Protesters say they are trying to stop logging today in Orara East State Forest, near Coffs Harbour.
A media release issued this morning said workers for the Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) brought logging machinery into the forest on Friday.
Protesters managed to stave off Forestry Corp’s entrance into the forest until the arrival of police.
But ‘today marks the first attempt’ for Forestry Corp to started logging, the release read.
An accompanying photo showed 70-year-old Peter Elzer, described as a long-time Mid-North Coast resident and environmentalist, locked onto a harvester.
Mr Elzer said there were 44 threatened species in the forest and that continued logging could wipe out the local koala population.
NSW Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe, visited the protester in late May when he was part-way through a 12-day hunger strike outside NSW Parliament.
The minister was described as having promised the Great Koala National Park annoucement ‘soon’.
The media release referred to a recent Sky News poll reportedly showing 70% of Coffs Harbour residents support the creation of a protected Koala park in the region.
Protesters were calling on others to join daily vigils ‘until every last ecologically and culturally significant public forest is permanently protected’.
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