Local campaiging group, Camp Ourimbah, is calling on Forestry Corporation NSW to declare Ourimbah State Forest a koala conservation reserve, in light of the announcement that koalas have been classified endangered.
In late 2020, a koala was spotted on a property adjacent to the State Forest and became the subject of a prolonged exchange of communication between Camp Ourimbah and Forestry Corporation NSW.
Camp Ourimbah, which registered the sighting in September 2021 with the government’s Bionet database, the local council and the Australian Koala Foundation, is a core group of 30 people from the community, plus a 500-strong following online.
The campaigners hoped the sighting would put a stop to logging in the forest for fears it would disrupt a koala habitat, as evidenced by the sighting.
Ourimbah State Forest is a regrowth forest that has been harvested to produce renewable timber products and regrown many times.
Forestry Corporation has recently commended an operation to selectively harvest timber from compartments OUR008 and OUR009 of the forest.
This area has previously been harvested several times, the most recent operation being in the 1990s.
At that time, trees were retained and grown on specifically for the purpose of long-term timber production.
Camp Ourimbah spokesperson Ursula Da Silva has spent almost two years lobbying Forestry Corporation to halt logging in the forest.
Da Silva said the forest acts as an important corridor with the potential to link populations and is critical habitat for the koala.
“If Ourimbah State Forest was to be listed as a koala conservation reserve and utilized as a koala release site, it would help immensely with koala breeding and genetic diversity,” she said.
Forestry Corporation NSW said protection of koalas and their habitat is a core priority and specific searches are carried out prior to and throughout harvest operations.
According to newly-updated statements on its website, it states, “There are clear regulations that require feed trees and habitat to be identified and protected throughout the harvest area where koalas are present in a compartment.
“These measures were developed on the basis of ongoing research, which continues to show that koalas occupy forests where timber harvesting takes place at the same rate as unharvested forests,” it said.
Forestry Corporation has moved to reassure the community that the sighting of the koala has been taken into consideration.
“Forestry Corporation has incorporated this information into its planning by ensuring staff are aware of the potential sighting and maintain vigilance during their comprehensive searches and throughout operations,” it said.
Last week Da Silva met with Sally Alldis, local bush regenerator and ecologist, to discuss the potential of Ourimbah State Forest becoming a koala release site.
“The compartments marked for logging and surrounding areas comprise vegetation communities that are dominated by high and significant use koala browse trees such as Grey Gum, Forest Red Gum, Smooth barked apple (angophora), White mahogany, Yellow bloodwood and Turpentine tree,” said Alldis.
“The significant connection of this vegetation to the surrounding landscape offers suitable habitat for a koala population.
“If this forest was to be identified as a koala habitat for conservation by the NSW State government, it would prevent further koala habitat loss and lock up areas for future population survival,” she added.
Camp Ourimbah says it intends to undertake acoustic surveys for koalas in the compartments earmarked for logging and the surrounding areas.
“We are calling on our local, State and Federal politicians to take action on behalf of the community to protect our native forests and our koalas.
“We want Ourimbah State Forest to be listed as a koala conservation reserve as per the NSW Koala Strategy framework,” said Da Silva.
The NSW Government announced in the last State Budget a $193.3M commitment towards doubling the number of koalas in New South Wales by 2050.
This funding will back a new conservation program and builds on the groundwork of the NSW Koala Strategy 2018–21.
Through this new program, conservation actions to increase koala numbers will be delivered under four pillars of conservation: conserving koala habitat, supporting local communities to conserve koalas, improving the safety and health of koalas, and building knowledge to improve koala conservation.
Nicola Riches