THE Forestry Corporation operation to harvest of sawlogs from the state forest between the Brou tip and Mummaga Lake north of Dalmeny began on Monday.
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Logging of the 184-hectare compartment of Bodalla State Forest will continue for the next six weeks with motorists warned to be aware of logging trucks entering and exiting the area, mainly at the turn-off to the tip.
Planning supervisor Lee Blessington said the Bodalla Park highway rest stop itself is excluded from the harvest and there was a “visual zone” surrounding the park and the walking track down to the lake.
In this 50m to 200m wide zone there would be a 35 per cent harvest where two out of three large trees would be left standing, compared to 45 per cent in the rest of the 139-hectares of the compartment earmarked for logging.
There could however be some tree trimming for safety purposes in the roadside park area similar to what councils and National Parks did for safety in other public areas.
The Moruya based forest contractor, who moved to the area from Tasmania around four years ago, will be targeting mainly spotted gum as well as blackbutt and ironbark.
A small section on the western side of the highway will also be harvested.
Blessington said timber would be mainly sawlogs and sent primarily to the Narooma sawmill just up the highway and also to Nowra, creating local work in the production of high quality flooring and decking products and the operation will also produce firewood, providing locals with affordable home heating next winter.
Senior planner Kate Halton was in charge of demarking environmentally sensitive areas such as creeks and endangered ecological vegetation areas, where there were the standard 50 metre exclusion zones had been marked out.
Environmental significant species identified were the black cockatoo and swift parrot, and certain forage trees for these birds would be left standing.
Other species including barking, masked and powerful owls, yellow-bellied gliders, bentwing and broadnosed bats and white-footed dunnarts were known to live in the adjacent Eurobodalla National Park, according to the plan.
Forestry NSW consulted with the Marine Park Authority, Fisheries and National Parks on the harvest plan, a copy of which was given to the Narooma News and that can be viewed at our office.
The compartment was last harvested in 1998 and had been logged several times since the first harvest in 1951 after the whole area was cleared around the 1900.
Foresters had also conducted timber stand improvement in the forest since the 1960s.
“The basic principal is to target the larger sawlogs keeping the younger small age class and allowing the smaller stuff to grow into forest timber products,” Blessington said.
Operations began this week on the eastern edge of the compartment and would move toward the highway, with additional barricades to be installed to areas such as Bodalla Park rest stop when logging began in those areas.
The Mummaga Lake walking track could be opened sooner than the six weeks completion once logging in the vicinity had finished and a risk assessment had been completed.
While the logging will go right up to the council operated Brou landfill, the operation of tip will not be impacted on.
“The main thing for public is to make sure to follow closure notices and any signage,” Blessington said.
There were no other harvesting operations planned for the immediate future in any other state forests in the Narooma district.