NSW Government still stuck in the past - supporting unsustainable River Red Gum logging

The Wilderness Society in NSW is still very busy with its River Red Gum campaign which has been attracting significant local media in recent weeks. This culminated in a front-page story in the Sydney Morning Herald on June 8 2009.

The analysis shows converting the forests to new National Parks could result in new economic activity worth five times the value of the current industry, while also providing for many more jobs for the region. Photo: Peter Cooper

Although the NSW Government has recently completed a $2 million Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for its Red Gum logging operations that will not bring it in line with what is required by either State or Federal laws. What the EIS does show, however, is that employment figures used in an independent economic analysis of the Industry, commissioned by the Wilderness Society and National Parks Association of NSW are accurate.

The analysis shows converting the forests to new National Parks could result in new economic activity worth five times the value of the current industry, while also providing for many more jobs for the region. This mirrors the Victorian experience, where new River Red Gum National Parks have already been declared, leading to a net increase in employment for the State.

The release of the EIS, on June 1, coincided with activists from NSW Red Gum Forest Action blockading illegal timber operations in the forests. Activists camped in the forests and attached themselves to forestry equipment for 10 days before being removed by police.

Meanwhile, in Sydney, the Wilderness Society has continued to put pressure on NSW Premier Nathan Rees, delivering messages from community members to his office in a coffin, with a hearse, priest and mourners in tow. We’ve also ‘rebranded’ his and NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally’s offices, replacing their signs with messages urging them to commit to the creation of National Parks.

In it’s own recent environmental ‘report card’ the NSW Government has admitted that it is failing to meet its own State Plan targets, with native vegetation and biodiversity in decline across the State. New National Parks across the entirety of the River Red Gum State Forests, which include habitat for nationally threatened species, would represent a pivotal first step in rectifying this.

The forests, which occur along the Murray River and associated tributaries in south western NSW, include the 2 largest River Red Gum forests left anywhere on earth, represent vital habitat for a number of threatened species and migratory birds and are listed as internationally significant under the Ramsar Convention.

The region is one of the most heavily cleared and most poorly reserved in the country and currently, no National Parks occur along the Murray in NSW. Water stress has led to up to 75% of the trees in the forests being stressed, dead or dying, which is being further compounded by the combined pressures of grazing and logging. Logging occurs mainly for low value products such as fenceposts, firewood and railway sleepers.

The Wilderness Society is campaigning to see new National Parks delivered across the entirety of the state forests, in negotiation with their Indigenous traditional owners, which would represent the best possible outcome for both the environment and the regions economy.