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Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
50 night search in Aussie forest uncovers worrying find: 'Good chance they'll die'
Conservationists are concerned about the future of a population of rare native mammals living in an Australian national park. That's because endangered greater gliders are occupying the same forest that the NSW government's timber harvest company is logging for hardwood. At the time of publication, Forestry Corporation NSW had recorded just four occupied nesting hollows, known as dens, in two compartments within the Styx River State Forest that are subject to logging. While volunteers walking through the forests at night found 38 in the same areas. Scott Mackenzie from South East Forest Rescue was tired as he spoke to Yahoo News Australia this week. He's spent around 50 nights searching through quiet bushland for gliders, then going to work the next day. 'These surveys have a big impact on my life. But what do people want to achieve in their lives? What I'd like to achieve is an endangered species being saved,' he told Yahoo News. 'It's frustrating having to go out there. But what's heartbreaking is that if I can't find those greater gliders, there's a good chance they'll die.' When greater glider dens are discovered, timber harvesters are required by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to set a 50-metre exclusion zone around the tree, limiting the amount of timber that can be felled. However, independent research funded by World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia (WWF) suggests this is far from adequate to meet the habitat needs of the species. NSW Forestry Corporation told Yahoo News it's protecting more than 3,300 individual trees, including 2,600 with hollows at compartments 38 and 42, which were subject to the survey disparity, and the adjoining compartment 41 where it's located another glider den. A spokesperson for the company said it meets the regulatory requirements related to surveying for greater gliders before harvesting trees. These surveys now include a new requirement introduced by the EPA that searches for the nocturnal marsupials must be undertaken at night. Prior to this, Forestry Corporation often looked for them during the day when they were known to be hidden away in dens. 'Harvesting plans have been prepared in line with the regulations. Forestry Corporation's trained ecologists have completed nocturnal surveys for gliders and dens in line with the requirements and applied exclusion zones,' a spokesperson for the harvester said. 'Information provided by third parties has also been considered and additional precautionary exclusion zones [have] been established.' The Nature Conservation Council, a non-profit that advocates for environment protection in NSW, has accused Forestry Corporation of 'cutting corners' when it comes to glider surveys, which it argues are open to interpretation by harvesters. Its assessment of Forestry Corporation's surveys shows a significant reduction in efforts in 2025 compared to 2024, which it says raises 'serious concerns' about the adequacy of habitat assessments. 'Forestry Corporation is entrusted with managing our public forests sustainably. Instead, they are putting vulnerable species and ecosystems at risk by cutting corners,' its CEO Jacqui Mumford said. Secret hidden beneath Australia's 'most important' parcel of land Alarming scene at popular Aussie tourist spot sparks warning Calls to release documents behind helicopter shooting of koalas Greater glider numbers have plummeted due to habitat destruction and bushfires. Volunteers like Mackenzie say they have no option but to continue to survey the area themselves because of their lack of confidence in government. 'These animals have gone from being commonplace 20 years ago to now being endangered, and on a very steep slide towards extinction. And still, forestry is attacking these rare habitats where there's high density,' he said. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
ABC News
15-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
With an uncertain future of native logging in Queensland, a forest home to endangered greater gliders could be cut down
Without seeing them fly, you'd be forgiven for confusing a greater glider with a possum. In the dark, the cat-sized marsupial uses webbing between its limbs to sail silently from gum to gum, dropping its metre long tail like a rudder just before impact. The endangered species sleeps during the day and eats leaves at night, almost never touching the ground. They're incredibly hard to find, without the right technique. Three hours north of Brisbane, a group of locals have found a community of them living in the St Mary State Forest, near the Fraser Coast town of Tiaro. At night they go spotlighting, holding huge torches at eye level to look for the glider's eye-shine in the canopy. The reflection looks like two stars peeking through the foliage, but with binoculars the animal takes shape. With big ears, a pink nose, tiny hands and an absurdly long and fluffy tail, gliders will stare back at you as long as the spotlight shines on them. Found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, southern and central greater gliders were upgraded from vulnerable to endangered in 2022, due to a 50 per cent population drop over 21 years. The hollows of gum trees they live in take between 150 and 300 years to develop. Logging, clearing for agriculture and bushfires have ravaged their habitat. Tina Raveneau, who discovered the group in the St Mary State Forest, has fallen in love. "I can recognise their little faces and start to realise there's so many different ones [with] different colouring," she says. But despite protections, Ms Raveneau is worried the forest these gliders call home will soon be logged. Three things dominate the land around Tiaro — paddocks, pine plantations and state forest. In 1999, a deal was struck between government, conservationists and the timber industry to end logging in all state forests south of Gladstone by the end of 2024 in a decision known as the South-East Queensland Forest Agreement (SEQFA). In 2019, the Palaszczuk government redrew the area, meaning logging was only ceased in state forests south of Noosa. The practice was allowed to continue in the Eastern Hardwoods — which includes forest around Tiaro — for "at least another two years". Logging licenses in the Western Hardwoods, further inland, will continue through to at least 2034. Dr Tyron Venn, an expert in forestry and a natural resource economist, says by 2019 it was clear elements of the SEQFA deal had not been met. He says a commitment to develop long rotation plantation hardwood to replace the output from the native forest industry never got off the ground. "Only a fraction of those plantations were established and many of those have already been cleared for other land use," Dr Venn says. He says the government also promised support for private native forestry but did not deliver. "As a result, in the 2020s we are producing as much timber as we were in the 1990s," he says. "We've had no increase in timber production, but our population has grown a whopping 64 per cent." That shortfall is made up by imported timber, often from places with less regulation, he says. "This is bad for global climate and biodiversity conservation outcomes," he says. Logging licenses in the Wide Bay Burnett end in 2026, but the Queensland government is yet to determine whether the practice will continue. A statement from the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), who are responsible for logging in state forests, says the government's new plan for the use of state forests will be released later this year. The regulations Dr Venn believes make Queensland timber sustainable, are laid out in the state's native timber production code of practice. When it comes to greater gliders, loggers are duty bound to protect the species by leaving six "habitat trees" per hectare, as well as two "recruitment trees" for future habitat. If there aren't enough habitat trees, more recruitment trees are left standing. Trees that should be left behind are marked with a spray-painted H. A DPI spokesperson says within their habitat range "timber harvesting is authorised on the basis that gliders may be present anywhere at any time". Research scientist Dr Norman Patrick says these measures are "not good enough". He says studies show 85 per cent of the basal area — essentially the total amount of trees — needs to remain for gliders to thrive and 20 per cent of that prime habitat is in state forests. "Areas that are degraded will likely see localised extinctions," he says. Nicky Moffat from the Queensland Conservation Council says after more than a century of logging, many trees that could have become gnarled and hollowed are not there anymore. "Some of these trees with an H on it, they're actually a really young tree, and they've got no hollow," she says. That impact can be seen on the eastern side of Tiaro in the Bauple State Forest, where locals say they have also seen greater gliders. Large swathes of Bauple State Forest have been logged within the past year. At one site, an area on the side of the road is cleared and covered in bark — a landing area where the harvested trees were left to dry out. While there are habitat trees marked with yellow Hs, most of the remaining trees are young and straight. Weeds and thick undergrowth cover the ground. Yellow Hs have started to appear on trunks in the St Mary State Forest where Tina Raveneau spotted the gliders. "My heart sank," she says. Dr Venn argues any short term damage for local species populations must be thought of in the grand scheme of conservation efforts globally. "We really need to be thinking about the broad landscape level, not simply the site level at which the harvesting takes place," he says. He says selective native logging done right can trap carbon, supply Australia with needed building supplies and create jobs. Ms Moffat says the 1999 agreement needs to be honoured. "A deal is a deal and we hope the Crisafulli government will honour that and protect these forests," she says. "At the moment, signs are not great. They are rushing through a timber action plan and they are planning on getting that out in October but we haven't had any consultation so far and we're not seeing very encouraging signs. "We're worried it's going to be a smash and grab before these licenses end." The Crisafulli government's roundtable for the Queensland Future Timber Plan, made up of industry stakeholders, met for the first time yesterday. "Investment security for both the plantation softwood and native forestry sectors will be critical to bolster growing, harvesting and processing activities across the supply chain," a statement read.
