News: June 15: The right date for comments on the EPBC koala listing is tomorrow 16 June. Comments to the TSSC can be downloaded from the resources page (1Mb). Story has it that koala recovery officer Chris Allen was observing(?) during FNSW's useless transect surveys weeks ago when he came across a koala pellet in Cpt 2051. So far the loggers have not appeared.
June 10: Forests NSW have approved logging in Compartments 2051 and 2052 in Murrah State Forest. The logging plan (17.5Mb)and map (5Mb) can be downloaded from the Resources page.
May 20: The Nomination to list the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) as a threatened species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, (460kb) is available at-
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/nominations-comment.html .
Relying on a document that is not publicly available (Allen C (2009) Assessing koala numbers and trends in south eastern New South Wales. NSW Depart of Environment, Climate Change and Water), it claims there are now 100-200 koalas in the Eden-Bermagui(?)forests and 600-1,200 in a broader area from Goulburn to Victoria. Regrettably, detail of how the estimates were derived is not provided.
Comments are due by 9 June 2010 and can be sent to epbc.nominations@environment.gov.au
May 17: After yesterday's hugely successful world premiere of 'BLOCKADE - the musical', this morning and amongst other things, three persons locked themselves onto logging machinery in Cpt 2133 of Mumbulla SF. The result was that by midday logging had not commenced and the rest of the day was uncertain because the Police Rescue Team had to come from Wollongong to remove the locks. One assumes that enforcing the NSW Government's dubious and frequently illegal activities doesn't leave the Police much time to spend on protecting the community and the environment.
May 11:Later: Turns out FNSW are proposing to log four Compartments in Murrah SF, Compartments 2052-2032 & 2035 are also proposed although no Harvest Plan has been released. Earlier: While continuing to trash Cpt 2133, Forests NSW have provided the DECCW with the results of koala surveys in Cpt 2051 of Murrah State Forest. Correspondence from Minister Garret's department indicates they will be announcing if koalas are to be listed as vulnerable nationally at the same time as the State Government releases the final report on the koala surveys-October. Tragically the NSW agencies believe business as usual is what koalas need so there's no need for change. May 6: Last Saturday morning the fire lit by the NPWS along a 3.2 kilometre front was heading upslope when the North East wind began to stiffen. That afternoon it turned into an inferno and only now, after some rain is the smoke subsiding. FNSW and the loggers continue to go flat out, when they can get to work. The chair of the Biamanga management board John Mumbler, apparently unaware of the boundaries, expressed his concern that areas in the Aboriginal Place can still be logged. A brief report is available on the resources page (0.85MB) that attempts to reduce this uncertainty.
April 29 -Later: FNSW brought in a new machine, the six already there were not enough, and commenced logging in in Compartment 2133 outside of Biamanga Aboriginal Place. Apparently this is the only aspect of FNW's noncompliance that the DECCW have agreed with. At the same time the NPWS blocked off roads and burned 600 ha of Biamanga Aboriginal Place. Although small in the scheme of things the burn would have produced around 30,000 tonnes of CO2 as well as killing many trees, animals, possibly including koalas and further degrading soils. Earlier: Yesterday Forests NSW SUSPENDED logging in Mumbulla SF because continuing risked daily fines for breaching the National Parks and Wildlife Act. Apparently they took the machines along the road they bulldozed through the 'protected' old-growth forest and onto adjacent private land. Whether they return would seem to depend again on the level of support FNSW get from their good friends in the DECCW. April 26: Anzac day is over and tomorrow the Japanese based woodchippers will return to continue the destruction of Aboriginal cultural heritage. In recognition of the area's significance Biamanga was dedicated as an Aboriginal place in 1984. The relevant legislation (0.9MB) is available at- { http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cultureheritage/gazette/Biamanga.pdf }. Forests NSW's failure to achieve compliance with anything, in this case their cultural heritage requirements, hasn't stopped the Police from charging concerned Aboriginal community members attending the Mumbulla vigil. The NPWS, in collaboration with the Rural Fire Service, are yet to undertake their 'strategic burn' also in Biamanga. It seems the Biamanga Board of Management either agree or have no say in any of it.
April 21: Despite significant community concerns the NSW government is continuing to log in Mumbulla SF. Many people have attended the protests including understandably distraught traditional owners. Previously all of Cpt 2135 was protected under Forest NSW's PMP system due to the abundance of Aboriginal sites. This has been dropped apparently because like koalas, there are enough sites in National Parks. Naturally most of the trees are being cut for woodchips and a brief submission on SEFE's forest furnace proposal is available on the resources page. April 14 Despite evidence of a koala being located nearby logging has resumed and the NPWS intend to implement their plan to burn koalas and their habitat. Comments on the adequacy of FNSW's logging plan can be found on the resources page. April 9 Forests NSW now propose to resume logging on Friday 9 April. Whether this happens depends on the DECCW and partly if the transects undertaken by SFNSW are consistent with the relevant sections of the Threatened Species License. Clearly they are not and then there are other issues like stream locations and other things. It would appear that the non-compliant approach taken in Murrah and Bermagui State Forests has also been employed in Mumbulla SF. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings but, ultimately some-one is responsible for FNSW's lack of compliance and enforcing the relevant legislation aimed at constraining their management activities. Earlier: Forests NSW have undertaken the required pre-logging surveys for koalas, results available on the resources page. No evidence of koalas was located, which is not surprising because the bizarre survey method was developed by the DEC and State Forests. However, excluding Silver-top Ash more than 55% of the trees identified in Cpt 2135 are preferred koala feed trees. Being located between the only koalas they know of and the areas the DECCW believe Koalas should be encouraged to return to, continuing this logging will make the NSW government look worse than they already do, if that is possible. Interestingly the stream named " Abrahams Gully" has reappeared in the transect survey maps after being deleted in the Harvesting Plan. March: Wednesday 31 March - After news of the post 1980 koala record within 2 kilometres of the compartment hits Forests NSW, they pull the operation. Having compromised both themselves and the DECCW the question is what are they going to do next? A large community contingent was in attendance on the Tuesday and Wednesday urging the loggers to go home. We can only trust they don't come back and the NSW government gets a strong message about the lack of community confidence in the forest management. Monday 29 March - Forests NSW have moved into Compartments 2133 and 2135 in Mumbulla State Forest. According to the Logging plan (available on the resources page) the soils (four particular landscapes) are all the same and not dispersible. From that perspective the area of soil mass movement identified in the logging plan must have resulted from a miracle. More on the plan and its implications for the NSW government's Koala recovery plan later. After a local resident photographed koala prints on Lizard road, near Cpt 2163 next on the logging list, the DECCW have apparently decided to undertake surveys before their burning operation on the other side of the road. Much of the forest in Mumbulla creek catchment of Biamanga NP is growing on the Murrah soil landscape - still the only place koalas have been located. On this basis and in combination with the State Government's management, the species remains endangered and likely to become extinct.
Earlier: Working collaboratively the NPWS, Forests NSW and the Rural Fire Service have decided to burn close to seven hundred hectares of Biamanga National Park. A map is available on the resources page. It appears the timing of this operation is consistent with plans to begin unsustainable logging on Monday 29 March. Consequently the NPWS is proposing to close the Lizard road to reduce access to the logging area from the east. How kind.
February: The month ends with NSW government releasing a belated 'interim' report on the highly inefficient and non-adaptive/heuristic koala surveys. Amongst other disturbing elements the survey took 5 times as long to complete as the pilot survey. The cost to date, leaving aside the eight arrests and other time runs at over $1million, being twice the estimated value of all the sawlogs remaining in Mumbulla State Forest. The survey outcome, based on employing a 2% (?!) activity contour, is that less than 5% (1089 ha)of the area surveyed (22,000 ha) is said to be occupied by koalas. Regrettably there is some uncertainty about how this area has been derived as the RGB-SAT methodology measure for a single tree in a plot is 3.3%. There are no details as to how the 2% contour has been calculated although theoretically it should encompass a greater area than a 3.3% contour but this is apparently not the case. Seems to be another example of how the NSW and other governments put unsustainable logging above all else. On a positive note the genetic analysis demonstrates the NSW Scientific Committee was quite wrong.
Earlier-Too much is never enough for the NSW Government so they have added another seven compartments in Murrah and Mumbulla State Forests to the logging list. A map of the additional compartments can be found on the resources page. When combined with the fact that no results from the koala surveys have been released, it is apparent that the agencies are happy to maintain their thinly veiled contempt for the environment and the community. Clearly Premier Keneally's initial pledge to 'restore confidence in the government' will remain unfulfilled.
January: The year begins with the NSW government deciding to support the (Japanese) native forest logging industry and their proposals to eliminate the last koalas. According to the Sydney Morning Herald: Forests NSW and the Department of Environment and Climate Change are “ . . . in search of a compromise between felling trees and maintaining enough forest to allow the koalas to survive.” (http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/logging-plan-poses-threat-to-precious-koala-colony-20100124-msm7.html)
Referring to the Regional Forest Agreements the recently released independent review of the EPBC Act states “ . . . if the terms of the approval are not complied with, or if there is insufficient reporting information to verify that compliance, Dr Hawke recommends that the approval should be terminated.” And “ . . . the full protections of the Act should apply to forest activities.”
In his press release Environment Minister Peter Garret indicated “ . . . the Government notes the concerns raised by Dr Hawke in recommendation 38 in the review regarding the current mechanisms in the Act for forest management under Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs), and is committed to working with state governments to improve the review, audit and monitoring arrangements for RFAs, including their timely completion, clearer assessment of performance against environmental and sustainable forestry outcomes, and a greater focus on compliance of RFAs in the intervening years," Minister Garrett said. The Government intends to use upcoming RFA renewal processes to improve the achievement of these outcomes in future RFAs. In light of this, the Government rejects the mechanisms proposed in recommendation 38 and does not propose to review section 38 of the EPBC Act as it currently applies to RFAs.” (http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2009/mr20091221.html)
The fact that the DECC are working with FNSW to ensure logging in the catchments suggests that they either remain unconvinced that logging spreads Bell-miners or they believe that koalas like sick trees. If the Commonwealth are committed to these ideas they should have no problems working with the state government.
How 2009 ended LOGGING BEGINS IN COMPARTMENT 2001 IN BERMAGUI STATE FOREST. Forests NSW have approved logging in 89% of the compartment as opposed to the maximum of 60% allowed for in their legal approvals. Desperate to maintain timber supplies this logging confirms the statement from Forests NSW manager Mr Martin Linehan that "We can do what we want when we want". FIFTEEN months after the NSW Government released a map that is inconsistent with the outcomes of the pilot koala surveys, {1.75Mb} available at ( http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/koala_survey_results_SEForests.pdf ). Koala expert Dr Steve Phillips has been interviewed ABC local radio about the uncertain fate for koalas at a national level and the last few Five Forests koalas. An audio file of the interview (13.5 Mb) can be downloaded from http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/koala-crisis.mp3.
CURRENT LOGGING IN BERMAGUI STATE FOREST INCONSISTENT WITH THE IFOA AND THE AUSTRALIAN FORESTRY STANDARD - Four arrests have been made as a result of Forests NSW claims, but examination of the operational map, the prohibited area notice and the logging plan(s) for Cpt 2002 demonstrate the logging is outside the IFOA. Critical koala habitat is being destroyed while the NSW police support Forests NSW's illegal logging.
September 2009: Logging in Bermagui
Logging began in Compartment 2002 of Bermagui State Forest on Thursday September 10. The logging plans (download from resources page) for the compartment are not an accurate or honest representation of soil, flora, water or roads in the compartment. Details of concerns about the operations, also available on the resources page, have been passed onto the NSW police and NCS International.Forests NSW can log this critical koala habitat on the only soil landscape known to have koalas because they have been able to abuse the process based on unproven claims about koalas in the south east (see comments on EPBC Act and RFA review, Resources page).
Forest review finds big problems
A community conducted review of the Eden Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) between the Commonwealth and NSW State Governments has found that forests in the southeast are being exploited at rate that far exceeds the limits of ecological sustainability and those of the relevant legislation.Community representative on the Forest Resources and Management Systems Committee for the Eden assessment process and review author Mr Robert Bertram believes that the RFA has failed to achieve the legislated ecological milestones and this failure has negative implications at local, regional and global levels.
“ The review analyses Annual reports from the NSW Forestry Commission that indicate dramatically reduced timber yields of 60% for sawlogs and 40% for pulp logs and a massive escalation in areas being logged, such that over the past five years nearly 50% of all State forests in the Eden region have been scheduled for logging.
“These outcomes confirm that extensive canopy dieback and the associated death of millions of trees in the southeast is having a significant impact on the native forest logging industry. It is apparent that some 50,000 hectares of additional forests have been covertly handed over to ensure wood supplies.
“These additional forests include areas that the Forestry Commission failed to declare during the Eden assessment and vast tracts of forests on the tablelands, that have similarly not been assessed. It is apparent that these Crown forests are being logged with the assistance of significant public subsidies and at a rate that greatly exceeds the requirements of the RFA.
However, of greatest concern is that the RFAs are designed to ignore the science that explains the decline of eucalyptus forests and it’s relationship to timber supplies, species extinction, catchment degradation and climate change. It seems that Government departments and other publicly funded organizations are either threatened or ‘paid off’ to ignore or suppress relevant information. The success of the RFA has been to demonstrate that ignorance and greed has overcome credible science, accountability and intergenerational equity.”
The review titled ‘The effects of deforestation on timber volumes, areas logged and associated climate change issues: A community review of the Eden Regional Forest Agreement” can be downloaded at the Friends of the Five Forests website: http://www.fiveforests.net/resources
Be alert, alarmed and ready to act!!!
Forests NSW has compartment 2002 in the Bermagui State Forest on its worklist. We will advise if logging begins or seems imminent! Be ready to act!
Friends of Five Forests and their supporters will have to mount yet another campaign to have the logging stopped if Black Lagoon and Meads Bay are to be protected in accordance with the sanctuary zone classification they have been given as part of the Batemans Marine Park, and if the very few remaining koalas are to have any chance of survival.
This large compartment of predominantly spotted gums is a significant part of the catchment for Narira Creek and Black Lagoon, which link into Meads Bay.
The Batemans Marine Park provides for the highest level of protection of Black Lagoon and Meads Bay as sanctuary Zones. Logging can be expected to lead to further serious siltation of the Creek, and to damage plant and fish life in both the Lagoon and Meads Bay.
The Park zone plan does not come into operation until June 2007.
Pre-emptive action by Forests NSW to log compartment 2002 in the interim would make a mockery of the Marine Park zoning.
The compartment contains areas of significant koala habitat. It is also next to part of the Kooraban National Park that contains the only koalas in this immediate region. Both this area and compartment 2002 are occupied by the Five Forests koala population, which was nominated as endangered some years ago.
NSW Government release of a report by consultants on a Koala Management Plan for the region is now well overdue.
Friends of Five Forests and their supporters will have to mount yet another campaign to have the logging stopped if Black Lagoon and Meads Bay are to be protected in accordance with the sanctuary zone classification they have been given as part of the Batemans Marine Park, and if the very few remaining koalas are to have any chance of survival.
Recent Events
On Sunday March 20 2005 more than 150 people from many areas of the Bega Valley Shire and beyond, attended a meeting at the Murrah Hall to hear about logging operations being implemented by non-adaptive land managers in the coastal forests around Bermagui.
The meeting was unanimous in calling for an immediate halt to all logging operations in the Five Forests .
In late May 2005 the NSW Forestry Commission breached the conditions of the Regional Forest Agreements and their Threatened Species licence when they started to log critical Koala habitat in Cuttagee catchment part of Murrah State Forest.
As a result of community actions the logging crew pulled the operation four days after it started and after FNSW arrested two people.
Several actions are being planned and implemented that are aimed at stopping the further destruction of our flora, fauna and degradation coastal catchments and implementing sustainable forest management.
- See Towards Adaptive Forest Management in the Bateman Bioregion - a draft research paper for public comment.
The second stage has been the production of management and research proposals that take a holistic approach to natural resource management. The management and research proposals blend appropriate restoration forestry with world's best practise and public accountability.
- See Five Forests Management and Research Proposals - draft management and research proposals for public comment. (395KB Word Doc.)
As a result of the communities efforts and after failing to find anyone in DEC prepared to accept the mission, the NSW State Government has recently employed consultants to gather community opinions for possible input into a Koala Management Framework.
Sign our petition supporting best practise forest management
Download and sign our new petition to end woodchip logging and introduce accountability and credible science to assist in restoring the Five Forests. Please post your signed petition to PO Box 161, Bermagui, NSW 2546.