Media

Press Releases

3-9-08 Police safeguard Koala extinction.

Friends of the Five Forests (FOFF) are calling on the NSW Government to publicly justify and take accountablity for their proposals to log critical Koala habitat in Bermagui State Forest. Extensive roading and other preperations have already been under taken even though there has been no official information provided to the community on the outcomes of Koala surveys in the area or any acknowledgement of submissions requested by the NSW Environment and Climate Change department. Spokesperson for FOFF Robert Bertram described as appalling an invitation from the NSW Police department to an informal meeting to hear how they will be taking a zero tolerance approach to concerns about logging.

Read more about the police involvement with logging activities.

7-8-08 Poor Koala outcomes demand action.

As a result of poor outcomes from lengthy Koala surveys, Friends of the Five Forests (FOFF) are calling for immediate action to increase survey effort and address habitat degradation. The Koala surveys were undertaken by NSW Government agencies between March and June in coastal forests from Cuttagee to the Bermagui-Cobargo road. FOFF spokesperson Robert Bertram said although the Koala surveys took twice as long as the first surveys last year in Mumbulla State Forest, the results demonstrate that areas previously occupied by Koalas now reveal no evidence of the species.

Read more about the outcomes of the Koala surveys.

2-4-08 Koala surveys welcome, but management plans lack focus.

Friends of the Five Forests (FOFF) have welcomed the release of information on Koala surveys using the 'Spot Assessment Technique" (SAT), undertaken late last year in Mumbulla State Forest, part of the Five Forests, west of Wapengo Lake and a draft Koala management framework. Using the SAT Koala survey methods, developed and overseen by Biolink ecological consultants up to five Koalas were located by mostly inexperienced staff from Forests NSW (FNSW), the Department of Environment and Climate Change (NPWS) and the Southern Catchment Management Authority (SCMA). FOFF spokesperson Robert Bertram said "Forests NSW undertook extensive surveys in this same area last year but failed to find any Koalas, so there is no doubt that the scientific basis of the Biolink surveys was critical in locating these few animals. It is vital that these Koala surveys are extended across the Five Forests to guide recovery actions and provide some of the data required for implementing forest restoration options."

20-11-07 Waste biomass required for last Koalas.

As a result of a recent collaborative Koala survey effort between NSW Government agencies in Mumbulla State Forest, lead by Biolink Ecological Consultants, community actions are being planned to reduce a threat to the species. Friends of the Five Forests will be using biomass to mulch trees at a local level, while designing scientific trials in broader areas to help save the last Koalas. A spokesperson for the group Robert Bertram said the actions are intended to address extensive canopy dieback, a major threat to Koalas acknowledged by the NSW Scientific Committee. Koalas in the area surveyed are the genetically distinct remnants of the Bateman Bioregion population that are now reduced to the area between Dignams Creek and Wapengo catchments. The remnant population was nominated in 2001 as endangered and facing imminent extinction.

24-06-07 Koala nomination rejected.

The NSW Scientific Committee has made a preliminary determination not to support an endangered population nomination for Koalas on the far south coast. The ‘Five Forests’ Koala population occupies coastal forests from Dignams Creek to Wapengo Lake and were nominated as endangered in 2001.

Mr. Robert Bertram, who nominated the population and has been providing additional information to the Committee over the years, described the preliminary determination as generally inadequate and a poor outcome for Koalas and for science.“While acknowledging that extensive canopy dieback, logging and urban development has reduced Koala habitat quality in the area, contrary to the information provided, the Committee infer that Koalas numbers have not declined as a result,” he said.

10-06-07 Greenhouse uncertainty boosted by forest dieback and unscientific agreements

The release of the fourth report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) casts more doubt on Government claims that they are taking climate change seriously and are committed to reducing green house gas emissions, according to Friends of the Five Forests (FOFF). The report summarises the current scientific agreement about greenhouse gasses and other atmospheric pollutants from human and natural sources. Computer models are employed in an attempt to predict future changes to weather patterns and ocean levels under different scenarios.

18-07-06 Project to save koalas

A coalition of State and local government agencies is working with the local community to develop a new approach to the management of koalas in the south east that considers the species across all land tenures rather than just public lands.

As part of efforts to find the best way to manage and improve the sparse koala population on the far south coast, a local community working group made up of residents who have local knowledge and experience with or sightings of koalas in recent times, will meet on August 3 to review a conservation plan put forward by the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation.

16-07-06 Koala initiatives threatened by uncontrolled Minister

Friends of the Five Forests (FOFF) have labelled as counter productive and politically motivated a NSW Government decision to allow unrestricted shooting in public forests. According to FOFF, the decision to open up public forests for shooters, particularly those in areas of critical Koala habitat, reflects a Minister that has lost the plot and a Government that is in disarray.

Spokesperson Robert Bertram said statements from NSW forestry Minister Ian MacDonald that amateur shooters will eradicate feral animals and that the Games Council has undertaken best practise risk analysis are rubbish.

16-07-06 Droughts could boost global warming: scientists

It appears global warming may not only be causing more severe droughts but the droughts could be exacerbating global warming.

Australian scientists have found that drought-affected forests do not absorb carbon dioxide as efficiently as they would under normal climatic conditions, meaning more greenhouse gases may be left in the atmosphere. CSIRO atmospheric researcher Helen Cleugh says forests can mop up about a quarter of the world's emissions in the atmosphere.

16-05-06 Community is called to assist in conserving Koalas in the SE region

A coalition of State and local government agencies is working with the local community to develop a new approach to the management of Koalas in the South East that considers the species across all land tenures rather than just public lands.

In an effort to find the best way to manage and improve the sparse koala population on the far south coast a Working Group has been formed to contribute to a new plan for the management of Koalas in an area south of Tuross River to the Victorian border and as far west as Bombala.

25-04-06: Rare Koala sighting may be last

Bermagui resident Kate Gentle got a big surprise last week when she spotted a Koala crossing the road in Bermagui State Forest. A call to forest ecologist Robert Bertram led to fresh Koala faecal pellets or scats being found under a preferred feed tree adjacent to the road, confirming that a Koala had recently been at the location. Kate said she knew the animal had to be a Koala although she hadn’t seen or heard one in the area before. Signs nailed to trees beside the road indicate imminent broad area burning is planned for the area.

According to Robert Bertram, the forests from Dignams Creek to Wapengo, part of the Five Forests, contain the only known native Koala population on the far south coast, although confirmed Koala sightings in these forests are very rare.

24-04-06: Koala survey

THE NSW Government will spend $230,000 on a Statewide survey to map where koalas live across NSW.

Environment Minister Bob Debus said the more we know about koala distribution and the location of their food and trees, the better equipped we will be to help conserve and recover their numbers in NSW.

24-3-05: Save the Five Forests!

Large scale logging operations will directly impact on south coast waterways, which are rapidly filling with sediment. The catchments of these lakes, Cuttagee Lake in particular, are suffering Eucalypt dieback and damaging infestations of Bell-miners. The last sightings of Koalas on the South Coast were in these forests. These steep coastal catchments have been subject to indiscriminate logging to meet unsustainable woodchip quotas over the past three decades. This has been at irreversible cost to the environment. The continuing degradation of these forests threatens:

23-3-05: What is Happening in the Five Forests

Intensive logging began around this time and the degradation of the forests their catchments and coastal lakes, continues to this day under the Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA). This agreement, between the Commonwealth and State Governments, was supposed to be reviewed by 2004. This review has not occurred.

20-3-05: Outrage Over Forest Logging

More than 150 concerned residents from many areas of the Bega Valley and beyond attended a meeting at the Murrah Hall south of Bermagui. The meeting was hastily called after NSW State Forest announced they had commenced logging operations in five State Forests in the Bermagui/Cuttagee area. The areas which have been identified in the logging operations include: