National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) welcomes NSW’s taxpayer-owned Forestry Corporation’s public acknowledgement that our state forests still offer suitable habitat for iconic threatened species, including koalas, yellow-bellied gliders, parma wallabies, and quolls.
NPA President, Grahame Douglas stated “it is a shame that this publicly funded logging entity has failed to properly care for these iconic species over the more than a hundred years of operations, recently incurring multiple fines for illegal logging breaches, including to koala habitat.
“The NSW Government must urgently protect this habitat from unsustainable logging, which include mass clear-felling. It can do this by transferring NSW’s state forests (currently reserved for native forest logging) into our national parks system.”
“We know that 10% of the Great Koala National Park proposed region, which includes state forests, will be logged over the next year. This is an alarming and unsustainable proportion of forest.
“The Great Koala National Park proposal is based on the unsurprising view that koalas won’t survive, let alone recovery and flourish, if our state Forestry Corporation keeps chopping down the trees they rely upon for food, shelter, and security.
Forestry Corporation made a public announcement today that it is undertaking basic wildlife monitoring in accordance with the conditions under the Coastal Integrated Operations Approvals Framework.
“One bit of good news is from Forestry Corporation today is that many species of wildlife and flora are showing signs of recovery after the drought and wildfires.
“Full ecological recovery after such major disasters will take decades. However, that recovery won’t continue if we continue to abuse our forest fauna and flora through logging and land clearing,” Dr Douglas concluded.
ENDS
Media Contacts:
Dr Grahame Douglas President NPA NSW and Coffs Coast Branch, Danielle Ryan NPA Conservation Campaigner (02) 9299 0000
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