Protests against illegal logging

Protesters disrupted logging operations earlier this month in the 
Watagan Mountains, south-west of Newcastle on the NSW central coast. The 
action aimed to highlight NSW State Forests' violation of a Carr Government 
decision late last year to create "informal reserves" to protect 
forests.

"Once again it is people who care about our public forests who have had to 
intervene to prevent NSW State Forests from further damaging important 
forest areas", said Susie Russell from the North East Forest Alliance.

The protest, at Olney State Forest, was focused on areas which have been 
mapped and identified in the 1998 Comprehensive Regional Assessment and 
approved by NSW Cabinet as requiring protection from logging.

It follows protest actions last month in the Kangaroo River State Forest 
west of Coffs Harbour in which allegations were made of logging in areas of 
high conservation value old growth forest which had also been set aside by 
the NSW Government.

Ms Russell said that in the June Plan of Operation for north-east NSW 
alone, 64 more compartments containing significant proportions of informal 
reserves are proposed for logging, encompassing over 5,000 hectares of 
forest supposedly reserved by the 1998 Cabinet decision.

She said that in total over 50,000 hectares of old growth forest and 22,000 
hectares of wilderness were at risk.

"Carr must intervene now to enforce the Cabinet's decision and place the 
informal reserves firmly off limits. If NSW State Forests continues 
unchecked and out of control more protests are inevitable", said Ms 
Russell.