The NSW Land and Environment Court handed down a judgement on 9 June 2022 in relation to breaches of licence conditions during an operation in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest in 2018.

Forestry Corporation of NSW acknowledges that it made some mapping and marking errors during the operation. We believe these were isolated incidents and have reviewed our compliance systems to drive additional controls and safeguards aimed to prevent such errors from recurring.

Koala high use areas were identified while undertaking pre-harvest surveys for the operation. The mandatory protection areas were set aside and a further 14 hectares for koala habitat added to the reserved areas, equivalent to around 6,000 additional trees. Electronic mapping system and GPS were used to identify the boundary of koala high use areas to protect it during harvesting. At that time, the system required map updates to be sent via email. Unfortunately, due to human and technology error one of the map updates was not received and as a result, an older version of the map was used leading to four trees being removed from the area that should have been set aside. As a responsible forest manager, Forestry Corporation wants to protect koalas and other native species, and has replanted this area with tallowwoods, which is a preferred koala feed tree.

Another item in the judgement related to the rainforest buffers and mapped protected areas, where five trees were removed due to a combination of GPS error and operator error. Forests are difficult operating environments and the boundaries of rainforest and buffers are often difficult to identify accurately.  While the trees were not deliberately taken from this area by the contractor, we were disappointed this error occurred and have made it clear to all contractors that we expect 100% compliance with all of the harvesting regulations and are continuing to work on contractor training and quality assurance.

We carry out hundreds of operations each year and regrettably on occasion mistakes do happen. We learn from these incidents and improve our systems and processes. Our systems and processes are regularly audited as part of our certification to the Australian Standard for Forest Management, Responsible Wood and operations are regulated by the Environment Protection Authority. We continue to monitor and check our systems to ensure they are accurate and that operations for renewable timber are undertaken in line with the rules and regulations and with protection of important environmental features as the highest priority.

Media contact: Joanna Bodley 0427939543