Environment Exchange: Protecting the south-east forests of NSW

On Tuesday 27th April, the Conservation Council hosted an environment exchange on protecting the south-east forests of NSW. Participants from Sydney, Canberra and the South Coast region joined the online event.

We were very pleased to welcome guest speakers Professor David Lindenmayer from the ANU, Brad Smith from the NSW Nature Conservation Council, Joslyn van der Moolen representing Canberra Forest Alliance and Harriett Swift from SERCA.

David commenced the presentation by highlighting the increasing extent and frequency of fires across Australia, with many forests now experiencing 3-4 large burns within a 25-year period. He outlined how forest logging exacerbates the fire risk by drying the soil and removing forest architecture – with forests logged tomorrow elevating the fire severity to the year 2060.

Brad followed with a discussion about the impacts of the black summer fires on NSW forests, highlighting that roughly 80% of state forests in the south coast regions were impacted. He emphasised the political tensions between different political parties, the forestry corporation and government agencies, expressing that now is an important time for communities to mobilise against native forest logging.

Joslyn and Harriett concluded the presentations by outlining the campaigns and on-ground efforts currently taking place to stop native forest logging, including citizen science projects and rallies. You can find out a bit more about these efforts and how you can get involved below.

Attendees then had the opportunity to ask further questions to panel members about native forest logging, sparking interesting discussions around how the findings from recent studies from Victoria can be extrapolated to NSW south coast forests, whether banning plastics will have ramifications on wood production and demand, and how subsidies continue to prop up the forest industry.

We would like to thank everyone who supported the Conservation Council and attended our online event, with special thanks to David, Brad, Joslyn and Harriett for contributing your time and expertise to the event.

If you missed it, you can watch the video recording of the webinar below.

TAKE ACTION

• Attend the South Coast Rally on 22 May at 2 Museum Place, Batemans Bay from 1-2pm.
• Attend the NCC Regional Conference in Batemans Bay (or online) on May 22 to learn more about what’s happening in south-east forests.
• Write to John Barilaro MP to express your concern with logging the south-east forests of NSW and why they should be protected.
• Express your interest in volunteering with Canberra Forest Alliance to help organise upcoming rallies, create campaign materials and support the sustainable firewood campaign.
• Follow @ConservationACT, @naturensw and @friendsoftheforest on Facebook to stay up to date on this issue.
• Sign the following petitions:

1. Protect the ‘unburnt six’ priority forests in Australia’s south-east region, including the south coast forests.
2. End native forest logging and wood chipping on the South Coast.

If you would like to take further action or find out more, click on the ‘take further action’ button above.