MORE than seven hectares of koala and greater glider habitat are set to be cleared in Ferny Forest at Beerwah under plans by Unitywater to construct a 10km water pipeline from Ewen Maddock Dam to Stockland’s Aura development.
It follows plans by the State Government, announced in December 2021, to log up to 50 per cent of the 129-hectare forest ahead of a transition to national park status in late 2024.
Protesters frustrated at the two-pronged threat to the forest – also known as Beerwah State Forest – descended on Caloundra MP Jason Hunt’s office last week to demand answers.
While protesters said they were not against delivering water to the Stockland development, they were against the loss of critical wildlife habitat.
“We want Unitywater to contribute to funding wildlife bridges and minimise impact by microtunnelling the entire pipe line,” a spokesperson said.
Ferny Forest has been under threat of largescale logging since December, but protests, a petition to State Parliament and the upgrading of koalas to endangered status have forced the government to reconsider that decision.
In response to the petition, Agricultural Minister Mark Furner said that his department would assess the proposed harvest site “for koalas and koala habitat to ensure compliance with the requirements of the EPBC Act and the NC Act”.
In the report commissioned by Unitywater, an application for a water pipeline would require several hectares of the forest to be cleared. The report stated “the project requires the unavoidable removal of 3.5ha of habitat that is suitable for koala”.
The report also found the pipeline would result in “unavoidable clearing” of “2.6ha of habitat that is suitable for Greater Glider and approximately 20 hollow bearing trees”.
“As such (this) may contribute to a long-term decrease in the size of the local (Greater Glider) population and nesting sites”. Both clearings would require offset habitats.
Unitywater lodged a referral for the project over potential environmental issues to the Federal Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment in August 2020, which concluded the project was unlikely to have a significant impact on either the koala and/or greater glider populations if offsets were implemented.
Unitywater did not return calls