THE BELLINGEN Environment centre is calling on the NSW Government to immediately protect koala habitat within the proposed Great Koala National Park following release of a report by the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) recommending protection of a core area of 55,000 hectares of State Forests.
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The report, obtained by the Bellingen Environment Centre following a request under the Government Information (Public access) Act 2009, advised Environment Minister Matt Kean of the core area that should be protected for Koalas while minimising timber impacts.
The report concludes the proposed Great Koala National Park, " ... contains suitable koala habitat, aligns with mapped Areas of Regional Koala Significance and encompasses over 60 Koala Hubs".
Conservationists claims that the Great Koala National Park must be created to give koalas protection from logging.
The policy of forming a Great Koala National Park has been taken to the last two State Elections - unsuccessfully - as the Coalition Government which does not support the concept, has been returned.
Bellingen Environment Centre spokesperson Ashley Love claims the report validates the need for the park.
"This is despite the terms of reference for the government report being very narrow, in an apparent attempt to thread the Great Koala National Park proposal through the tiny eye of the National Party's environmental platform," Mr Love said.
The report excluded many sites by requiring that impact on wood supply would be minimised. It also narrowed the study by prioritising areas of existing National Parks that could either be linked together or have their boundaries extended to include koala habitat.
Mr Love said as a result important stand-alone coastal forests such as Lower Bucca and Nambucca State Forests 'missed out' because they did not directly adjoin existing conservation reserves.
The Friends of Kalang group's Headwaters Nature Reserve proposal was partly picked up by two of the 10 koala focus areas, but important koala populations were not included because they came from citizen surveys following The Government's assessment, he said.
The 10 'koala focus areas' identified in the report would provide an additional 54,979 hectares to National Park estate and make a significant contribution to the 200,000 hectares expansion to the estate promised by the Minister last year.
"None of the koala focus areas are currently being logged. Only one koala focus area, covering the Gladstone, Viewmont and Newry State Forests where logging was withdrawn last December, has a logging current licence. Therefore establishing the DPIE's park proposal will not be disruptive of current forestry operations," Mr Love said.
Five of the 10 Koala Focus Areas have been burnt by the recent bushfires and two areas partly burnt.
Mr Love said surviving Koalas within the burnt areas are in urgent need of protection to allow them to recover, while those in unburnt areas are essential to re-populate the burnt areas.
"Given the damage to koalas from the fires since the report, the Bellingen Environment Centre urges Minister Kean to now consider expanding the proposal to include Lower Bucca and Nambucca State Forests and the Headwaters Nature Reserve proposal, " he said.
The Great Koala National Park proposal, Mr Love said, includes habitat of other threatened species significantly affected by the fires such as the greater glider, rufous scrub bird, Hastings River mouse and tiger quoll.
"We want a detailed socio-economic study of the proposed Great Koala National Park and the jobs that will flow from it as The Government's narrowly focused proposal has completely missed the ecotourism potential of the region," Mr Love said.
"The koalas can not afford any more delays, the Minister for the Environment must heed the DPIE's advice and act urgently to transfer the core areas of identified koala habitat into the National Park estate as soon as possible as a first stage of the Great Koala National Park."