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A demonstration calling for the NSW Government to stop logging the Ourimbah State Forest was held outside the electorate office of the Minister for the Central Coast, Mr David Harris, on Wednesday, 26 July.
By Jacquelene Pearson
Members from Camp Ourimbah, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Community Environment Network and Coast Environment Alliance along with local residents, several of whom had seen koalas close to their homes, gathered outside the Wyong electorate office last week to protest against the resumption of logging in Ourimbah State Forest.
A spokesperson for Camp Ourimbah said, “I think Labor want the forest logged because they are not taking a strong enough stance with protecting koalas. I don’t think they are taking up the Liberal’s slack of destruction of the environment. I think they are just happy to let it all roll out, with a façade they are invested in koala populations across the state. You can see that because they have not put a moratorium on the future Great Koala Parks that are currently being logged by Forestry Corporation NSW.
“I think the same is happening here. They are logging koala habitat ruthlessly because they know that at some time in the future they know there will be and I hope there will be a tougher stance on koalas.
“Even if you take the fact Victoria has taken a ban on native forest logging and the same in Western Australia. Logging is not a sustainable industry period. There is a point where you are not going to be able to extract more timber from a forest to provide what they say they are providing for. To supply our needs etc.
“There is an ending to this game so what they are trying to do is basically get what they can now before the whole thing is either banned or just not a viable resource anymore.”
The spokesperson said no members of the NSW Government had responded to their email campaign.
“Penny Sharpe [NSW Environment Minister] was one of the people we cc’d in our email campaign and I have personally not heard a single response from her. We talked to her briefly in a zoom meeting about a year and a half ago where she ticked all the boxes, agreed with what we were saying and then there was absolutely no follow up with the community.
“David Harris, our current member of parliament has been cc’d in our email campaign and likewise we haven’t heard anything from him.”
Mr Mark Ellis of the Australian Conservation Foundation said, “We know we are in a biodiversity crisis. We know we just can’t have biodiversity offsets and we know we have to retain what we have and this is the whole problem. We know that koalas are one of the main things the NSW Government should be protecting. Yet the NSW Government, perpetuated by the Member for Wyong, is maintaining the destruction of habitat. So we are calling on the Member for Wyong to stop logging in the Ourimbah State Forest.
“The IPC in their last six reports have said we are heading for a train wreck. It is wWhat we are seeing in Greece now. We are nowhere near what we are doing with our emissions and by removing more forests we are taking away the ability of the forest to harbour and protect the emissions they are holding inside.
“Society is heading towards imminent collapse because of human folly and politicians keep going ‘oh, it’s alright’ but we have been in this crisis for 30 years now. It is getting worse and worse.
“They will probably say it is money, it is jobs, ‘we have to do it’ but it is state capture. We have seen Queensland stop logging, we have seen Victoria. Other people have said we can’t stop logging for 10 years, well that is incorrect. The government can do whatever it wants. We are in a climate crisis and we have a biodiversity issue happening but they don’t want to see the problem. If they wanted to see the problem and stop it they could have.
“There is the capacity for sustainable tree actions. And then we can see how we can create sustainability in forestry.”
Jake Cassar, spokesperson for the Coast Environment Alliance said his passion for the koala had drawn him to participate in the protest.
“I feel like it is now or never for these little Aussie Battlers,” Cassar said. “I am really interested in learning more about the cause, more about how we can have sustainable industry in Australia and not just as a buzz word but how we can actually do it without wiping out our koalas.
“CEA has done extensive work with koalas on the Central Coast. We had a gentleman from the Reptile Park, Tim Falkner, say about seven or eight years ago that koalas were functionally extinct on the Central Coast which became the belief and since then we have been working really hard to compile photos across the Central Coast of sightings and making sure they are registered properly with BioNet.
“About four years ago a couple of legends on Central Coast Council had a look at all our sightings that we had compiled over the years including working with another guy working on cat and fox control. He got a photo of a koala at Mangrove Creek Dam. And they started utilising that to start the first ever koala study ever done on the Central Coast and, just in short, we have now got 11 koala populations on the Central Coast registered through Central Coast Council. I have been in touch with council again recently and they are looking at doing more studies.
“I want Labor to put their money where their mouth is. They have had the opportunity time and time again to prove that they are more environmental than Liberal. They get elected on the Greens preferences largely so I’d like the Greens to really hold Labor to their environmental promises and work together to ensure that we don’t let this iconic Australian animal and everything else that lives in the forest but the Koala is a really strong catalyst for change, hopefully.”
The Community Environment Network said the resumption of logging in Ourimbah State Forest by Forestry Corp NSW (FCNSW) is evidence the Minns NSW Government has paid no more than lip service to research revealing the threat of regional extinctions within 50 years if the clearing of native forests continues.
As a member of the Barrington to Hawkesbury Climate Corridors Alliance (B2H), the Community Environment Network last year called for an immediate moratorium on land clearing to avoid regional species extinctions by 2070.
“CEN felt confident during the March NSW election campaign that the then state opposition understood the need to stop logging, protect native forests and create 22 climate refugia between Barrington Tops and the Hawkesbury River if we are to minimise native species extinctions,” said CEN Chair, Mr Gary Chestnut.
“Right now one of those refugia on the Central Coast, Ourimbah State Forest, is being logged for low-quality salvage and pulpwood and we call upon the Premier, Chris Minns, and Environment Minister, Penny Sharpe, to immediately halt NSW Forestry’s operations at Ourimbah,” he said.
“Bushland on the Central Coast is under immense pressure from urban development, agriculture and the intensifying impacts of global warming – native forest logging, for very little economic benefit, can no longer be tolerated.
“If the NSW Government does not permanently protect Ourimbah State Forest along with the other 21 climate refugia identified in the two B2H reports, this region is facing the extinction of up to 50 per cent of all native flora species and at least six native fauna species within 50 years.
“The research for the B2H reports was based on habitat suitability modelling, completed by the Bionode of the NSW Adaptation Hub at Macquarie University, and on NSW Government climate corridor mapping.
“It assessed available habitat for local threatened populations under four future climate warming scenarios.
“The research identifies 22 climate refugia corridors that span the region and will be essential for the preservation of species in a warming world.
“Premier Minns and Minister Sharpe know that the clearing of native vegetation and destruction of habitat is the single greatest threat to biodiversity in NSW. They must act now to stop this threat.”
According to the Community Environment Network, a cultural site within the Ourimbah State Forest has already been damaged because of logging activity.
“CEN is aware that koala sightings in the forest in 2019 have not been followed up and FCNSW has made no changes to its harvest plans despite being presented with evidence from the community, scientists and Traditional Owners about flora, fauna and the heritage site,” Mr Chestnut said.
“It appears FCNSW has ignored recent warnings about the likelihood of an early fire season this year. Ourimbah is a rainforest but if large log piles and other debris are left to dry in the forest the fire danger could be catastrophic.
“The risks created by FCNSW’s current ‘harvesting’ far outweigh the rewards. CEN and our B2H partners repeat our call for an immediate moratorium on land clearing. State Forest logging must cease.”
According to Forestry Corporation Ourimbah State Forest is a regrowth forest that has been harvested to produce renewable timber products and regrown many times.
“It has one of the oldest histories of routine timber harvesting in Australia – the forest has been harvested sustainably and regrown for over 150 years and the trees we see today are regrowth forest. The first Australian Forestry School was located nearby in part Strickland State Forest in the early 1900s.
“Ourimbah State Forest is part of the two million hectare forest estate that Forestry Corporation has been appointed to manage for multiple values, including environmental conservation, tourism and renewable timber production. Forestry Corporation works to balance these multiple objectives, in line with Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management principles.”
According to Forestry Corps notice of part closure of Ourimbah State Forest, the current logging will continue until 28 August. However, protestors believe it is slated to continue through to November.
The description of the closed areas reads “that part of Ourimbah State Forest No. 290 enclosed by the mapped boundary: A. commencing just south of the intersection of Red Hill and Middle Ridge Roads (marked Point ‘A’ on the map), then, continuing in a clockwise direction around the Closed Area; B. in a generally southerly direction either side of Middle Ridge Road to the northern end of the broader Closed Area (marked Point ‘B’ on the map); then C. in a generally southerly direction following Middle Ridge to the intersection with Wallaby Road (marked Point ‘C’ on the map); then, D. in a generally easterly direction following Wallaby Road, to the intersection with the Palmdale Road easement (marked Point ‘D’ on the map); then, E. in a generally south-westerly direction following Palmdale Road for a short distance to the State forest/private property boundary, then following that boundary to its junction with Canada Drop Down Creek, east of Palmdale Road (marked Point ‘E’ on the map); then, F. in a generally north-westerly then northerly direction along Canada Drop Down Creek to its junction with a tributary entering from the east (marked Point ‘F’ on the map); then, G. in a generally north-easterly then easterly direction from Point ‘F’ along that tributary to 149-1 Trail (marked Point ‘G’ on the map); then, in a generally northerly direction along 149-1 Trail back to Point ‘B’ on the map. To be clear, between Points ‘A’ and ‘D’, Middle Ridge and Wallaby Roads remain open only to authorised through vehicle traffic. Authorised vehicles must not stop or linger along these sections of these roads (as mapped) due to safety risks arising from forest operations.”
What you can do
If you think it is time to stop the logging of native forests, please contact your local state MP to voice your concerns.
Keep up to date with Camp Ourimbah via facebook and Instagram or email [email protected]
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