NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh, said the logging of public native forests is “an economic basket case” and that the Forestry Corporation’s Annual Report 2023/24 identifies a loss that equates to $3058 for each hectare logged.

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

“It is outrageous that we are paying over $3000 per hectare to log the homes of koalas, Greater Gliders and hundreds of other threatened species on public lands,” he said.

“Rather than subsidising degradation of our public native forests, if we protect them we can turn this loss into an economic benefit to the community from increased recreation, tourism, water yields and the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.

FCNSW views NEFA’s analysis as simplistic.

A spokesperson said FCNSW manages nearly two million hectares of public native forests on behalf of the NSW Government and harvests timber from only about one per cent of this area annually.

Last financial year, the Corporation’s investment in its broad range of land management activities exceeded the government funding received by approximately $23 million. 

FCNSW’s finances were also impacted by significant constraints to the ability to produce hardwood timber due to changes to regulations, legal challenges and weather, coupled with a downturn in the softwood timber market. The spokesperson said that, while Forestry Corporation’s financial results reflect its unique land management responsibilities, the broader native forestry industry continues to support over 100 mills across NSW.

Steve Dobbyns, Executive Officer for Forest and Wood Communities Australia, said NEFA’s claims are “emotive and baseless”.

“When compared to the billion-dollar costs of managing the State’s 7.5 million hectares of National Parks, the $29 million ‘loss’ last year to provide similar sustainable native forest services for our State Forests is a far cheaper form of public land management, while also supporting a $2.9 billion regional industry that employs 8900 people in NSW alone.”

Mr Dobbyns said that forest activism had contributed to the losses and that extensive seasonal surveys are undertaken to determine what flora and fauna species are present or likely to occur in logging areas.

“Timber harvesting by its very nature provides that biodiversity by creating a mosaic of stand structures, age classes and feed sources whilst maintaining tree species composition.”

He said that surveys indicate koala numbers are healthy.

The Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF) said the FCNSW results over several years confirm that native forest logging is an economic and environmental failure that survives only by reaching deep into the pocket of taxpayers.

Chair Dr Ken Henry said that while the latest report reveals significant losses for the native forest division, the corporation’s plantation operations returned a profit of $22 million, highlighting the viability of transitioning to reliable timber production.

“What’s even more appalling is that a lot of these native trees are felled for export woodchips.”

Greens MLC Sue Higginson said the losses do not account for logging making forests more susceptible to more intense and frequent wildfire, or the costs of the carbon emissions and the drawdown and sequestration losses.

“The positive story and the future of timber industry jobs is in sustainably managed plantations and our precious native forests being protected, regenerated and managed for all of their other important environmental, social and economic values,” she said.

The FCNSW Annual Report also documents multiple regulatory breaches, enforcement actions and convictions for breaching environmental protections.

By Andrew VIVIAN