Forestry accused of fudging the figures after revising down its logging yields Coffs Coast Nambucca Valley by News Of The Area - Modern Media - February 12, 2025 Revised Forestry Corporation reports have led to renewed calls to end native forest logging. Photo: supplied, Friends of Pine Creek. ASSESSMENTS of the economic and employment impacts of the proposed Great Koala National Park (GKNP) have been based on grossly inflated claims, according to the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA). It follows confirmation that Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) has been overstating its native logging yields for the past three years. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au The organisation blames a “data extraction error from its sales database” for the incorrect numbers in its annual biomaterial report, which is legally required to show the area of native forest logged and the volume of timber products obtained. Environmentalist and NEFA co-founder Dalian Pugh, said he had reservations for some time about Forestry’s figures. After comparing its data with satellite imagery, he found “something wasn’t right”. NEFA complained of gross errors and data inconsistencies, which led to FCNSW releasing a revised 2023 Report last October. “I knew their figures were wrong but I didn’t know how wrong,” Mr Pugh told News Of The Area. “[Over] the three years, they have reclassified 65,584m3 of premium large high quality logs as lower value small high quality logs, and reduced claimed yields of low quality logs by 616,384 tonnes. “If the new data is to be believed, it means that all assessments of the Forestry Corporation’s performance have been based on inflated false information for years. “There is no reliable data from FCNSW available to gauge what they’ve been up to all these years.” Greens MP Sue Higginson is calling for the NSW Auditor General to investigate FCNSW for maladministration. “For this data to be revised down by 28 percent, without any public announcement, calls into question the entire justification for continued native forest logging,” she said. “The reported yield from native forest logging forms a critical part of so-called ecologically sustainable forest management. “Despite oversight by the EPA and auditing by the Auditor General, these gross errors would not have been identified or rectified except for our repeated questioning of errors and inconsistencies in the Forestry Corporation’s data.” A spokesperson for FCNSW said the data extraction error related only to some product categories and was confined to the biomaterials report. They added that while the volume of some product categories had been misstated, the database correctly and accurately records the volumes sold in every product category and the revenue received. By Andrew VIVIAN
