The battle between environmentalists and the New South Wales Forestry Corporation (FCNSW) over native hardwood logging is intensifying on the Mid North Coast.
Protesters have been locking themselves onto harvesting equipment in the Ellis State Forest, west of Coffs Harbour, and others have entered restricted logging areas to monitor operations.
They say logging in these areas is destroying key koala habitats when the species is at its most vulnerable.
Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) investigated the alleged felling of oversized "giant" trees in the Ellis State Forest, but found no breaches as the diameter of the tree at "30 centimetres above-ground height did not exceed 140cm".
Ecologist Mark Graham, who documented operations in Ellis State Forest, said he was "gobsmacked" by the EPA's conclusions.
"140cm in diameter is still a truly massive tree and hundreds of years old," he said.
"Any tree over 100cm in diameter is of immense age and habitat value."
Protests in the area have escalated since June when the EPA successfully prosecuted FCNSW for logging in koala habitat in nearby Wild Cattle Creek Forest in 2018.
FCNSW has also been facing $18 million in potential penalties after the EPA launched a prosecution last month over the alleged logging of giant and hollow-bearing trees in the same location in 2020.
Wild Cattle Creek, Ellis and Clouds Creek State Forests in the north Bellingen region fall within an area cited by researchers as home to about 20 per cent of the state's total koala population.
FCNSW senior manager Dean Kearney said concerns about damage to koala habitat were unfounded, given the extensive ecological assessments undertaken.
"Over 80 per cent of public forests in northern NSW are dedicated to conservation," Mr Kearney said.
"We are only harvesting in about 1 per cent of that remaining area each year.
"In Ellis State Forest, where there was a fire in 2019, we also set aside additional areas that are recovering."
Regulatory concerns
Activists question how one government agency can effectively regulate another.
North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) president Dailan Pugh welcomes the recent imposition of more "meaningful fines", but thinks regulations remain "grossly inadequate".
"In Wild Cattle Creek it took two years to get to court and another two years to get an outcome," he said.
Mr Pugh criticised the weakening of laws in 2018 when the state government removed the requirement to look for and protect "koala high-use areas" ahead of logging on public lands.
In budget estimates hearings this week, NSW Forestry Minister Dugald Saunders said FCNSW was working with the EPA to protect hollow-bearing trees.
He says they are working towards "better clarification on how [regulation] actually looks on the ground" and ensure they have "the correct policy in place".
In response to a question from Greens MP Sue Higginson about FCNSW's "pattern of non-compliance in relation to giant trees", Mr Saunders recognised there "had been some unfortunate mistakes along the way".
FCNSW chief executive Anshul Chaudhary said most breaches were due to "human error … in an office environment where a map hasn't been updated … which has resulted in a contractor going into an exclusion zone".
In a previous statement, Mr Saunders said logging operations in native forests were offset by FCNSW regrowing 40 million trees in state forests each year and growing "koala preferred species of seedlings in our nursery and giving them away to be planted on private property in a bid to grow more koala habitat".
Mr Pugh is concerned such efforts will not repair the loss of habitat where trees in old-growth forests are logged or damaged.
"These trees should be treated with reverence. They're not replaceable," he said.
Future of the industry in question
While state parliament has been compelled by a public petition to debate whether to end native forest logging, the national peak body remains confident about the industry's future.
Australian Forest Products Association chief executive Victor Violante said plantation timber would not replace native hardwood, which has been used primarily for "appearance-grade timber products" including floorboards, decking, windows, door frames and utility poles.
"We utilise the native forest estate because that's where the tree species we need are," he said.
Weighing-in on the issue after a recent visit to Ellis State Forest, former Liberal MP Catherine Cusack believes the "loss-making" industry's days are numbered.
"Destruction of koala habitat is being funded by taxpayers who are also funding a koala plan that's trying to save koalas. It's completely illogical," she said.
"It's not just another battle — this is Armageddon."
