Forestry Corporation said any attempts by Eurobodalla Shire Council to end logging are 'outside their jurisdiction': attacks 'under-researched' climate plan

A Forestry submission to the council's draft action plan said decisions regarding forestry were "outside council's jurisdiction" and the council did not have expertise nor involvement in native forest management.

"Information about native forestry contained in Eurobodalla Shire Council's Climate Action Plan is concerningly inaccurate and under-researched," the Forestry submission said.

"Information about forestry in the draft Climate Action Plan is incorrect and outside council's jurisdiction. It is recommended that Eurobodalla Shire Council remove all references and actions relating to native forestry from its Climate Action Plan."

The submission, which was submitted on the final day of community consultation - April 8 - and sent by council staff to the councillors, invited the council to engage with Forestry "to further its understanding of sustainable forest management".

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The council's climate action plan was written by council's sustainability officer Aaron Atteridge.

Mr Atteridge was previously an energy and climate policy adviser to the NSW Government, has been a climate advisor for developing countries such as Nauru and the Marshall Islands, and spent 12 years in Sweden working for an international think tank to tackle climate change in developing countries.

Eurobodalla Shire Councillors voted against a motion to end native logging in the shire on April 12, instead asking for more information on the subject.

Deputy mayor and Greens councillor Alison Worthington, who tabled the motion, said she was pleased to serve on a council where the councillor group felt they needed more information to make a decision.

Cr Worthington quoted the council's draft action plan when presenting her motion to end native logging in the shire.

"The Eurobodalla has around 106,000 hectares of native State Forests which can be harvested and is primarily used for woodchip through the Eden mill and exported," the draft plan said.

"Less than 50 people in the Southern Forestry region as a whole are involved with logging and chipping of public native forests.

"Ending native forest logging in Southeast NSW would bring benefits from a climate resilience perspective, and could also provide an overall economic boon, support our tourism economy, and deliver other environmental benefits for our region."

A Forestry spokesperson said decisions around logging were outside of council jurisdiction because forestry was regulated by the Regional Forest Agreements (RFA's). These agreements are long-term bilateral agreements between the Commonwealth and State Governments and were signed concerning south eastern NSW in 2001 and rolled over in 2019.

"Forestry Corporation does not set the policy for forestry but actively engages with councils and communities around the conduct of individual forestry operations in the areas that are managed for timber production in line with the Commonwealth and State agreement," the spokesperson said.

Greens senate candidate David Shoebridge in a recent trip to Mogo State Forest, said the RFA's were outdated and needed updating urgently.

"The world has changed," Mr Shoebridge said, "and those RFA's are unsustainable for the timber industry. They are certainly unsustainable for the forests.

"The Greens are going to put squarely on the agenda the ripping up of the regional forest agreements."

He said this would see an end to logging in Mogo State Forest.

Mr Shoebridge said the NSW tax payer was charged $430 per hectare of logging because of forestry fines for improper practices, such as the recent $45,000 fine for illegal logging in Mogo State Forest.

However Forestry deny this analysis. The Forestry spokesperson said there were short-term cost increases after the Black Summer Bushfires for repairing damaged roads and infrastructure. Timber harvesting revenue also declined because of environmental considerations following the fires.

"For example, on the south coast operations reduced to around a third of the normal rate in the two years following the fire," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said it was these two factors which led to the increased Forestry costs since the Black Summer Bushfires.

Forestry has pursued their fines in court.

The Forestry submission to council said the Eurobodalla's eco-tourism relied upon Forestry-maintained roads, and Forestry and the council worked together to develop the new Mogo bike network to operate alongside Forestry operations in Mogo State Forest.

When asked if ending native logging was in the council's jurisdiction, and about the relationship between Forestry and the council, an official Eurobodalla Shire Council spokesperson said:

"In accordance with a Council Notice of Motion from Tuesday 12 April 2022, Council will be seeking further information from Forestry Corporation of NSW, along with other parties, regarding its practices, native logging, nature-based tourism, biodiversity, and Council's draft Climate Action Plan."

Forestry confirmed it had been contacted by Eurobodalla Shire Council.