FOR the three weeks leading up to Christmas, all Jodie Nancarrow could hear from 7am-3pm, five days a week, was heavy machinery operating and trees crashing down within metres of her property boundary.

Jodie lives adjacent to Bagawa State Forest, west of the Orara Way beyond Coramba, where Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) began logging operations on August 1 2022, stating the forest closure period would end at 6pm on Saturday 31 December, 2022.

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To confirm safe access to the forest post-closure date, Jodie drove up to the forest on January 1.

“While the locked gates have been removed, the old signage is still present,” Jodie told News Of The Area.

The ‘Forest Closed’ sign, stating the forest closure period ends on 31 December 2022, has been moved to a fresh spot on the same tree on the side of the road track and raised to an unreadable eight feet high.

Jodie took a photo and scrolled in to see the dates.

Delighted that logging was over and forest life could begin its restoration, she was horrified when a friend showed her the FCNSW website’s harvesting plans portal, which stated that logging had been extended with a closure of Bagawa State Forest from 31 December 2022 to 30 June 2023.

“I have emailed FCNSW asking questions and received a reply on 5 January 2023 from Matthew Howat, Planning Supervisor, Hardwood Forests Division FCNSW, stating: ‘I can advise that operations at Bagawa will re-commence either next week or the following week, with an estimated three weeks of harvesting remaining’,” Jodie said.

“It seems to me that FCNSW does what it likes, when it likes and how it likes, with complete disregard to stakeholder consultation,” said Jodie.

“To be informed and care for my environment is something I choose to do and to have a direct neighbour that causes habitat loss, helps create extinction of endangered species, creates an environment that will exacerbate bushfires, erosion and weed infestation, well that just makes me anxious.

“It’s eco anxiety and it’s a real thing,” said Jodie.

“I know there are positive and negative things going on around the world and normally I’m a glass half full type of woman, but now I lay awake at night worrying.”

The American Psychology Association (APA) describes eco-anxiety as ‘the chronic fear of environmental cataclysm that comes from observing the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concern for one’s future and that of next generations’.

Jodie says there’s not a lot she can do about the war in Ukraine, American politics, China, or other global issues; but hopes to make an impact locally.

“I figured I can just concentrate on things close to home, things I can put my efforts into, like staying healthy, giving back to my community, meeting like-minded people, feeling connected and having a part to play in looking after my environment.

“No matter what I do regarding my objections to the way FCNSW conducts itself, the way the community has been steamrolled by them and the way I feel about that, has had an overall negative impact on my mental health.”

Jodie put a lot of research into deciding on an area to retire to and was lucky enough to purchase a beautiful lifestyle block in the Orara Valley for which she has gained Land for Wildlife certification.

“Covered in many different flora and fauna species including koalas (listed as endangered since February 2022), gliders, wallabies, bandicoots, and many different bird species including S.E. Glossy Black cockatoos (listed as vulnerable), along with a broad range of reptiles and insects.”

Sharing an easy conviviality with her rural neighbours, Jodie says that style of communication does not apply to how FCNSW has behaved with the community.

Receiving no written notification of a date that logging would begin in mid-2022, it wasn’t until Jodie went for a horse ride in the forest in August that she came across a section of the road track that had been so-called ‘regraded’.

“For those living in the country that is a clear indication of one thing.

“Logging is going to start sometime soon.

“As it turns out, logging had commenced but no harvest plan was on the FCNSW plan portal to indicate this,” said Jodie.

When News Of The Area phoned FCNSW to point this out at the time, FCNSW spokesperson told NOTA, “There was a technical issue with viewing the Bagawa plan earlier today, and this has now been rectified.”

The incident has left Jodie questioning, “How can I trust FCNSW when the website information contradicts public notices and their staff?

“After hearing local horror stories about how FCNSW staff and their contractors operate and behave from others, I remain very concerned as to what is happening over my boundary fence.”

By Andrea FERRARI