RIPPED DOWN, AND FOR WHAT? THE REALITIES OF NATIVE FOREST LOGGING IN NSW

We all need trees – to breathe, to belong, to survive. But Australia is still logging native forests. 

We’re calling on our leaders to end this destruction. Add your name to thousands of voices calling to end native forest logging in Australia before it’s too late.

By Sophie Hueppauff, Content Producer, WWF-Australia

Dust. So much dust.

That was my first thought when we emerged into a clearing in Moonpar State Forest, on the northern coast of New South Wales. Managed by the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales (FCNSW), the area had been closed for logging the month prior, and I was now seeing the result of that closure.

Amongst the pristine forest around us (picture birds flitting between slender, towering gum trees while the gentle hum of insects fills the air), swathes of land had been cleared, leaving the ground churned up and parched with the remnants of once-thriving trees scattered everywhere.

To our right was a huge mound of logs, the aftermath of the clearing. All I could think about were native animals—perhaps a koala, greater glider or sooty owl—returning to this area after foraging elsewhere to find their carefully chosen shelter and food trees gone, reduced to this pile of dead logs, the smell of eucalyptus still oozing from their sawn trunks.

Every two minutes in Australia, a forest the size of a football field is bulldozed, releasing carbon and destroying vital habitat for countless species that depend on trees for survival.

To make matters worse, most of the logged timber is processed into low-grade products like woodchips or pulp for export overseas. Anything left over, like the pile I was staring at, was determined as surplus to forestry’s needs and would simply be burned.

The destruction of native forests has been linked to a severe decline in populations of many native species, among them Australia’s unofficial mascot, the koala. In 2022, koalas’ conservation status was uplisted to Endangered, with habitat destruction and fragmentation listed as the leading threats.

Forestry officials insist their logging operations always involve thorough environmental surveys to ensure animals won’t be harmed and vital habitat trees are retained. However, earlier this year the Environmental Protection Authority filed 29 charges against FCNSW for breaches and failures to identify greater gliders and their den trees during logging operations from August 2021 to January 2024.

The court action comes after a 2023 report estimated FCNSW breached regulations a whopping 1,215 times while logging in Tallaganda State Forest, one of the last strongholds of the Endangered species. During pre-logging surveys, FCNSW identified just one greater glider den tree across 1,800 hectares of Tallaganda State Forest, something we immediately knew couldn’t be correct. Sure enough, subsequent surveys of the same area by Wilderness Australia, WWF-Australia and South East Forest Rescue found 27 greater glider den trees in just eight hectares.

In Moonpar State Forest, similar scenarios were at play. Moving throughout the forest, we saw a number of single trees marked with a large letter ‘H’ in spray paint, a piece of brightly-coloured flagging tape sometimes tied around their wide trunks. This ‘H’ represented the tree had been identified as vital habitat for a native animal, perhaps a koala, glider or possum.

Staring at the trees that had the good fortune of being spared, this process struck me as grossly inadequate.

To leave just one tree for an animal was not enough. Both koalas and greater gliders, apart from sleeping and living in trees, also eat eucalyptus leaves. In the koala’s case, it makes up almost 100% of their diet. Once they have eaten all the suitable leaves from their one remaining tree, then what? Let alone all the trees needed to sustain mothers and joeys, or to provide habitat for nearby potential mates.

Highly territorial animals, koalas have home ranges of at least 10,000m²—so one single tree is not going to cut it.

But it’s not only the animals that live in trees that are affected by their destruction. Entire forest ecosystems rely on mature native trees to help stabilise the surrounding soil, provide shade for other plant species and support an abundance of insect and bird life that often forms the basis of the food chain.

So we need more trees than just the ones marked with a spray painted ‘H’. We need as many as we can get.

Forests help to capture carbon and stabilise our climate. Not only is native forest logging taking away crucial carbon sinks, the burning of surplus wood then spews extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

It’s important to remember that native forest logging doesn’t need to be the norm – there are kinder and more sustainable ways to harvest the timber needed for infrastructure and commercial products. Plantations already do the heavy lifting in Australia, with more than 90% of house-frame timber coming from plantations.

We all need trees—to breathe, to belong and to survive. We know how critical they are for our survival. Trees have been scientifically proven to be good for the health and well-being of people and communities. 

We understand what’s required to protect thriving ecosystems and maintain flourishing wildlife populations in this country. We know what we need to do to protect the incredible natural landscapes we’re so lucky to have. 

And, despite assurances from FCNSW, what I saw in Moonpar State Forest isn’t even close.

We are working to transform Australia from a deforestation to a reforestation nation.  

This vision is guided by First Nations Knowledge, grounded in science and supported by communities.

Add your voice and join us in calling for an end to native forest logging.