 per compartment. 
 
Coffs Harbour City Council total= 10cpts at $1,923,077 

• Conglomerate (2 cpt)  
• Lower Bucca (4 cpt) 
• Wedding Bells (2 cpt)  
• Bagawa (1 cpt) 
• Orara east (1 cpt) 

Clarence Valley Council total=4cpts at $771,630.8 

• Wild Cattle Creek (4 cpt) 

Nambucca Valley Council total=2 pts at $384,615.4 

• Tamban (1 cpt) 
• Ingalba (1 cpt) 

TOTAL TAXPAYER COST TO LOG FOREST WITHIN THE FUTURE GREAT KOALA NATIONAL PARK -  $4,991,823.2 

18th April 2023 

Giant trees almost felled: Suspension of logging highlights the need for greater oversight of NSW forestry Corp 

The Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, has today welcomed the cessation of logging operations in Doubleduke State Forest on Bundjalung Country near Grafton.  

The EPA conducted a site inspection in response to concerns raised by members of the community and identified that Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) was planning to commence illegal logging operations. 

“This highlights the vital role members of the community are playing in protecting our native forests” CEO Jacqui Mumford said today. “If it wasn’t for a dedicated group of conservationists, Forestry NSW would have destroyed habitat for critically endangered species like the greater glider, koala and both the powerful and masked owl’. 

“It also highlights the culture of noncompliance and malpractice that characterises FCNSW, who has been allowed to run rogue under the previous Liberal National Government.”  

“Every day we hear new reports of Forestry NSW breaking the law. FCNSW has been fined or prosecuted 10 times since 2020 for breaches such as illegally felling protected giant trees, felling trees with hollows, and felling koala feed trees.” 

“Their own industry study showed that in logging communities 65% of people are against native forest logging- their social license to operate is rapidly disappearing.” 

"We know that those figures jump even higher when people hear that most trees taken from native forests end up as cardboard, woodchips and other low-grade products that are sent overseas.”     

Mumford said she was hopeful that the new government would follow their Western Australian and Victorian Labor colleagues and end native forest logging in NSW. 

“At the very least, we need to see greater enforcement of the existing laws, and an end to the absurd subsidies that keep this industry going.” 

In the last two years the hardwood division of Forestry Corporation (the section responsible for native forest logging) lost $29m of taxpayers' money.  

Further statements attributable to Jacqui Mumford, NCC CEO 

“Forests are the lungs of the earth. They are essential to clean air, a sustainable climate and healthy ecosystems where plants and animals can thrive.” 

“Critically endangered species like the powerful owl, gang-gang cockatoo, greater glider and koala will go extinct in our lifetime unless we take action now.” 

“We’ve already destroyed far too much of the NSW bush. The remaining habitats should be protected, not pulped.” 

Background 

 
You can view current or planned native forest logging operations at the Coastal IFOA Native Forest Plan of Operations Map (12 Months) here: https://planportal.fcnsw.net/  
 

An image of the EPA carrying out the inspection is available here: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/news/news/2023/protecting-giant-trees-in-doubleduke-state-forest  

Statement ends 

Media contact: Clancy Barnard 

E: [email protected]  

The NSW Government has introduced a bill to  fast-track logging in native forests and scrap local governments' ability to protect koala habitat.

Koalas were declared endangered just six months ago. It was meant to mark a turning point for protecting and restoring koala homes.  

Instead, we are seeing the National Party push this desperate ploy to reduce already weak koala safeguards for their powerful logging mates.

Write to your MP and the Premier and let them know you want this bill stopped.

Today’s announcement that koalas will be finally listed as Endangered under the Biodiversity Conservation Act is a huge wake up call for protecting koala habitat in New South Wales.   

“The devastating endangered listing of koalas comes as no surprise in a state where the government refuses to protect habitat. Koala numbers have been in freefall for years and the NSW Government must act immediately to protect their habitat” Nature Conservation Council Deputy Chief Executive Jacqui Mumford said.  

"The reality is koalas are dwindling across New South Wales and we don’t have a proper mechanism to protect their habitat.”  

“If you want to save koalas you have to protect their trees. It is not complex. But koala habitat continues to be destroyed because of weak government policy that prioritises land clearance for grazing, agriculture, urbanisation, timber harvesting and mining.”  

“The recently released NSW Koala Strategy was inadequate for protecting the species and we are seriously lacking a state-wide mechanism to bring this iconic species back to a healthy population. Any party looking to lead NSW into the future needs to have this as a commitment.” 

“We are calling on the NSW Government to immediately:  

• Ban the destruction of koala habitat, on both public and private land;  
• End native forest logging; and   
• Expand the National Parks estate to protect high quality koala habitat including the proposed Great Koala National Park”   

The NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee found: 

“Human activities including deforestation and land clearance for grazing, agriculture, urbanisation, timber harvesting, mining and other activities have resulted in loss, fragmentation and degradation of koala habitats” (page 3) 

“Large areas of forest and woodland within the koala’s range were cleared between 2000 and 2017 (Ward et al. 2019) with clearing for grazing accounting for most of this loss of koala habitat”. “Land clearing continues to impact habitat across the koala’s range” (page 3) 

“Clearing of native vegetation’ is listed as a Key Threatening Process under the Act.” (page 4) 

“Modelled climatic suitability from 2010 to 2030 indicates a 38-52% reduction in available habitat for the koala and a 62% reduction in koala habitat by 2070 has been forecast” (page 4) 

“... it is facing a very high risk of extinction in the near future...” (page 5) 

Today’s announcement that koalas will be finally listed as Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is a huge wake up call for protecting koala habitat in New South Wales.  

“The endangered listing of koalas is a devastating reflection of the reality for koalas in Australia. Koala numbers have been in freefall thanks to habitat destruction. The NSW Government should follow suit and list koalas as endangered under the Biodiversity Conservation Act” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said. 

“The Commonwealth finally acknowledging that koalas are endangered is good news, and should now prompt NSW to follow suit so that they can be properly managed, starting with protecting habitat” 

“If you want to save koalas you have to protect their trees. It is not complex. But koala habitat continues to be destroyed because of weak government policy at both state and federal levels.” 

“The infamous koala wars of 2020 has now seen the New South Wales Government  sit on its hands while this iconic species has been in decline. It’s time they resolved the impasse on land clearing and private native forestry codes and properly protect habitat” 

“The NSW Koala strategy expired on 30 June last year and we are yet to see a new one. There are many opportunities for the NSW Government to drastically improve how koala habitat is managed in this state’  

“We are calling on the NSW Government to immediately: 

• Ban the destruction of koala habitat, on both public and private land; 
• End native forest logging; and  
• Expand the National Parks estate to protect high quality koala habitat including the proposed Great Koala National Park”  

Koala lovers are celebrating today after almost 200 hectares of prime habitat near Port Macquarie were put beyond the reach of property developers. 

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean announced this morning the government, with a $3.5 million contribution from Koala Conservation Australia, had bought a 194ha block of forest next to Lake Innes Nature Reserve. 

The purchase follows a long community campaign to conserve one of the best unprotected patches of koala habitat left in the district. 

“This is a great victory for the community and for the region’s koalas,” Nature Conservation Council Acting Chief Executive Jacqui Mumford said. 

“While it is a relatively small patch, it will make a significant addition to the existing nature reserve and improves the chances that koalas will persist in the area for many years to come. 

“Koala Conservation Australia has done an amazing job raising more than $3 million to ensure this land does not end up in the hands of developers who have destroyed huge areas of koala habitat around Port Macquarie. 

“It is a pity the public had to chip in to protect this land when people expect their taxes to be used to ensure the long-term survival of the species.

“But putting that aside, today is a great result for our most loved species.” 

Ms Mumford said many thousands of hectares of koala habitat in NSW were still not protected from logging, land clearing and property development, including Lend Lease’s housing development at Mt Gilead on Sydney’s southwest outskirts. 

“The government has the power to protect koalas for future generations and to honour its pledge to double koala numbers by 2050, but only if it acts swiftly and boldly to protect their habitat across the state,” Ms Mumford said. 

“Koala protections in NSW have been weakened since the National’s threatened to blow up the government because they wanted to let landholders keep bulldozing koala habitat. 

“The government’s new Koala Strategy is now well overdue, and with every month’s delay, the species edges closer to the brink.” 

A new land-clearing code introduced by the NSW Government on Saturday could result in thousands of hectares of previously protected bushland being cleared on the spurious grounds of bushfire risk reduction. [1] 

“The new Rural Boundary Clearing Code could see thousands of hectares of wildlife habitat destroyed without requiring independent assessment of the environmental impacts,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said. 

“These codes do nothing practical to protect properties from catastrophic bushfires but they are guaranteed to increase deforestation and habitat fragmentation across large parts of the state.  

“Neither the NSW Bushfire Inquiry nor the Royal Commission recommend land clearing on property boundaries as a valid response to the Black Summer fires, but politicians in the government think they know better. Now we are stuck with a bad law that could do tremendous harm to the environment. 

“If these codes stand, it will be a black mark on the record of Matt Kean who in many respects has been a good minister for the environment. It would be shame if he were remembered for this rather than his more positive contributions.” 

NSW National Party MPs last year used the tragedy of the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfires to push their agenda of further weakening of land-clearing controls. 

They proposed letting landholders clear a 25m strip around their boundary even though none of the bushfires inquiries recommended such measures. 

Under the code, if neighbours took up their new rights, 50m-wide strips of clearing would occur across large parts of the state. 

The government passed the Bushfires Legislation Amendment Bill to enable the clearing last November but the devil was always going to be in the detail of the codes.  

Late last year, the Nature Conservation Council wrote to key ministers detailing minimum environmental standards any new code must meet, especially excluding areas of koala and other threatened species habitat. 

“The code could mean the difference between survival and extinction for koalas and other threatened species in some parts of the state, so it was vital that the government got this right,” Mr Gambian said.   

References 

[1] Rural Boundary Clearing Tool  

[2] Bush Fire Environmental Assessment Code 

The Nature Conservation Council welcomes the NSW Government’s commitment to a new suite of measures to protect the state’s most threatened species and ecosystems. 

Environment Minister Matt Kean has committed to a target of zero extinctions in national parks and released details of a plan to designate key ecosystems and species as Assets of Intergenerational Significance (AIS) that will be protected through conservation action plans. [1] 

“The target of zero extinctions is exactly the level of ambition the public expects for our national parks,” Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said. 

“We would have hoped all species in our national parks —the most protected and valued ecosystems in the state—were already safe from extinction. 

“But this has not always been the case. The sad truth is the number of threatened species in NSW has increased over the past 230 years and the number now stands well above 1000. 

“The existing strategies to reverse the tide for species have clearly not been up to the job so we applaud the government for trying something new.” 

Mr Gambian said the government’s commitment to include natural assets, including species and ecosystems, in Bushfire Management Plans that cover national parks was a positive step and urged the government apply that approach to the whole state.   

“With the increasing severity of bushfires across NSW, it is crucial we identify those ecosystems and species that, once lost, can never be recovered,” he said. 

“We believe all Bushfire Management Plans across the whole state should identify areas of outstanding biodiversity, not just those plans that cover the national parks estate.  

“In other words, this approach should be tenure blind, applying equally to public and private land. 

“There is already potentially a mechanism to target such places through the process used to identify Areas of Outstanding Biodiversity Value. 

“We look forward to working with the government to making that a reality.” 

[1] Zero extinction target for NSW national parks welcomed by environment groups, The Guardian, 7-9-21