Extinction logging underway in Tallaganda State Forest

Critical habitat for the endangered Greater Glider is being logged in Tallaganda State Forest on the South Coast of NSW by Forestry Corporation despite it being one of only two large areas of habitat to have survived the 2019/20 bushfres. The World Wildlife Fund, Wilderness Australia and NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson have all written to the Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe, calling for an immediate stop to work in Tallaganda Forest while independent surveys can establish the location of Greater Glider habitat trees.

“The logging of Greater Glider Habitat in Tallaganda State Forest could be the nail in the coffn of extinction for Greater Gliders,” Greens MP and Spokesperson for the Environment said. “Just last week the Biodiversity Conservation Act Review was tabled in Parliament and found that the laws in NSW are failing the environment and that native forest logging is damaging forest ecosystems and the habitat of native species. Now here we are looking at state sanctioned extinction logging underway in habitat that is critical to the survival of the endangered Greater Glider.

“Forestry Corporation have only recorded a single Greater Glider den tree in the 5,000 hectare area that they intend to log, this is completely at odds with most reports on the Greater Glider population in Tallaganda that show this population is just one of two large populations remaining in the State.

“The Minister must use her powers to order a halt to the logging operations in Tallaganda so that this vast discrepancy in population reporting can be resolved, Forestry Corporation have either failed to conduct adequate surveys or they are willfully misleading the Government and people of NSW.

“The independent review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act headed up by Ken Henry AC explicitly stated that laws that have an objective to protect the environment must take precedence over laws that facilitate environmental harm. What is happening in Tallaganda is precisely what the review says needs to change.

Forestry Corporation have compiled with the letter of the Forestry Act and are now logging critical remnant habitat of an endangered species with impunity. We can’t keep destroying the habitat of species that are on the brink of extinction.

“I’ve written to the Minister and called for her to intervene now, to keep her promise of no new extinctions in NSW, because without the Government taking action now, Greater Gliders will be reduced to just one large population area in the entire state.

“If logging in Tallaganda continues, Greater Gliders will be pushed to extinction and this Government will be looking down the barrel of its own political failure.