Alleged breach of Greater Glider protections in Brother State Forest
The NSW Forestry Corporation has been found allegedly logging in breach of its Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA) by logging Greater Glider habitat in Brother State Forest, 50km east of Glen Innes. The IFOA conditions state that a 50-metre radius exclusion zone must be established around Greater Glider den trees for their protection. Video footage shows a Greater Glider on top of its Den Tree alongside logged forest.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “This shocking and tragic video shows what can only be described as the NSW Forestry Corporation violating the conditions within the IFOA and again proving their grossly inadequate surveying of the Brother State Forest, putting the endangered Greater Glider at even greater risk than what is legally permitted,
“Greater Gliders are threatened with extinction, they are completely forest dependent and cannot survive without old hollow-bearing trees and healthy intact forest,
“I have contacted the EPA to investigate this apparent breach of the law urgently, and I have called for an immediate stop-work order while the EPA investigates the matter,
“The Forestry Corporation needs to be pulled into line. Their consistent breaching and flouting of even the weakest environmental protection laws we have to protect threatened species has to stop. The Minister for Forestry Tara Moriarty can’t keep turning away, she needs to be held to account for this.”
“People have had enough of the unlawful activities of the Forestry Corporation and the continued logging of our public native forests. As the community is finding Greater Gliders stranded in their homes surrounded by logged forest, others today have taken dramatic action at the Forestry Corporation office in Coffs Harbour. Eight women from around NSW have attached themselves to the entrance and rooftops of the Forestry Corporation office.”
“They, along with so many, are calling on the Minns Labor Government to follow Victoria and Western Australia and end logging our public forest estate”. Ms Higginson said.
Video of Greater Glider alongside logged forest here
See photos and videos of activists occupying the Forestry Corporation office in Coffs Harbour here