BREAKING: Forestry Corporation ordered to stop logging Greater Glider Habitat in Tallaganda State Forest
30 August 2023 - The NSW Environment Protection Authority has ordered Forestry Corporation to stop logging operations in Tallaganda State Forest on the South Coast following calls by Greens MP Sue Higginson to protect critical habitat for the endangered Greater Glider.
In a media release from the EPA Acting Executive Director Operations, Steve Orr, said that a deceased Greater Glider was found near active logging operations and there was concern that pre-logging habitat surveys were inadequate.
“Tallaganda State Forest is one of only two large populations of endangered Greater Gliders remaining in NSW,” Greens MP Sue Higginson and spokesperson for the environment said. “The Forestry Corporation was about to destroy the homes of one of the last remaining populations of Greater Glider after their surveys had only identified a single habitat tree, despite reliable reports identifying hundreds of individual Greater Gliders in the same area.
“I wrote to the EPA yesterday calling out this abject failure by Forestry Corporation to conduct native forest logging lawfully and today the EPA have responded decisively. This should serve as a warning to the Forestry Corporation that their reckless logging practices are unacceptable and that we will pursue them for failing to obey the law.
“Forestry Corporation has been ordered to stop logging, hauling and road construction in Tallaganda for 40 days while the EPA investigates the situation, this is a win for the community and for the environment.
“The Government has failed to change the culture of environmental vandalism in Forestry Corporation so it is reassuring to see that the EPA is willing to use its regulatory powers to intervene when habitat for endangered animals is being disregarded and destroyed. We are witnessing extinction logging of Koala habitat in the North and Greater Glider habitat in the South. We need the Minns Government to face the music, show leadership and end native forest logging for all of NSW.
“We cannot afford to allow Forestry Corporation to continue their patterns of non-compliance while they destroy native forests that are vital for the wellbeing of NSW. Native forest logging in NSW has to come to an end immediately, the costs of logging are too high. These forests are worth so much more to NSW when they’re standing,” Ms Higginson said.