Forestry Corporation has temporarily paused its renewable timber harvesting operations in Styx River State Forest today while it reviews protections for Greater Gliders on the site.

General Manager Hardwood Forests, Daniel Tuan said Forestry Corporation is committed to protecting the habitat of Greater Gliders and other threatened species using NSW State forests in all its regrowth native forest operations.

“In planning the operation for Styx River State Forest, we have put in place the measures outlined in the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval to protect Greater Glider habitat by limiting operations to just a proportion of the forested area and retaining large numbers of trees for Glider habitat and food sources,” Mr Tuan said.

“Some community stakeholders have today raised concerns about the protections in place on the site. We are pausing the harvesting operations while our trained ecologists head out to the site to assess the Greater Glider habitat to see whether there are additional measures that we should put in place to protect Greater Gliders in this forest.”

The contractors working in the forest will stand down while this work takes place.

"As the managers of State forests in NSW we are committed to delivering both positive environmental outcomes and a sustainable timber industry in NSW.”

“We are continuing to engage with the EPA on how Greater Gliders and their habitat are managed in State forests so that the community can have confidence that these animals are protected.”

Media contact: Matt Deans 0400 066 237