Longtime forest advocates have expressed disgust at the ongoing logging of koala habitat in northern New South Wales despite promises the state government would protect the species, with one seasoned campaigner calling the destruction a “profound tragedy”.
The environment minister, Penny Sharpe, called the summit to allow councils and experts to give advice about what needs to happen to prevent the species’ extinction.
He said there had been active logging throughout the park, including at Sheas Nob, north-west of the Dorrigo Plateau, Kangaroo river and Wild Cattle creek.
That figure includes koala hubs that were not protected by the Minns government last year, because they are outside the proposed new national park.
The vice-president of the North Coast Environment Council, Susie Russell, said she feared the summit would be an exercise in “make believe” unless the government confronted the issue of protecting koala habitat on public land.
The NSW agriculture minister, Tara Moriarty, said timber harvesting would continue in areas of the proposed Great Koala national park that were not designated koala hubs “but only where operational plans have been approved under the tightest environmental protection rules in the country”.“The NSW government is working closely with industry to develop a blueprint for the future timber sector that accommodates the Great Kola national park, the production of critical timber products for construction and housing, and the highest environmental standards,” she said.
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