Media coverage this week suggested aerial culling is banned in State forests. This is not correct.
The Game and Feral Animal Control Act 2002 does not ban aerial culling in State forests. As the manager of State forests, Forestry Corporation takes part in a range of pest control programs that include aerial culling where appropriate. An aerial cull was carried out in State forests in the Oberon and Burraga regions within the past three months, as part of a landscape-scale pest control program coordinated across public and private land by Local Land Services.
The most effective management of pest animals and weeds comes when there is a coordinated approach between all land owners, which is why Forestry Corporation works collaboratively with other land managers and LLS on pest control programs, including trapping and baiting as well as aerial shooting where appropriate.
Recreational hunting is also permitted in State forests, which complements these formal landscape-scale pest control programs.
