Concerns are mounting that forest being considered as part of a new Aussie national park is rapidly being cut down before its borders are ratified. Satellite analysis shared with Yahoo News reveals an area at least 13 times the size of the Sydney CBD (3,513 hectares of forest) was harvested in just over a year.
The vision was collated by the Wilderness Society to document forest loss between March 2023 and June 2024. It shows forest at sites including Wild Cattle Creek, Moonpah and Clouds Creek rapidly cleared. Conservationists had hoped these state forests would be included in a planned Great Koala National Park on the NSW Mid-North Coast.
The wider plan is to link up to 175,000 hectares of state forest with existing national parks, creating a 315,000-hectare nature reserve in the Coffs Coast Region. By protecting this forest, it’s hoped the region’s koala population can be saved from extinction.
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Conservationists estimate 314 hectares has been cleared at Clouds Creek. Source: Wilderness Society/Watch on Nature
The Wilderness Society’s Victoria Jack described the extent of the clearing as “extremely disappointing” and said it should not be up to conservationists to “uncover the scale of their destruction”.
“Some of the deforestation is taking place in prime koala habitat, in forests that are among the most biodiverse in the world. I’ve been to some of these forests and seen koala scratch marks and scat with my own eyes. There is no doubt the koalas are there, and the trees they live in and feed on are being chopped down,” she told Yahoo News.
The proposed Great Koala National Park could help save the marsupials from extinction. Source: National Parks Association/Getty
National Park could help prevent the extinction of koalas
The Minns government agreed to create the Great Koala National Park ahead of the 2023 state election, and $80 million dollars was then committed to the plan. Its decision came after the 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires killed upwards of 64,000 koalas, forcing regulators to list populations as endangered in NSW, Queensland and ACT. A subsequent state parliamentary inquiry warned the species likely wouldn’t survive past 2050 in NSW if land clearing wasn’t immediately addressed.
Critics say progress on the park has been slow since the Minns Government was elected to government. Environment Minister Penny Sharpe has consulted with unions, the forestry industry and Indigenous elders about the plan, but it has been delayed by changes to federal regulations to carbon credits, which Premier Chris Minns has indicated he wants to capitalise on when the park is created.
Sharpe has regularly demonstrated she believes the Great Koala National Park is important. “If we do not take this urgent action, there is a very real possibility that our grandchildren will never get the chance to see koalas in the wild,” she said in December 2023 after the Nationals Party signalled its opposition to the plan.
She has simultaneously been a vocal supporter of the logging operator that manages harvesting around Mid North Coast – the state-owned Forestry Corporation of NSW.
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Conservationists estimate 275 hectares has been cleared at Moonpah. Source: Wilderness Society/Watch on Nature
In a statement to Yahoo News, the Corporation explained that its hands are tied when it comes to felling trees around the proposed Great Koala National Park.
“The process to establish a Great Koala National Park is a matter for the NSW Government,” it said.
“Forestry Corporation is a State-owned corporation appointed to deliver the objectives under the Forestry Act, which include to supply timber from the land it manages. While the NSW Government process is occurring, Forestry Corporation must continue to meet statutory obligations to produce renewable timber under contracts held by timber customers, Forestry Corporation and the State of NSW.”
Conservationists estimate 132 hectares has been cleared at Wild Cattle Creek. Source: Wilderness Society/Watch on Nature
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