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Greening 1, April 30

Starting on the edge of the world NOW

In near darkness the species of three Oystercatchers calling as they wing past, unable to tell if they are black or pied.

Our regular birds survey at Yurrun.Ga

The Jacanas are still here, and lovely to see a Rufous Fantail

To think this was piece of wetland was dead not long ago

 

There are many environment groups here on the Mid-North Coast: Bellingen Environment Centre, Forest Ecology Alliance, Friends of Conglomerate, Friends of Kalang Headwaters, Friends of Pine Creek, Kalang River Forest Alliance, Nambucca Valley Conservation Association, North East Forest Alliance and residents all battling to save native forests in this area.

They are seeking

  1. The creation of the community proposal for The Great Koala National Park, and an immediate moratorium on logging of the 176,000 hectares of State Forests planned to be added to existing National Parks;
  2. A moratorium on logging of all koala habitat in NSW;
  3. An end to native forest logging in NSW; and
  4. A transition plan and package to a fully sustainable plantation industry in NSW. If native forests are not protected NOW many threatened plant and animal species face rapid extinction.

Once canopy cover is broken weeds, such as lantana, take over. The lost mature and hollow bearing trees that many of our wildlife depend on will not grow back in our grandchildren’s lifetimes. Forestry Corporation of NSW logging practices are not economically, socially or environmentally sustainable Forestry Corporation of NSW generally operates at a financial loss on native forest logging, with a total loss of $95 million over the past 14 years.

Taxpayers pay for these losses and pay for logging operations that contribute to declining animal populations and degradation of soil, water catchments, ecosystems and critical carbon sinks. Do we need to log native forests to address the housing crisis?

In 2020/2021 native hardwood logs comprised just 6% of NSW’s log production and a similar proportion of sawn timber. Only a very small amount of timber used for housing comes from hardwood plantations, as most timber comes from softwood pine plantations.

The global supply of native hardwoods is rapidly disappearing. Industrialised logging in public native forests is no longer an option if we are to conserve life-giving ecosystems.

From a newspaper ad prepared by FEA March 2023:

For more on FEA See 

And my essay on FEA and citizen science

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