The campaign to establish a Richmond River Koala park is gaining momentum, with a coalition of local conservation groups pushing for NSW Labor to act on its 2015 promise, under opposition leader Luke Foley.
Dailan Pugh, spokesperson for the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA), said on May 19, that NSW Labor must permanently protect 56,200 hectares of State Forest in the Richmond River valley and along the southern Richmond Range.
He said the Richmond River Koala Parks are a “vital step” towards securing the future of this endangered species, “given that this population is genetically distinct from those in the proposed Great Koala National Park”.
Since Labor was elected in 2023, it has allowed logging to continue while environmental and economic values are being assessed. Its assessment was completed and a decision was promised by the end of last year. However, the logging has continued.
A new assessment by NEFA, released in January, has identified that logging has greatly accelerated within the boundary of the Great Koala National Park (GKNP), which Labor committed to protect last December.
Minns was elected on a promise to create the GKNP, but has instead increased logging. Twenty one months later, 7185 hectares of the proposed park has been logged — over 8% of its loggable area. This likely encompasses the homes of more than 500 koalas, along with another 37 threatened species.
NEFA is calling for Richmond River Koala Parks to incorporate part of the Banyabba Area of Regional Koala Significance (ARKS), the largest area of high-quality koala habitat in the Richmond catchment. The proposed reserves include 28,000 hectares of important koala areas, which the federal government has also designated a priority.
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Pugh said protecting these forests from logging will create “one of Australia’s most important koala reserves”. The plan is not is just about providing a lifeline for koalas, “these forests are also home to over 130 species threatened with extinction due to habitat loss and climate change”. He said it was also about “restoring ecosystems and the health of the Richmond River”.
The North East Forest Alliance is concerned about climate change and said an end to logging of old growth forests will stop the release of stored carbon.
“We are calling on the NSW government to take decisive action and establish the Richmond River Koala Parks to honour its promises to protect Koalas.”
[For further information see nefa.org.au or email richmondriverkoalaparks@gmail.com.]