It is time to end logging our precious public native forests. Report after report tells us that we must stop destroying our public native forests and that we must protect, repair and regenerate them and manage them for all of their important values.
Yet the lack of vision and the politics of the Liberal National Party and the Labor Party are holding us back. We need a circuit breaker and this upcoming State Election is it. Our forests need us to cut through this nonsense and make ending their destruction an election issue.
This is what I will be doing, but I need you to join me.
Please sign up to join our campaign and let's do this together.
Our native forests are so important!
Our best defence against the climate crisis. They sink and store carbon emissions. The healthier our forests are the more effective they are in this function. If we do not stop logging our forests and manage them back to health they could become carbon emitters and that would be disastrous.
Home to many species on the extinction list. So many of our forest dependent species are edging so close to extinction is frightening. Some of our rarest and most unique animals rely on forests and the hollows in mature trees to survive. The only way for animals like the Greater Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider, Koala and many other animals to survive is if we stop logging their forest homes.
Essential for soils, rain and water. They are crucial for the health of our soils and waterways. The long term cycle of organic matter breakdown in native forests, sometimes over hundreds of years, is what keeps soil in these areas rich in nutrients. Our native forests are also critical for the health of our waterways. Forests create water vapor flows, which creates rain. These flows are vital for the survival of all life on earth. Evidence now points to even limited destruction of forests can change the whole climate of a region. Forests also improve and protect the quality of our waterways by preventing erosion, breaking down pollutants and providing shade.
Logging is bad for us and bad for the planet
Increases fire risk. Logging disrupts the humid microclimates of forests, making them more susceptible to fire. As we experience more severe hot, dry weather periods due to climate change, logging forests exacerbates the already increasing risk of fire. By destroying the canopy that keeps forest damp, logging creates more flammable fuel for fires. There is now conclusive evidence that logging native forests increases the risk of bushfire, not reduces it.
Doesn't generate any profit. The hardwood timber industry ran at a loss of $9m in 2021-2022 - a figure that stretches to some $80m if fire and flood recovery expenses are included. The sum of government subsidies to the industry is estimated to be $441 per hectare per year. The costs incurred by native forest logging such as building accessways, environmental law compliance and haulage are not being recovered in revenue. In 2021 IPART reported an average shortfall for $3.96 per green metric tonne.
We need to end native forest logging now. For our threatened and endangered species, for our communities and for the climate.
We’re calling for:
An immediate commitment to end native forest logging
Now more than ever we need a commitment from whoever is going to form Government in NSW after March to an end date for native forest logging. This is urgent. Every day that is wasted is more of our precious forests felled that we can’t get back.
A plan to fairly transition the industry to softwood plantation
The native forest logging industry in NSW is already dwindling and people and communities are losing out as this happens with no plan to transition workers and facilities to soft-wood plantation and other industry. With a plan to ensure all workers are able to continue meaningful employment in the industry and processing facilities transitioned to processing soft-wood, so people and communities can thrive alongside our native forests.
A moratorium on commencement of all new native forest logging operations
While we develop a plan for industry transition, we need to protect all forests slated for logging for which logging has not yet commenced. This means we need to put a freeze on all new logging, keeping our native habitats intact and protecting our threatened and forest dependent species.
A plan to repair and regenerate our public native forests back to health and actively manage them
The health and structure of our public native forests has diminished after many years of intensive logging with negligible active regeneration actions. Many are weed infested, dried out, lack the diversity they once had and harbour invasive species. We need a long term strategic management plan and significant investment into the regeneration of these environments. These forest environments can become the State's natural recreation areas, taking the pressure off the National Park Estate.