Paul Bibby
A vast tract of koala habitat is set to be logged despite a government report identifying it as crucial to the survival of the threatened species, the Nature Conservation Council says.
Last year NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean requested an analysis of a proposed ‘Great Koala National Park’.
This analysis, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, found that the area contains some of the most important koala habitat in the state.
However, according to the Nature Conservation Council (NCC), much of this area is earmarked for logging over the coming months.
‘We need to make sure the government acts quickly to protect these forests for good,’ NCC Nature Campaigner Shirley Hall said.
‘Minister Kean and Premier Berejiklian have the power to protect these koala forests from logging by transferring them from state forests to the national parks estate.’
The NCC is calling on the community to join its social media campaign raising the profile in the wider community in the hops that this will force the government to act on the information in the report.
‘We knew there was support within the government to protect more koala habitat and reverse the decline in our koala populations and this report proves it,’ Ms Hall said.
‘With so much forest burnt in the fires, we need the government to feel overwhelming public pressure to protect what’s left.
‘We need to create a social media storm loud enough that our decision makers can’t ignore.’
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