CONSERVATIONISTS across the Coffs Coast and beyond were heartened by State Labor’s pledge to create a Great Koala National Park (GKNP).

However, the new State Government is yet to provide any detail, and local proponents of the GKNP are concerned that key areas of forests are slated for logging and that Penny Sharpe, who holds the Ministries of Climate Change, Energy, Environment, and Heritage, has resisted calls to halt logging of native forests.

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Friends of Pine Creek, one of the numerous community forest protection groups across New South Wales, is very concerned about proposed logging in compartments 14 to 18 of Pine Creek State Forest.

They claim that these forests have not been logged for over 50 years and that, after initial logging, tree seed was haphazardly sown and native forest allowed to grow.

This, they say, has resulted in these areas today being rich and diverse native forests that include mature koala feed trees and supports a variety of wildlife.

The Friends’ major concern is that the identified compartments comprise part of the ‘Forest Bridge’ proposal to create an unbroken koala corridor from above Dorrigo to the coast.

Dr Tim Cadman, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University, has posted a video on YouTube in which he demonstrates compartments containing old growth trees and rainforest.

He has been concerned for some time that plantation conversion and logging has not taken account of existing forest.

Dr Cadman said that Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) is certified for the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) (now known as Responsible Wood) and that the updated 2021 standard requires that all forest remnants are protected, regardless of size.

He said the other issue is that all types of forest in the Pine Creek compartments are all highly likely koala habitat.

A spokesperson for FCNSW said Pine Creek State Forest contains areas set aside for conservation as well as native forest available for timber production and timber plantations.

She said compartments 14-18 of Pine Creek State Forest contain timber plantations and a team of qualified professionals are carrying out an extensive planning process.

The spokesperson said FCNSW welcomed input from community members during the planning process and the planning team will consider all relevant information while developing the harvest plan.

In NSW, the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) process identified and protected forests with the highest conservation value across the landscape, including mapped old growth and rainforest, which have been permanently protected for more than 20 years.

Dr Cadman said the data used in the current RFA is more than 20 years old and is not relevant.

“It would be more valid if the Commonwealth and the State collaborated to update the data and stakeholders were consulted as they had been in the original RFA,” Dr Cadman said.

“The second RFA was a ‘tick and flick’ exercise which didn’t account for factors such as climate change and threatened species.”

Mr Cadman told News Of The Area he is currently in discussions with FCNSW.

In the meantime, the Friends of Pine Creek are urging people to write to State and Federal politicians about the issue.

Details can be found on their Facebook page.

By Andrew VIVIAN