The North East Forest Alliance is calling on the Environment Protection Authority to issue an immediate Stop Work Order for logging in Styx River State Forest, near Armidale on the Northern Tablelands.
‘The Forestry Corporation is refusing to comply with their legal obligations to identify and protect fifty metres around the dens of Southern Great Gliders,’ said NEFA spokesperson Susie Russell.
‘A recent review of the Forestry Corporation’s data shows they have done 28 searches since February in Styx River State Forest and seen 93 greater gliders, but only one den tree. In contravention of the new rules, 25 of their surveys were undertaken late at night after the Greater Gliders had already left their dens.
‘Incredibly, seeing a Greater Glider gives it no protection whatsoever. Only when a glider is seen leaving its den/hollow does that trigger a 50 metre radius exclusion zone. That protection is grossly inadequate, but Forestry Corporation aren’t even prepared to risk having to implement that miserly protection measure.
‘Instead they look for gliders leaving the dens, when they are all well and truly out and about. It’s really not much better than looking for them during the day which is what they did previously,’ said Ms Russell.
‘The timing is important. Greater Gliders are nocturnal, they shelter in their dens during the day, come out just after sunset, and then return before dawn. The survey of such a small part of the logging area means most dens will still not be seen, but if the rules are complied with at least a few will,’ she said.
Rules ignored
NEFA and a consortium of conservation groups wrote to the EPA on 1 May asking them to stop logging in eight State Forests, including Styx River, until all the required surveys are undertaken within an hour of sunset.
‘It’s appalling that the State run logging company has ignored the rules, yet again, and done more than 89 per cent of their surveys well after the time the gliders would have left the hollows,’ said Ms Russell.
‘Citizen scientists who were out in the forest last week found nine Greater Glider den trees. The area is clearly of great importance for the survival of this endangered animal, and its protection should not be left in the hand of incompetents or those with an interest to look away.
‘The EPA needs to be accountable here too. CEO Tony Chappel gave us an undertaking that the EPA would be looking closely at Forestry Corporation’s implementation of the new rule. Well they weren’t. Once again the EPA weren’t looking at all. For more than two months they have been accepting results with an inbuilt failure mechanism. Surprise, no gliders were seen leaving their dens at midnight.
‘Minister Penny Sharpe needs to find out what went wrong with the EPA. The EPA needs to do its job and shut down the logging until the rules have been complied with. Anything less suggests that Government and Government agencies are deliberately trying to exterminate an endangered animal from the public’s forests,’ said Ms Russell.
Background
NEFA first asked the EPA to issue a Stop Work Order over Styx River State Forest on 2 December 2023 after finding three den trees for Great Gliders where the Forestry Corporation hadn’t found any because they only looked in the daytime.
This was followed by surveys by citizen scientists that identified a further eleven Greater Glider den trees. Still the EPA refused to stop work while adequate surveys were undertaken.
Instead, in February, the EPA changed the logging rules so that the Forestry Corporation can comply with the requirement to identify den trees by undertaking nocturnal searches of just 5-10 per cent of the logging area, provided that they start their surveys within an hour after dark to have reasonable prospects of seeing the glider leaving its den for the night.
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