Logging machinery in Mogo State Forest undermining public confidence in FCNSW good management of our forests.
Logging has been suspended now in the forest adjacent to Dunns Creek Road. This is almost certainly due to community pressure and the high profile location right next to a relatively busy thoroughfare cutting through this part of the Shire.
A concerted effort by the Dunns Creek Residents Group, the NPA, the EPA, Coastwatchers, Greens NSW via Dawn Walker, WIRES, the National Trust and articles in the Beagle and the BayPost plus the willingness of citizens to enter the closed area of operations to look for animals and big trees all played a part.
This campaign involved:
- Locals interacting with FC staff maintained a respectful dialogue and there was no sabotage of harvesting machinery
- The inclusion of 3 trees within the area of harvesting operations on the National Trust register of significant trees
- The discovery of wombat burrows (and uploading locations onto the WomSat database) which triggered the FC’s Glenbog Protocol for wombat protection
- The discovery by locals at night of Greater Gliders and YBGs in the area and their locations uploaded onto the NSW Govt. BioNet Atlas
- The hosting by Coastwatchers of a Community Forum in Moruya
- Ready access to the online media via the Beagle
Dawn Walker MLC at base of Big Jenny now on the National Trust Register of Significant Trees
The success of this campaign also shows how valuable is the role of citizen science in finding and documenting valuable attributes before forests are logged.
The logging in compartments 147 and 148 Mogo State Forest is a microcosm of a large number of operations occurring all over the state at any one time.
Yellow Bellied Glider feed tree surrounded by log dump 4
In 2019 contractors logged compartment 159 immediately west of Mogo town. By the time they had finished the fire season had been declared and all the masses of drying logging debris were left on the forest floor awaiting the predictably massive fire of New Years Eve which so devastated Mogo.
The EPA investigated a breach in this operation related to an exclusion zone around a Square Tailed Kite nest. Activists also forced FCNSW to save a large number of trees on account of their importance as feed for the endangered migratory Swift Parrot.
In March/April 2020 the EPA gave FCNSW permission to log in the burnt section of compartment 174 bordering Buckenbowra Road (and compartment 60 in South Brooman State Forest near Termeil). A total incursion by the contractors onto a class 1 Drainage Line buffer has been reported to the EPA and a penalty should be pending.
Logging in burnt forest is highly controversial and according to Professor Lindenmeyer it is the worst thing that can happen to a native forest trying to regenerate after fire.
Visit https://theconversation.com/logging-is-due-to-start-in-fire-ravaged-forests-this-week-its-the-last-thing-our-wildlife-needs-132347
The prosecution and fining of Forestry Corporation in October 2017 for multiple breaches committed by logging contractors near Brown Mountain also shows the value of going into logged areas post logging to document further breaches for future court cases.
Visit https://www.beagleweekly.com.au/single-post/2017/10/07/Forestry-corporation-fined-over-illegal-logging—%E2%80%98too-little-too-late%E2%80%99
A network of forest conservationists in South East NSW is uniting behind the concept of the Great Southern Forest which seeks to cease the logging of all native forests whilst bringing plantations online. The forests can then be managed for jobs in ecological restoration, tourism and recreation, and for carbon credits. Visit http://www.greatsouthernforest.org.au/
Further inspiration and information is available in the Forests For All plan by the National Parks Association at
https://npansw.org/what-we-do/our-work/campaigns/end-native-forest-logging/
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