UPDATE: EDO / NEFA Legal Action to Stop Myrtle and Braemar State Forests Logging

EDO: “… a quick update on our case to stop logging operations in vital koala habitat in north-east NSW and share some positive news.  On Wednesday 2 August, EDO lawyers went to the NSW Land and Environment Court, seeking an urgent injunction to stop logging in Myrtle and Braemar state forests. Our client, the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA), was alarmed that the NSW Forestry Corporation had begun logging in the forests, which are recovering from the Black Summer bushfires. You can read our original email about the case below. After a brief hearing, the case was adjourned to 14 August for a final hearing, when our client will ask the Court to declare the logging approvals invalid.  NEFA will also be defending the NSW Forestry Corporation’s counter argument that the case should be struck out. In the meantime, the NSW Forestry Corporation has extended its agreement to pause logging until the hearing, which has been in place since we filed the case and sought an injunction last Friday. The bulldozers are silent, for now.  This is a brief but welcome reprieve for these precious forests, the threatened wildlife that lives there and our client, who recognises that logging Australia’s native forests is driving species to extinction and fuelling the climate crisis.   

Dailan Pugh of NEFA, third from left, with supporters outside court. In the meantime, our lawyers will be working tirelessly to mount the strongest defence of our forests and wildlife at the full hearing just weeks away.  We look forward to keeping you updated as this case progresses.  

Emily LongSpecial Counsel, Environmental Defenders Office 

P.S. Unless we take action to enforce our environmental laws, the future for our wildlife and forests looks bleak. That’s why EDO exists. With your support we can hold those responsible for the destruction of Australia’s forests to account and be a strong legal voice for nature and wildlife. Please donate to our legal defence fund today.

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From Earlier, for your info:

From: Emily Long, EDO <reply@supporters.edo.org.au>
Subject: BREAKING: We’re seeking an urgent injunction to save koalas 
 
The situation:  Our lawyers are seeking an injunction to stop logging in important native forests in north-east NSW.  NSW Forestry Corporation recently started logging operations in Braemar and Myrtle state forests. The forests were hit hard by the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and are home to dozens of threatened species including koalas and southern greater gliders.  Our client will argue the logging approvals are unlawful. Forestry Corp has agreed to stop logging in the habitat until the court hears our client’s injunction application on Wednesday, August 2. Hi Brian,About a week ago, NSW Forestry Corporation started logging in areas of vital koala habitat in north east NSW. Our client says this could cause irreparable harm to the environment, including impacts on the remaining koala population.   Last Thursday our legal team, on behalf of the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA), applied for an urgent injunction to stop logging in Myrtle and Braemar state forests.  If granted, this will be the first time a community group has obtained a logging injunction in NSW in more than twenty years.  Forestry Corp has agreed to pause logging until Wednesday, when our injunction application will be heard in court. The forests were severely damaged by the ferocious 2019-20 bushfires, which wiped out an estimated 70 per cent of the local koala population. NEFA’s own surveys indicate that koalas are still present in these forests – making their protection vitally important. Before the fires, we know the forests were home to 23 other threatened plants and animals including the southern greater glider, yellow-bellied glider, rufous bettong, masked owl, and Slaty Red Gum.  Experts report that logging forests after bushfires increases the risk of future bushfires and can render the forest uninhabitable for wildlife for decades, or even centuries. With the koala on a sharp trajectory to extinction in NSW and Australia’s native species facing a growing threat from climate change, our client says logging the fire-affected Myrtle and Braemar state forests should be unthinkable.  Yet that’s exactly what the NSW Forestry Corporation says it is approved to do.  That’s why we’ve asked the Land and Environment Court for an urgent interlocutory injunction on behalf our client NEFA.  If granted, the court will order Forestry Corp to immediately stop logging the two state forests until the court makes a final decision about whether the logging approvals are lawful. Our lawyers will argue on behalf of NEFA that logging these areas is not ecologically sustainable and the use of ‘voluntary conditions’ is in breach of the logging rules.  Our client will ultimately ask the court to declare the logging approvals invalid. Caption: The southern greater glider is one of 24 threatened species in the Myrtle state forest at risk from native forest logging. Credit Sam Horton. 

Our forests and native animals are at breaking point. 

We’ve destroyed more than half of the forests and woodlands that existed in NSW before colonisation.  In 2020, a NSW Parliamentary Committee predicted koalas will go extinct in NSW by 2050 without urgent government intervention. The community expects our governments and environmental regulators to uphold their responsibility to stop the extinction crisis and help our threatened species recover. But instead of allowing our native forests to thrive, the NSW Government, EPA and Forestry Corp continue to sanction logging across the state.  The laws that regulate logging are failing our unique and endangered wildlife. That’s why in March last year we appeared before the Federal Court in the first-ever legal challenge to a NSW Regional Forest Agreement – the outdated laws that allow native forest logging to avoid federal assessment. We argued, on behalf of NEFA, that the Federal Government failed to assess the state of those NSW native forests before locking in at least another 20 years of logging. Our legal interventions are critical for ensuring that our threatened plants and animals are protected from harmful land clearing and deforestation.   We work with brave clients like NEFA to stop the business-as-usual approach to environmental destruction and hold industry and government to account.     Thanks for being part of the team using the law to challenge harmful projects so that nature and wildlife can thrive. 

Emily Long Special Counsel, Environmental Defenders Office  

P.S. Unless we take action to enforce our environmental laws, the future for our wildlife and forests looks bleak. That’s why EDO exists. With your support we can hold those responsible for the destruction of Australia’s forests to account and be a strong legal voice for nature and wildlife. Please donate to our legal defence fund today.
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