A rare patch of mature coastal forest at risk of logging

“It should be protected in the great koala national park, and should have been assessed by the NSW government."

"High density’ area of endangered species left out of NSW great koala national park plan, advocates say
Call to include area comes amid frustration at how long it is taking Minns government to declare park’s boundaries and meet its election commitment."

"Logging has continued within areas assessed for the proposed park and there has been growing anger within the conservation community about convictions recorded by the state logging agency for breaches of environmental conditions."
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/10/high-density-area-of-endangered-species-left-out-of-nsw-great-koala-national-park-plan-advocates-say
#biodiversity #EndangeredHabitats #conservation #MidNorthCoast #Valla #Bollanolla #NSWLogging #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #wildlife #FCNSW #breach

"The native forest logging division of the New South Wales government’s forestry agency has posted a half-yearly loss of almost $15m, prompting renewed questions about the industry’s economic viability.
“It makes no sense that taxpayers are subsidising a loss-making business that destroys precious habitat when we should be supporting local communities and viable industries that do have a future.”"
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/16/nsw-native-forest-logging-division-half-year-report-2024-2025-losses
#LoggingImpacts #LoggingIndustry #FCNSW #NSWLogging #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #biodiversity #wildlife #destruction

"The logging industry is finding ways to get around the so-called ban."

"A loophole in the law banning Victoria's native timber harvesting means logging projects can still go ahead as the state government passes project approval responsibility to local councils."

"How could it be that a local council would have the expertise, the biological and ecological expertise, to approve logging in an area? When you log and regenerate an area of native forest … that same area of forest becomes much more flammable for a prolonged period of time," Professor Lindenmayer said. "I don't think that we should be adding that extra fire burden for rural and regional people to have to deal with."
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-03/timber-harvesting-ban-loophole-victoria/105123078
#LoggingIndustry #LoggingImpacts #bushfire #risks #conservation #biodiversity #wildlife #forests #NSWLogging #BellingenLogging #council

NSW's native forest logging industry ruled not 'economically viable'.

"The recommendation was made by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in its triennial analysis of the government-owned logging company Forestry Corporation of NSW."

"It found Forestry Corporation's native timber operation had been steadily losing money over the past decade, in part due to delivering timber to sawmills for less than the cost of providing it."

"It also noted concerns about logging making bushfires worse and damaging threatened species' habitat."

"The revelation comes the same week that Forestry Corporation released its annual report, which shows it suffered a $29 million loss in its native logging division in the 2022-2023 financial year. Studies have suggested shutting the industry could bring net economic benefits to the economy"
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-17/nsw-native-forest-logging-not-economically-viable-report-finds/104721248
#NativeForests #LoggingIndustry #LoggingImpacts #FCNSW #NSWLogging #BellingenLogging #degradation #biodiversity #harm #ClimateBreakdown #wildlife #koalas #plantations #StopLoggingKoalaHabitat #bushfires #risks #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #destruction

What’s so bad about a road?
Roads are forest killers.

"A road means access. Once roads are bulldozed into rainforests, illegal loggers, miners, poachers and landgrabbers arrive. Once they get access, they can destroy forests, harm native ecosystems and even drive out or kill indigenous peoples. This looting of the natural world robs cash-strapped nations of valuable natural resources."

"When ghost roads appear, local deforestation soars – usually immediately after the roads are built. We found the density of roads was by far the most important predictor of forest loss, outstripping 38 other variables. No matter how one assesses them, roads are forest killers."
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Ghost roads and the destruction of Asia-Pacific tropical forests
https://theconversation.com/roads-of-destruction-we-found-vast-numbers-of-illegal-ghost-roads-used-to-crack-open-pristine-rainforest-227222
#roads #NativeForests #rainforest #biodiversity #deforestation #extractivism #destruction #LoggingIndustry #NSWLogging #BellingenLogging #access #LoggingImpacts #mapping #roadless

Despite $246.9 million in taxpayer money, Forestry Corporation still lost $28 million
"The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has today released a new report from Frontier Economics which reveals for the first time that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been gifted to the taxpayer owned logging business Forestry Corporation NSW over the past five years."

"The report finds the taxpayer-owned logging business received $246.9 million worth of grants since 2019/20 financial year, while the hardwood division (which is responsible for native forest logging) made a loss of $28.2 million over the same period"
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https://www.echo.net.au/2023/11/despite-246-9-million-in-taxpayer-money-forestry-corporation-still-lost-28-million/

"The NSW Government needs to come to terms with the fact that native forest logging is a dying industry and make a plan for a transition. How much more taxpayer money has to be wasted and endangered animals killed before this reality sinks in?" Statements attributable to NCC Chief Executive Officer Jacqui Mumford
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https://www.miragenews.com/forestry-corp-loses-28m-despite-246-9m-taxpayer-1120847/

Public native forest logging: a large and growing taxpayer burden, report
"The Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) asked Frontier Economics to examine the financial and budgetary drivers behind the Victorian Government’s decision to accelerate the closure of its public native forest logging (NFL) – and how comparable these drivers are in New South Wales and Tasmania.
Poor financial performance and associated budgetary burdens associated with State run NFL operations are common across Australian jurisdictions. Taxpayers are bearing the cost burden of these risky and persistently loss-making government businesses."
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https://assets.nationbuilder.com/natureorg/pages/2713/attachments/original/1699421741/23-11-02_Public_native_forestry_a_growing_taxpayer_burden_Final_report_STC_%281%29.pdf?1699421741
#NSWLogging #LoggingIndustry #NFL #tax #NativeForests #StopLogging #degradation #biodiversity #ThreatenedSpecies #habitat #TheGreatKoalaGhetto #wildlife #koalas #ClimateEmergency #ExtinctionCrisis #conservation #SaveTuckersNob

Silencing biodiversity
Biophony is the collective sound produced by all living organisms that reside in a particular biome. It is not about a 'decontextualized single-species recording model'. Bernie Krause is recording "the “Great Animal Orchestra,” a constantly shapeshifting constellation of individual voices in motion, and he termed their symphonic soundscape a ‘biophony’ — all of the “sounds originating from nonhuman, nondomestic biological sources.”

In 1988 he recorded the so-called selective logging of a timber company:
"The outcome was a spectrogram with a remarkable density throughout all frequency bands, as could be expected for a habitat replete with the most diverse animal life. In 1989, he returned to the meadow after the operation had been completed for a second session under the exact same conditions and at the exact same time. In keeping with what had been promised by the logging company, the place still looked as though it was teeming with life — “I was delighted to see that little seemed to have changed,” as Krause remarked. Back in the studio and after a look at his spectrogram, he had to revise that impression: “Gone was the thriving density and diversity of birds. Gone, too, was the overall richness that had been present the year before. The only prominent sounds were the stream and hammering of a Williamson’s sapsucker.” The ear, then, turned out to be capable of detecting the true state of the habitat much more precisely and truthfully than the eye ever could."

"The recurring pattern seemed to be that the ‘evil sounding’ spaces were those devoid of animal noises, while those full of life and sound tended to come across as far more agreeable"
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/everything-is-wrong-bernie-krauses-concept-of-biophony/

Biophony, Bernie Krause
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2017/08/biophony/
#BiodiversityCrisis #SoundEcology #biophony ##sound #NatureSounds #LoggingIndustry #LoggingImpacts #degradation #koalas #wildlife #habitat #ecology #biodiversity #extinction #NSWLogging #SaveTuckersNob