The water quality crisis, 2023 update

Despite constant reports that the turbidity levels in the Nymboida River after rain are too high to allow extraction to occur, we’ve never heard a complaint from either council about forestry practices, including their being leased for grazing. Even the announcement by Forests NSW in 2015, that they intended to undertake intensive logging of some forests, i.e., clear-felling, there was no complaint. Then again total silence in 2019 when the State Government changed the Integrated Forests Operations Approval, halving the width of buffer zones along all mapped gullies and creeks, allowing logging to occur to within 5m of smaller waterways.

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Submission to the Forestry Industry Action Plan

The CEC has long been a vocal critic of Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW), and its previous manifestations as a state government agency known as Forests NSW, State Forests of NSW and the Forestry Commission of NSW. This corporation, irrespective of its name and corporate branding, continues to blatantly conduct an unacceptable and unsustainable assault on the publicly owned native forest estate. This assault has continued for more than half a century since the widespread adoption of industrial logging practices.

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Trenayr Dry Rainforest regeneration project

In about 2016, with the endangered Phyllanthus now being smothered by Cat’s Claw once again, the Environment Department’s Saving our Species team became involved, providing funding to clear weeds from the immediate surrounds of the 4 known sub-populations at the site. This saw the Clarence environment Centre involved once again with its professional bush regeneration team contracted to carry out the work.

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Sheas Knob State Forest Protest Action

On Monday 6th May a delegation of concerned citizens walked into an active logging site within the promised Great Koala National Park to bear witness to the wanton destruction of significantly important tall eucalypt forest and wildlife habitat that is currently being undertaken by the NSW Forestry Corporation.

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Grevillea masonii burned!

Late on Sunday 13th August, a bushfire started on a property south of Dilkoon Creek. Hundreds of hectares of Glossy Black-Cockatoo feed habitat destroyed with that habitat unlikely to recover for at least 7 or 8 years. The resident Koalas will have been impacted, and while animals that managed to find a tall tree could have survived this fire, the scorching of leaves is likely to make feed unpalatable for weeks to come.

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REPORT: Gibberagee State Forest logging – More Koala habitat destroyed.

This is the latest in a series of pictorial reports documenting the destruction of koala and other fauna habitat in the Gibberagee State Forest, north of Grafton. These reports have been prompted by the failure of ministers, their departments, and regulatory authorities, to respond to pleas to protect this significant ecological asset.

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REPORT: Gibberagee State Forest logging – Update June 23

The Clarence Environment Centre has been lobbying State and Federal Governments to protect resident Koalas in the above forest from planned logging operations for over 5 months. Again, the Clarence Environment Centre calls for an immediate halt to the destruction of koala habitat at Gibberagee, and an end to all logging in public forests as a matter of urgency.

Continue ReadingREPORT: Gibberagee State Forest logging – Update June 23

REPORT: Gibberagee State Forest – The destruction of koala habitat continues…

We have been informed that logging began at the above compartments this last week, and already photographs obtained by the Centre highlights the inadequacy of Forestry Corporation’s efforts to protect biodiversity in our public forests. we have sent the following report to the NSW Ministers for Forestry, Courtney Houssos, and the Environment, Penny Sharpe, as well as the Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek.

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SUBMISSION: Opposing the granting of Minerals Exploration Licence

Mining poses an unacceptable threat to water quality, particularly in high rainfall regions such as the Clarence Valley, where soil instability is also a problem. All of the exploration companies that are currently operating in the valley have failed to engage in, or adequately follow-through with community consultation. This indicates that those companies are deliberately ignoring the public’s concern, and the fact that they have no social licence to operate.

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SUBMISSION: to the review of The Biodiversity Conservation Act

The conservation of Australia's natural environment, both terrestrial and marine, has always been our priority, and we believe the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and biodiversity is of paramount importance. As a result, we believe it is crucial that laws in place to protect the environment, actually serve that purpose.

Continue ReadingSUBMISSION: to the review of The Biodiversity Conservation Act