NSW Forestry slapped with largest available fine for tree felling near Batemans Bay after Black Summer fires
The Forestry Corporation for NSW has been handed the largest fine available to environmental regulators after allegedly failing to protect a fire-ravaged south coast forest.
The South Coast News
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The Forestry Corporation of NSW has been handed the biggest fine available to environmental regulators after allegedly failing to protect crucial south coast woodland in the wake of the Black Summer fires.
The state-owned corporation was fined $15,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency on June 23 for allegedly failing to comply with a post bushfire condition implemented to protect critical habitat in a forest near Batemans Bay.
The Site Specific Operating Condition was implemented in the South Brooman State Forest in 2020 in order to protect hollow bearing trees, which many threatened species depend on their survival, according to the EPA.
Only months after the devastating Black Summer fires, 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.
EPA acting executive director regulatory operations regional Greg Sheehy said FCNSW’s behaviour was “unacceptable”, and that the measures were there to protect fire-damaged woodland.
“FCNSW forest management and activities did not meet our expectations and the EPA has put them on notice that failing to meet standards is unacceptable,” he said.
“The requirement to retain all hollow bearing trees was clear and it’s concerning that better systems were not put in place to ensure compliance.”
In a statement, an FCNSW spokeswoman said the fine related to only one tree being harvested.
“Forestry Corporation undertook ground assessments with trained staff walking through the forest to identify trees with visible hollows and identified and protected hundreds of such trees during the harvesting operations,” the spokesman said.
“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.
“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.”
The fine represents a unique instance in which the NSW EPA, a state-run environmental regulator, is penalising another government-run group.
The FCNSW is the largest manager of commercial native and plantation forests in NSW, managing more than two million hectares of state forests throughout NSW on behalf of the state.
The penalty also comes amid an intensification of calls to ban logging in NSW in recent years, with the Eurobodalla Shire Council, which oversees the Brooman State Forest area, 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.
Controversial logging activities resumed on the south coast soon after the Black Summer fires, after FCNSW were required to put in place additional checks to ensure they met bushfire recovery conditions.
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