Environmentalists blockading a logging coup on the mid North Coast say koalas are in danger, while NSW Forestry Corporation points to evidence that regrowth trees provide greater habitat for the threatened species.
Earlier this week NSW Greens MP Dawn Walker slammed Forestry Corporation’s decision to bring in police to dismantle the Gladstone State Forest blockade that began near Bellingen on February 12.
For a month after logging resumed the action prevented timber from leaving the forest.
Forestry Corporation has since implemented a number of forest closures forcing the protesters to retreat to avoid hefty penalties.
“This was a peaceful community response to an outdated and destructive government approach to managing our precious forests,” Ms Walker said in State Parliament.
Bellingen Environment Centre spokesperson Ashley Love said they were left with “no other choice” but to protest as their pleas had been ignored.
"We provided Forestry Corporation with evidence of the koalas,” Mr Love said. "The number of scats found in the area was more than any of us had ever seen in one location.”
Meanwhile, Forestry Corporation has responded saying Gladstone State Forest undergoes selective timber harvesting every 20 years.
"The fact that our production forests continue to support robust koala populations demonstrate the measures we have in place are providing protection for this important native species,” said Forestry Corporation senior manager Dean Kearney.
