NSW Forestry slapped with $230,000 fine after illegal logging near Bodalla threatens native bat

The Forestry Corporation of NSW has been ordered to pay close to a quarter of a million dollars in fines from environmental regulators after a mapping error put an endangered bat at risk.

The Forestry Corporation of NSW has been slapped with a fine for close to a quarter of a million dollars for “unlawful” logging on the NSW South Coast, less than a week after the state-owned company was handed the largest possible fine by environmental regulators.

The state tree harvesting company was slapped with three separate fines by the Environmental Protection Agency of NSW for allegedly carrying out illegal forestry activity in an exclusion zone at Dampier State Forest near Bodalla, potentially threatening at-risk bat species there.

EPA acting executive director for regional regulatory operations Greg Sheehy said potential subterranean bat roosts in the Dampier State Forest are critical habitat for various types of subterranean bats living in forests on the state’s South Coast.

“While the eastern horseshoe bat is not threatened, the population is thought to have declined over the past few decades in parts of NSW, (so) it’s important they have roosts and areas to forage,” he said.

“These activities by FCNSW had the potential to cause harm to any bats roosting in the area, and the EPA will continue to enforce the law when breaches are found.

“FCNSW must have the correct procedures in place to ensure all exclusion zones remain untouched.”

According to the EPA, mapping errors resulted in FCNSW failing to mark the boundary of the environmentally sensitive area during logging activities in May 2019, with the logging corporation being found guilty and fined $230,000 by the Land and Environment Court.

In a statement, a FCNSW spokesperson said the Forestry Corporation regretted that it made an error during operations in Dampier State Forest 2019, and removed trees from an area that should have been protected around a disused mine shaft.

“Forestry Corporation carries out pre-harvest surveys and searches and marks all areas that need protection in electronic maps or in spray paint or tape on trees,” the spokesperson said.

“At the time of the incident, electronic mapping was newly introduced and the mine shaft was not marked using the same method as the two nearby mine shaft exclusion zones.

“Our contractor immediately reported the incident and we reviewed our processes. The mine shaft was not damaged but systems have been improved to prevent a similar incident occurring in future.

“All staff and contractors now use a single electronic mapping system during operations, which provides complete and consistent information to operators, and we continue to monitor and improve our systems.”

FCNSW was ordered to pay $45,000 of the total penalty to the Australasian Bat Society for research into the impacts of wildfire on a key roost in the area, as well as an auditing of its field mapping and marking activities.

The EPA states that any recommendations arising from the audit around training must be followed, and the FCNSW will be required to pay the environmental regulator’s investigative fee of $8000.

The fine comes only a week after FCNSW was fined $15,000, the largest possible fine available to regulators for that type of activity, for alleged illegal tree felling in South Brooman State Forest near Batemans Bay in the wake of the Black Summer fires in early 2020.

Only months after the devastating firestorms, FCNSW was ordered to cease work in the area by the EPA for 40 days after an inspection found hollow bearing trees there were either damaged or felled.

Mr Sheehy said FCNSW’s behaviour was “unacceptable”, and that the measures were there to protect fire-damaged woodland.

In response, an FCNSW spokesperson said it was only a single tree that was felled and that the agency undertook ground assessments with trained staff to identify trees with visible hollows, with hundreds of such trees allegedly being identified and protected.

“One tree was determined by the EPA to have been a hollow bearing tree after it was felled and Forestry Corporation has received this penalty notice,” the spokesperson said.

“Forestry Corporation disputes it has felled a hollow bearing tree in breach of the rules and is considering whether it will contest the allegation in court.”

In total, FCNSW faces more than half a million dollars in fines from the past few weeks alone.

Earlier this month, the FCNSW was convicted of four breaches at Wild Cattle State Forest on the state’s North Coast.

The penalties come amid an intensification of calls to ban logging in NSW in recent years, with the Eurobodalla Shire Council, which oversees the Brooman State Forest and Dampier State Forest areas, debating earlier this year whether to institute its own ban.

The move was ultimately nixed in lieu of possible future state legislation, the Mayor said.