78% of pre-logging surveys by the NSW Forestry Corporation have been discovered to be non-compliant with their conditions, including in 27 active logging sites across 9 State Forests. These unlawful logging operations have been reported to the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) by 9 organisations, including the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Parks Association, World Wide Fund for Nature, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW and South East Forest Rescue.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “Unlawful logging by the NSW Forestry Corporation must not be swept under the rug by the Minns Labor Government. The EPA should issue immediate stop work orders (SWOs) over non-compliant and unlawful logging in these 9 public native forests,”
“The operations that have been reported show that there is a systemic failure by Forestry Corporation to check for habitat trees for threatened Greater Gliders as required under conditions for logging,”
“The distribution of the forests, where Greater Glider habitat has not been properly surveyed, shows that this is a statewide issue where the Forestry Corporation are ignoring the legal requirements for them to log native forests,”
“The EPA has previously issued SWOs to the Forestry Corporation when unlawful logging has occurred, and they must do the same with these breaches. If the Forestry Corporation is allowed to unlawfully log, it will further embolden this rogue state owned corporation,”
“Minister for logging, Tara Moriarty, has told me repeatedly that she expects the Forestry Corporation to comply with their operating conditions, but this unlawful logging is still active almost 2 days after these breaches were reported,”
“It is absolutely clear that native forest logging is destroying habitat for threatened species, and that the meagre protections that do exist are not being followed. Unlawful logging should be stopped immediately and the end to native forest logging in NSW must begin immediately,” Ms Higginson said.
