Great Koala Park a great step

The North Coast Environment Council congratulates Luke Foley on his Great Koala National Park plan.
“ If we want to save the koala from extinction, we have to save the forests that are their home,” said NCEC spokesperson Susie Russell.
“The Great Koala National Park would be a strong foundation for a new approach to managing our public forests. The priorities have to be maintaining healthy populations of our unique animals and plants and caring for our water supply catchments.
“Koalas populations are crashing across their known range. The previously largest known population in NSW in the Pilliga forest has all but disappeared. The koala populations of the north coast are among the largest remaining. Koalas are recognised by both Federal and State laws as being vulnerable to extinction.
“A major reason for this is the ongoing destruction of their habitat. There is a competition for trees bigger than you can wrap your arms around (30-80cm diameter). The koalas need them and the loggers want them too.
“Which is more important: Healthy koala populations or hardwood floorboards?
“Which will bring more economic benefit to the region: Visitors to see koalas, walk the park trails, stay, eat and shop in the local area- or dozens of log trucks carting away the future?” she asked.
“NSW is at a crossroads, if we keep propping up this heavily subsidised logging industry, we could lose the koala from the wild.
“The current Government promised before the 2011 election, that it was going to do something to protect koalas. The koalas are still waiting for whatever that is to happen.
“Meanwhile the Baird Government is slashing the logging licence conditions, that will see even less effort to protect endangered species such as the koala, and open up steep areas of forest that were protected since major landslips occurred in the early 1990s.
“The Great Koala Park announced today as a key election promise by Luke Foley, would be a connecting corridor of forest from the coast to the escarpment. It would also protect the forest proposed for a radical new type of clearfell cable logging on extremely steep slopes.
“It was 20 years ago that Bob Carr promised to protect oldgrowth forests….maybe Luke Foley will be able to do the same for the koala,” Ms Russell said.

Photo by Sharon McGrigor

Foley gives koalas a fighting chance

MEDIA RELEASE

Finally the koala has a keen defender in the person of Luke Foley, newly elected Shadow Premier of NSW who, for the time being is keeping the Shadow Environment portfolio.

“Luke proved his bona fides as a genuine environmental warrior with his call on the ex-environment minister’s ridiculous claim that logging protected koalas, he pushed hard for the Federal koala classification of “Vulnerable” and was one of the few politicians to quickly call burning forest biomass to produce electricity “dead koala” energy,” said Susie Russell, spokesperson for the NCEC.

“Unlike the politicians of the LNP Government, Luke Foley took the time to visit north coast forests on several occasions to see the damage ForestCorp have been doing in koala habitat. He has also inspected the route of the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade north of the Richmond River to Wardell which will inevitably lead to the extinction of a nationally-significant koala population. We have seen him take back this information to Parliament and through questions, motions, and various Parliamentary committees attempt to right the current wrongs,” said Lorraine Vass, President, Friends of the Koala and NCEC public officer.

The North Coast Environment Council has worked closely with Luke Foley for several years. He has a genuine commitment to the koala and seeing it survive in the difficult climate ahead.

“Previous Premier Barry O’Farrell promised before the 2010 election to protect koalas, but koala protection on the North Coast actually went backwards with core koala habitat destroyed by logging in Royal Camp (near Casino), Boambee (near Coffs Harbour) and Wang Wauk (near Bulehdelah) State Forests. On the Far North Coast the review of environmental zones and overlays in local environment plans has weakened habitat protection and is still not resolved.

“Premier Mike Baird’s enabling of burning native forests to create electricity and promotion of removing limits on logging intensity and of the requirement to conduct pre-logging surveys for threatened species will see much of the koalas’ remaining habitat on the NSW north coast destroyed.

“The NCEC looks forward to an ongoing working relationship with Luke Foley. He understands that “logging (doesn’t) protect koalas”.” Ms Russell said.

“NSW needs an Environment Minister willing to stand up for the declining koala population in our State and protect their remaining habitats.” Luke Foley 27 October 2011 ¹

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^1. http://pennysharpe.com/files/111027%20Logging%20protects%20koalas.pdf

COALition continues forest rampage…

Following hot on the heels of yesterday’s speech by Prime Minister Abbott who called the logging industry “the ultimate conservationists’, the NSW Government today made a regulation allowing native forest to be burned in power stations opening the way for it to be classed as a ‘renewable energy source’.

 

“The government wants environmentally conscious consumers to pay for the destruction of endangered species habitat,” said NCEC President Susie Russell.

 

 

“It will also allow the already heavily subsidised mining industry to burn native forests and woodlands to generate their electricity and seek renewable energy credits.

“COALition Governments have no respect for forests. They can’t see the trees for the wood. It seems they will stoop to any depths to pursue their anti-green anti-environment agenda. Claims that this will not increase logging and will be overseen by the EPA are farcical.

 

 

“The Government is in the process of winding back a whole raft of forest protection measures in the name of efficiency.

 

 

“The EPA has been shown to be a toothless tiger that has failed to act on evidence of breaches, and when it has been roused to action only manages to deliver pathetic slaps on the wrist such as letters or paltry fines. The community has no confidence in the EPA being able to regulate forestry.

 

 

“There is plenty of scientific evidence to show that older trees store more carbon, provide better habitat, produce more water of higher quality, provide more nectar and honey, are more resilient to fire and have greater appeal to humans on aesthetic and spiritual grounds.

 

 

“Everything this taxpayer subsidised logging industry is doing compromises all of those positive values.

 

 

“This will be another nail in the coffin of the renewable energy industry that is being sabotaged by COALition Governments at both State and Federal levels determined to prop up an energy sector based on either fossilised wood or now, living wood,” Ms Russell said.

 

BURNING TO REPLACE WOODCHIPPING

North Coast conservationists are fearful that a NSW Government proposal to allow burning of wood from native forests for electricity generation will result in extensive degradation of north-east NSWs public and private forests if successful.

The EPA announced yesterday that the Government proposes to amend the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2009 so that logging residues, sawmill residues, and “trees that might otherwise be made into pulp” can be used for electricity generation. The EPA will shortly be putting the draft regulation on public exhibition. http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/epamedia/EPAMedia13071101.htm

Spokesperson for NEFA, Dailan Pugh, said that it was only last month that the export of woodchips from north-east NSW finally ended after 30 years. “Now the NSW Government wants to burn our forests to generate electricity.

“With the prospect of furnaces being established throughout north-east NSW and the Hunter Valley this could lead to the unprecedented degradation of native forests”.

“Our native forests are most important as homes for native plants and animals, for provision of stream flows, as storehouses of carbon and for passive recreation.

“Our forests sequester significant volumes of atmospheric carbon and store it in their wood. They are worth far more left standing as carbon storehouses to generate carbon credits than they are for logging and release of their stored carbon. Burning our carbon storehouses for electricity is one of the worst things we can do for global warming.

“The NSW Government should use the opportunity provided by the cessation of woodchipping to stop the ongoing degradation of our native forests by limiting logging to speciality purpose high value products” Mr. Pugh said.

Susie Russell, President of the North Coast Environment Council said there were no positives in the move to allow forests to be logged to feed in to power stations for electricity.

“Sawmill waste can already be used as a fuel, what is being proposed here is that trees that were being exported as woodchip (pulp) should now be burnt” she said.

“The end to export woodchipping provided the NSW Government with an opportunity to decrease logging quotas and the intensity of logging that is trashing the State Forests. Instead, they have chosen to opt for an even more destructive industry that won’t pass the sustainability test of time. The future demands innovation and clean forms of energy. This move belongs to the past,” she said.

“The proposal will be on exhibition for 28 days, we urge the community to take this opportunity to say NO!” Ms Russell said.

Export Woodchips: Good Riddance

The North Coast Environment Council welcomes the decision announced today by Boral Timber, to exit the export wood-chip business.

This decision has been a long time coming. For more than 30 years, conservationists have worked to end this destructive activity which has seen millions of trees from north coast forests taken to be wood-chipped and shipped to the paper mills of Japan.

However these days the Japanese paper mill operators want to be able to sell their paper with a label proclaiming that it has come from responsibly managed forests or plantations, and ‘business as usual’ forestry in Australia is no longer acceptable to them. They now require woodchips to be certified under the Forest Stewardship Council scheme as ‘not damaging high conservation values’.

Boral had recently applied for its wood-chipping operations to be certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label and audits were conducted of forestry operations on the north coast.

Conservationists mounted a strong campaign in opposition: organising submissions, commissioning expert opinion, and taking the auditors to a number of sites to demonstrate the environmental damage caused by logging.

“We believe we were able to effectively demonstrate that high conservation values ARE definitely being damaged by forestry activities in the public forests of NSW,” said NCEC President Susie Russell.

“While the audit and certification results have not been released, we can only speculate that Boral and the Forestry Corporation failed to convince the auditors that their logging is not harmful. Being unable to sell woodchips with the FSC label, Boral had no option but to close down this component of their business.

“This gives the NSW Government an opportunity to dramatically reduce the intensity of logging that is trashing north coast forests,” she said.

“Our forests are worth more standing. They provide food and shelter to species of animals found nowhere else in the world. They protect our catchments and downstream water quality, and, if left to grow old act as a reservoir, providing water in times of low rainfall.

“Our question to Premier O’Farrell is this “Will he give our forests a reprieve and let them grow older so they can provide future generations with valuable environmental services? Or will he subsidise another wood-chipping industry that props up a handful of logging and trucking jobs at the expense of environmental benefits for all?”, she asked.

O’Farrell uses tricky language that rules ‘in’ logging of National Parks

Government claims of no commercial logging in National Parks is tricky language and should be treated with suspicion said NCEC President and long-time forest campaigner Susie Russell.

“What they are saying is that the Government is prepared to accept logging in National Parks as long as it is not ‘commercial’.

“There is a real danger they are planning to cook up a scheme and introduce some kind of ‘non-commercial’ logging. They are already trialling this in the Murray Valley National Park and calling it ‘ecological thinning‘,” she said.

“The NSW forest logging industry has already soaked up more than $300 million of Government handouts since 1995. They got the handouts as compensation for the creation of national parks. Now they’ve spent the money they want the Parks. ¹

“It’s a lose lose for the community and the environment. The taxpayer has paid out the industry to get reserves, now it is being asked to further subsidise them while losing all the environmental benefits protected forests provide.

“The economic and social benefits are far greater if the trees are left standing. The rump of the native forest industry is contracting due to downturns in the housing and construction industry and greater awareness among consumers. Many people don’t want to walk floorboards that used to be koala homes.

“Most of us understand that forests provide many public goods apart from their inherent beauty. These include being home to many of our unique plants and animals; acting as water reservoirs; flood mitigation and erosion control leading to cleaner rivers and better fish habitat; long-term carbon storage; and a whole host of tourism and recreation opportunities,” she said.

“What does logging these forests return? Trashed weedscapes like many of the forests still under control of the Forestry Corporation, silted up waterways and eroded hillsides, declining numbers of rare animals and plants, more extreme bushfires due to the dried out landscape and younger trees and no long-term carbon storage. Not to mention the loss of beauty, wildness and tranquility.

“The Liberal and National Party members of the Government have supported the Shooters recommendations for logging in National Parks. Just as in Queensland and Victoria they are opening up National Parks and protected areas for logging. This is based on hatred of all things green…. and there is nothing with more greens in it, than a forest,” Ms Russell said.

^1. $120m in 1995-2000, $80m 2005-2010, $97m in 2010, and additional millions to buy out contracts.

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Hyperlinks provide references.

Victorian plan to log ‘parks and reserves’ a cause for alarm in NSW

“We are horrified that as the International Year of Forests draws to a close, we have a Government in Australia proposing to open up protected areas for logging” said NCEC President Susie Russell.

 “In response to the Victorian timber supply crisis resulting from decades of over-cutting and unsustainable practices, the Victorian Liberal Minister responsible is recommending the logging of ‘parks, reserves and water catchments’ ¹ as well as reducing protections for endangered species, bringing in 20 year wood supply contracts and making taxpayers liable for any timber shortfalls.

 “The Victorian Timber Action Plan released yesterday is an ecological and social disaster,” she said.

“What is alarming is that instead of seeing the writing on the wall for an industry that has failed to develop its own resource or respect the environment, the Victorian Government plans to head back to the dark ages and repeat the same mistakes by entrenching over-cutting, taxpayer liability and weakening environmental protection of key natural assets.

“It is a recipe for ongoing conflict in Victoria’s forests. You would think they would have learned something from the NSW experience. In NSW where 20 year contracts have been in place for more than a decade, and despite lax environmental regulation, taxpayers are already paying compensation to timber companies.

“The fight for the forests will be well and truly on again if the NSW Government follows suit and tries to open up protected areas for logging. We certainly hope they have more sense than to return to an era of protracted forest protest, ” she warned.

“We ask that Premier Barry O’Farrell and Forestry Minister Katrina Hodgkinson rule out solving the timber supply crisis in NSW by opening up national parks and other protected areas for logging, or watering down what we consider to be the already weak environmental protection measures that apply to logging.

“The timber supply crisis in NSW can only be dealt with by reducing contracted volumes, and reducing taxpayer liability. The biodiversity and climate crises can only be dealt with by protecting habitat, carbon stored in large trees, reserve connectivity and water catchment integrity.

“The way forward is less native forest logging not more… Victoria is certainly marching backwards under Bailleau,” Ms Russell said.

^1.http://premier.vic.gov.au/images/stories/documents/mediareleases/2011/111213_Timber_Industry_Action_Plan.pdf

Forests and Carbon key topic at Regional Forest Conference

Media Release October 17, 2011

 The North Coast Environment Council (NCEC) is pleased to announce that Professor Brendan Mackey¹ will be the keynote speaker at a Regional Forest Conference² to be held on October 22^nd starting at 10.30am in the Cavanbah Centre, Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour.

Professor Mackey is the lead author of “Green Carbon: The role of natural forests in carbon storage”.

“Professor Mackey’s report injected some crucial science into the carbon and forests debate. The report concludes that carbon stored in forests is under-estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol and that stopping the degradation of natural forests, including industrial logging, contributes to their resilience and carbon storage. These are important lessons for NSW.

“International Year of Forests is an appropriate time to put some of our regional forest issues under the spotlight. Controversy continues about the impact of intensive logging on waterways, forest health and the animals and plants that depend on forests,” said Susie Russell who was last week elected as the President of the NCEC.

“Local perspectives will be given prominence with Dailan Pugh outlining the issues in this region; Jim Morrison discussing the problems with Private Native Forestry; Mark Graham will focus on the ecological impacts of intensive logging and John Hunter will give an introduction to Bell Miner Associated Dieback and its impact across the landscape.

“Other speakers at the Conference include Pepe Clarke form the Nature Conservation Council, Senator Lee Rhiannon, the Greens spokesperson on forest issues, and Warrick Jordan, the national campaign co-ordinator for The Wilderness Society.

“With Regional Forest Agreements nationally discredited and a new almost $1 billion fund that opens the door to protecting forests for their carbon and biodiversity, it’s time to get it all out in the open. We are encouraging all players in the debate to attend and already have registrations from several in the industry,” Ms Russell said.

¹ Brendan Mackey is a professor of environmental science at the Fenner School of Environment & Society, The Australian National University. His research and teaching is in the fields of ecosystems, biodiversity conservation and climate change, and he leads a research programme which is investigating the role of natural ecosystems in carbon storage. Brendan is a member of a number of government committees including: the science advisory group to the Climate Commission; the Tasmanian Forest Carbon Steering Committee; the Independent Verification Group to the Tasmanian Forest Agreement; and the expert working group for the National Wildlife Corridor Programme. Brendan is a member of the IUCN Council and the Earth Charter International Council.

² For conference program visit the website https://ncec.wordpress.com/forest-conference-oct-2011/

Urgent Action Needed by YOU

FOREST AGREEMENT REVIEWS – TIME FOR CHANGE

The forest management regimes along the entire eastern seaboard of NSW are currently up for review – in the form of five-year reviews of Forest Agreements and Approvals signed almost a decade ago.

This is an opportunity for major improvements in forest conservation, which are desperately needed in the context of a rapidly warming climate – but the NSW Government seems intent on ticking a box and continuing with business as usual.

The Government is almost five years late in undertaking these reviews, and legally required annual reports for the Agreements and Approvals have not been published since 2002.  Numerous key conservation milestones have never been met.

Let them know that’s not good enough, by making a submission to the Terms of Reference on the reviews – and while you’re at it, making a complaint to the Ombudsman and the Auditor-General about the failed implementation of forest policy over the last 10 years in NSW.

Submissions due 19^th December 2008.  PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY.

See notes below on how to:

1. Make a submission to the Terms of Reference for the Forest Agreement and Integrated Forestry Operations Approval reviews
2. Refer the failed implementation of NSW forest policy to the Ombudsman and/or the Auditor General

1. MAKING A SUBMISSION TO THE TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE FA AND IFOA REVIEW

DUE 19^TH DECEMBER 2008

Key points to raise should include:

• The Terms of Reference are too narrow, and should be broadened as necessary to address all of the issues that follow  – especially in light of the extensive delays in undertaking the reviews and the failure to produce annual reports for six years.
• The reviews should ensure that major issues and threats that have arisen since the Agreements were signed are thoroughly addressed, as follows:

1. Consider and prescribe measures to improve the climate change adaptation capabilities of forests and contribute to mitigation:

• Conduct an assessment of the carbon storage of NSW native forests, and improve protection of high carbon storing areas.
• Conduct an assessment of forest species that are at risk from climate change and identify improved constraints on logging to better protect them.
• Identify and protect refugia and corridors to enable species to adapt to climate change.
• Calculate the long-term water volumes forgone due to logging and evaluate the financial and social impacts of diminished water supplies on affected regional communities.
• Prohibit logging on steep slopes and improve soil erosion mitigation requirements to address likely increases in rainfall intensity and erosion potential.

1. Conduct a thorough review of listed Key Threatening Processes and other major threats and deliver much improved measures to ameliorate them, including but not limited to the following:

• Wood-chipping – is the driver for the destructive, large-scale clearfelling of forests in south-eastern NSW, and should be immediately ended in accordance with a long-standing promise by the NSW Labor Party from 1995.
• Native forest biomass/biofuels – this represents an emerging grave new threat to native forests along the eastern seaboard and requires urgent legal protections to prevent exploitation of forests for this purpose.
• Bell Miner Associated Dieback (recently listed as KTP) – which threatens 500,000 ha of forests in northern NSW and is spreading rapidly without resources or regulations in place to control or prevent it.
• Loss of hollow-bearing trees (recently listed as KTP) which represents a long-term threat to fauna in logged forests (particularly the ‘regrowth zone’) and for which current tree retention rates are markedly inadequate especially coupled with high non-compliance of these prescriptions.

• The Terms of Reference and/or the reviews must be sufficiently broad to address the following elements,  (and the proviso at the bottom of the current Terms of Reference which attempts to rule them out should be removed):

1. Land tenure and wilderness – as many of the milestones relate directly to the land tenure issue and a number of those milestones are known to be outstanding or incomplete.  The review should reinstate the operation of the Wilderness Act 1987 across all tenures.
2. Timber volumes – because many of the milestones relate directly to matters which effect timber volumes and much public funding has been invested in improving the understanding of timber resources.
3. Reserve design – as it is the subject of a number of milestones and a key element of the National Forest Policy and recent reports on Climate change and biodiversity conservation.

• The review must not just consider, but must deliver, on milestones that have not been met such as the reservation of high conservation value Crown lands and World Heritage Assessments for east coast eucalypt forests.  All annual reports (required by the Forest Agreements) since 2002 must be available before the review begins.
• The Terms of Reference should include an aim to assess ‘the effectiveness and efficiency of the agreement (and Approval) in meeting the Governments goal and policies’ as required by the Forest Agreement.  This should include addressing all the policies set out in the preamble to the Forest Agreement, plus more recent relevant policies, particularly the National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan and the NSW Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation Framework.  The review should consider achievement of milestones against the objectives of the National Forest Policy Statement across all land tenures.
• There have been no threatened species prosecutions by DECC for five years, despite numerous legitimate complaints by the community.  This review must reverse the current slack culture of compliance in relation to logging operations, and dramatically improve the controls on logging and their enforcement.   It should recommend that third party rights are reinstated as a key measure to improve compliance in the future.

• The review of the Integrated Forestry Operations Approval must assess the on- ground effectiveness of the license conditions in protecting threatened species and environmental features, and identify improvements.

Individual Forest Agreements and Integrated Forest Operations Approvals and the Draft Terms of Reference are available at: www.environment.nsw.gov.au/forest agreements

Please get your comments in by 19th December 2008.

Email them: info@environment.nsw.gov.au

or post to:

The Resource and Conservation Unit
Department of Environment and Climate Change
PO Box A290,
Sydney South NSW 1232

2.REFERRING THE FAILED FOREST PROCESS TO THE OMBUDSMAN AND THE AUDITOR GENERAL

Write to the NSW Ombudsman and the NSW Auditor General asking for them to inquire into the failed implementation of forest policy in NSW.

2. Ombudsman’s office

Website: http://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au

Use website for online complaints or mail to address below

Telephone; 02 9286 1000                   Fax:  02 9283 2911

Email: nswombo@ombo.nsw.gov.au

Address:  level 24, 580 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

3. Auditor General

Website:  hppt:// www.audit.nsw.gov.au

Phone:  92757100                                Fax: 92757200

Email: mail@audit.nsw.gov.au

Postal Address: GPO Box 12, SYDNEY NSW 2001

Points in making your referral.

• There have been no annual reports submitted on NSW Forest Agreements since 2002 despite a legal requirement to do so.
• The five-year review was legally required for the UNE, LNE and Eden forest Agreements in 2004 and is only now being commenced.
• The eight-year review of timber volumes required by the UNE and LNE Forest Agreements in 2006 was not conducted, and new long-term (20 year) wood supply contracts were signed without a review of volumes.
• There have been no threatened species prosecutions of Forests NSW by DECC for five years, despite numerous legitimate complaints by the community.
• There have been massive shortfalls and time delays in meeting the requirements of the National Forest Policy Statement.
• The Government has failed to meet many of the key milestones and targets set down in the NSW Forest Agreements.
• There is a clear bias in those milestones that have been achieved towards the interests of the timber industry and against conservation interests.
• Key conservation outcomes required by the Agreements have not been met – including proper protection of high conservation value Crown lands and assessment of the World Heritage potential of our northern and southern eucalypt forests.
• The Forestry and National Park Estate Act 1998 has a requirement for a five year review which has not occurred.
• Numerous key elements of the Commonwealth-State Regional Forest Agreements for NSW have also not been met, including the five-year review, the annual reports and other important provisions (including a timber review and world heritage assessment).
• The review of the FAs and IFOAs will be a case of the Ministers reviewing their own failings and shortcomings. An independent review is required.

For more information – contact me on the numbers below.

Carmel Flint

North East Forest Alliance

16 Roslyn Ave

Armidale, 2350

Ph 0267 724904

Mo 0400 521474

Science supports ‘Caring for Forests’

“The ground-breaking study from the Australian National University’s Brendan Mackay into the importance of eucalypt forests in carbon storage is good reason to re-visit the Regional Forest Agreements,” claimed NCEC President Jim Morrison.

“The State and Federal Governments review of their Forestry Agreements are well overdue. Conservationists have been arguing for some time that in view of climate change and the need for Australia to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we should be taking another look at how we treat our forests.

“The report released yesterday: Green Carbon. The role of natural forests in carbon storage provides the science to back up our arguments. It says that unlogged forests provide significantly more carbon storage than previously thought. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC has used the figure of 217 tonnes of carbon per hectare stored in forests. But this is a serious underestimate with older forests providing from 640-2000 tonnes of carbon stored per hectare.

“It confirms our view that older mature forests with bigger trees are providing a unique environmental service to the community and the economy. As such they should be protected from logging and any other activity that degrades them and hinders their carbon storage capacity.

“Clearly the ongoing destruction of our high carbon storage forests is madness in the face of melting polar icecaps,” Mr Morrison said.

“We are calling on the NSW Government to include climate change and green carbon storage as part of their review of the Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals which along with the RFAs dictate how and where logging can occur in our publicly owned forests.

“The report also has implications for the Private Native Forestry Code of Practice where the Government rejected our view on the importance of conservation of older forests and the largest trees.

“80% of Australians are clamouring for genuine action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Now we know that saving our forests, particularly the older more mature ones, is a simple action that will have that effect. It’s time our governments faced facts and stopped subsidising the big timber companies and put their money into forest conservation,” Mr Morrison said.

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