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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The biggest concern now is that another fire will impact the site before natural regeneration takes place. Bushfire is the greatest threat currently facing the environment, and must be avoided if at all possible. In my opinion, we stand to lose it all if we don’t, so this is where our country wide focus needs to be.
Bob Brown, first leader of the Greens Party, commented that parents should take their children for bush walks, where communing with nature would have a calming effect on the kids. After a beautiful day in the bush, I am in full agreement with Bob Brown - we should all spend more time communing with nature. It is essential for our physical and mental wellbeing.
It has always been our contention that giving equal weight to the social, economic, and environmental interests is a flawed process, simply because social wellbeing and the economy are both totally reliant on a healthy environment, achieving which, therefore, should be the priority objective.
Date: 23rd January 2023 To The Hon. Dugald Saunders, MPMinister for Forestsdubbo@parliament.nsw.gov.au Dear Minister, Last year we wrote to you as Minister for forests, expressing dismay at the lack of…