NEW research from Wilderness Australia and the National Parks Association of NSW highlights the intensity of logging operations in the proposed footprint of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP).

The new report – titled “Intensification Of Logging In The Great Koala National Park” – states that as of 7 October there were thirteen active logging operations totalling a minimum of 7,256 hectares (ha) inside 176,000ha of State Forest proposed to form the GKNP.

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Twelve logging operations totalling 7,066 ha were active in the remaining 742,000 ha of State Forest in northern NSW.

According to researchers, this represents an intensity of logging that is at least four times greater inside the proposed GKNP boundaries than elsewhere in northern NSW.

“This report, the result of extensive research, provides documented evidence that the logging of koala habitat is now a clear and present danger to the ecological integrity of the land proposed to provide our most important future koala refuge,” wrote Wilderness Australia Chair Bob Debus in the report foreword.

The research documents operations in Sheas Nob, Orara East, Wild Cattle Creek, Conglomerate, Bagawa and Pine Creek State Forests.

For many months, local conservation groups such as the Forest Ecology Alliance have claimed the GKNP footprint has been specifically targeted for logging operations.

The report details a number of threats to the viability of the GKNP from extensive logging.

In addition to habitat loss of threatened fauna including koalas, gliders and Glossy Black Cockatoos, moisture-dependent creatures such as a variety of Gondwanan frog species, Lowanna/Little Nymboida Spiny Crayfish, Bellinger River Snapping Turtles, and ancient Galaxiid fish are also at risk, the report states.

Other major issues identified include degradation of ecosystems that affect connectivity across the GKNP and adjoining forest ecosystems, the introduction of major infestations of environmental weeds, potential pollution of the Coffs-Clarence regional water supply, damage to coastal catchments, and an increase in the risk and severity of bushfires.

The report also outlines the history of the proposed GKNP, dating back to the Labor Party’s first commitment to establish it in 2015.

“When Labor first proposed creation of the GKNP it was envisaged as a large National Park of approximately 315,000 hectares,” the report states.

“It would be created by adding 176,000 hectares of selected State Forests to 139,000 hectares of existing Protected Areas (National Parks, State Conservation Areas, Nature Reserves and Regional Parks).”

The offices of Environment Minister Penny Sharpe, Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty and Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos were contacted for comment.

That request was forwarded to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, who provided the following statement.
“The average annual level of harvesting in the GKNP area since 2015 (around 99,000 m3) is significantly less than the average level of harvesting in the GKNP area between 2003 and 2014 (which was 128,000 m3). 

“The proportion of wood from the Northeast RFA region that is sourced from the GKNP assessment area has increased slightly from around 20.1 percent (2003-2014) to 22.8 percent (2015 – present).” 

By Andrew VIVIAN