KATHERINE Kelly, from the Kalang River Forest Alliance, says that Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) appears to be hell-bent on destroying the headwaters of the three rivers in Oakes State Forest.

Ms Kelly said the soils of the headwaters are highly erodible and their location on the mountainous terrain of the headwaters means that any logging or other machinery disturbance will cause catastrophic damage.

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She said that in 1992, logging activities in Oakes State Forest near Mt Killiekrankie caused 88,000 tons of soil to slip into the Bellinger River, resulting in massive water pollution that silted up the river and smothered the river bed and logging operations were stopped.

“Here we are again, 30 years later, with the threat of Forestry Corporation moving into our headwaters to industrially log them, with much bigger machines and even fewer environmental protections in place due to the removal of previous safeguards for headwater gullies and intensifying logging under the catastrophic Coastal Forestry Agreement (CIFOA),” said Ms Kelly.

“These fragile soils are highly prone to failure and massive landslips because of water entering the soil profile and making it collapse and slide downslope.”

Ms Kelly said mass movement events increase with increasing slope gradients greater than 20 degrees and that moderate to severe erosion has previously been recorded on steep slopes associated with road works and forestry operations.

She said local residents and citizen scientists documented clear evidence of mass movement, landslips and sedimentation of the Kalang River following the road works in Oakes State Forest during the 2019/2020 bushfires.

“Ground disturbance, such as landscape-scale logging, on these steep slopes risk the re-activation of historic landslips,” Ms Kelly said.

“Large-scale avalanches and debris avalanches are common on these steep slopes particularly where road cuts occur and subsoil slumping is common in road batters.

“Any disturbance of these fragile soils will cause mass movement and avalanches, as well as catchment wide destabilisation of our headwaters, with disastrous and irreversible results,” according to Ms Kelly.

She said that common, intense rainfall events cause extensive runoff and flooding in the headwaters and further downstream.

Extensive erosion and mass movement of the soils of the headwaters will cause severe impacts downstream in rivers, resulting in irreversible water pollution through increased sediments deposited in the Kalang River and its tributaries, causing harm to fisheries.

Eroded soils move into drainage lines, depositing coarse gravels and boulders in the bed of the channel and releasing fine sediments further downstream.

Fine sediments such as clays and silts remain suspended in the water for long periods of time, resulting in decreased water quality, eventual smothering of the river bed, with massive negative impacts to aquatic life.

“Based on previous experience, new information and appropriate factual reassessment of the soil stability, we are demanding the endorsement of the Headwaters Conservation Nature Reserve to protect the headwaters of the Kalang, Bellinger and Nambucca Rivers,” Ms Kelly said.

A spokesperson for FCNSW said that state forests around the Kalang River are part of a large network of regrowth forests in the Bellingen area that have been consistently producing timber for more than a century while continuing to support thriving populations of native wildlife.

He said the aim of FCNSW is to manage the forests to maintain this balance.

The spokesperson said this timber harvesting operating has been planned over several years with detailed ecological surveys, cultural heritage surveys and soil and water assessments undertaken as part of the planning process.

He said in the Kalang catchment FCNSW has carefully planned operations to ensure waterways and wildlife habitat are protected – around 80 percent of the forest will be excluded from operations and left untouched and a 100 metre buffer zone will be put in place along the Kalang River meaning operations are a good distance away from the river.

Ms Kelly said the EPA and FCNSW have been notified of the huge potential for a catchment-wide disaster if logging is to commence.

By Andrew VIVIAN