A MEETING between Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty and senior Forestry Corporation staffers at Bagawa State Forest has locals suspicious.

The locals don’t trust Forestry Corporation.

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Ms Moriarty visited Bagawa State Forest, inland of Coramba, during the week of 12-16 June, 2023.

“Minister Moriarty met with Forestry Corporation in her capacity as the Minister administering the Forestry Act 2012,” the minister’s office told News Of The Area.

“As the incoming Minister, Minister Moriarty is meeting with the various agencies in her portfolio to develop a deeper understanding of their work.

“Forestry Corporation provided information about its role as a forest manager, how State Forests are managed for multiple uses and the environmental planning processes that are followed and some of the monitoring and research underway in State Forests,” the minister’s office said.

“The NSW Government has committed to establishing a Great Koala National Park after seeking scientific advice, consulting with all stakeholders and undertaking a comprehensive economic assessment to guide support for local jobs and communities,” said Minister Moriarty in a statement.

FC’s Senior Ecologist Chris Slade, who hosted the minister’s visit, said, “Forestry Corporation was pleased to meet with Minister Moriarty in the forest to discuss forest management and our work in the local region.

“As Senior Ecologist, I was delighted to share information about the rules implemented by our planners, forest technicians, roading and harvesting teams and to discuss the range of research and environmental monitoring Forestry Corporation carries out as well as the tools and technology we use to capture data through environmental surveys to inform our planning and operations.”

Coramba resident, Jodie Nancarrow, whose property backs onto Bagawa State Forest, told NOTA, “I wish I’d known of the minister’s visit.

“I would have loved to show her ‘forest management’ over my boundary fence, to give her a balanced perspective from all stakeholders.

“This visit by the minister seemed to be a PR exercise for FCNSW and she swallowed it, hook, line and sinker,” said Jodie.

Bagawa State Forest is where harvesting was started illegally in August 2022.

With logging in progress on Monday morning 15 August 2022, there was no Harvest Plan for Bagawa SF on Forestry Corporation’s Plan Portal as legally required two days before operations commence.

However, a FC spokesperson told NOTA at the time, “There was a technical issue with viewing the Bagawa plan earlier today, and this has now been rectified.”

The Plan Portal history for the Bagawa SF operations shows a completed status on 23 March 2023 and now a current status of suspended, dated 4 April 2023.

FC told NOTA, “Timber harvesting is largely complete, however the plan remains suspended as there are some remaining post-harvest roadworks and other activities still to complete.”

Jodie said, “The forest is still closed to everyone due to roadworks.

“So that means there has been no public access to Bagawa for almost 11 months.

“Bagawa SF is regarded as a most diverse Eucalypt forest, home to globally significant Koala habitats and numerous threatened species including Glossy black-cockatoo, Spotted Tailed Quoll, Greater Glider, Yellow Bellied Glider and a host of endemic and threatened flora species.

“Bagawa is a key part of the Great Koala National Park and needs to recover from harm done by logging to re-establish significant biota populations,” Jodie said.

“As the type of broad-sweeping logging FC has carried out in Bagawa SF the formerly moist forest will dry out due to canopy loss, which encourages lantana and wild tobacco bush to take over.

“The heads of trees and the timber that was not wanted by the loggers is left where the trees were felled, adding to the fuel load of a potential bushfire.

“It is extremely close to my boundary fence,” she said.

This forest narrowly escaped burning in the Liberation Trail fire in 2019.

“I am an incredibly concerned direct neighbour to Bagawa SF and if observations are correct and an El Niño becomes apparent, God help us come this summer.

“The best outcome for the native forests of NSW and especially the Mid North Coast, slated to be included in the Great Koala National Park, is for Minister Moriarty (agriculture) and Minister Sharpe (environment) to get together and devise a quick, no-nonsense stop to all logging in this area and support the GKNP as they said they would do pre-election.

“Otherwise, their words are hollow promises, and the environment suffers once again,” said Jodie.

Jodie is a member of Friends of Bagawa SF, one of 13 local community conservation groups actively seeking that the logging on the Mid North Coast is stopped immediately and that the GKNP is made.

By Andrea FERRARI