By Mitch Gaynor
GREENS Senator Larissa Waters has written to state ministers and local councillors urging them to end a proposal to log Ferny Forest at Beerwah.
Senator Waters wrote to three ministers including Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Minister Mark Furner and Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon last Friday, reflecting community concern that nearly 65 hectares and trees up to 600 years old could soon be logged.
The State Government proposed in late 2021 to harvest up to 50 per cent of the 129-hectaure Beerwah State Forest, also known as Ferny Forest and comes two years before the forest will be converted to national park status and becomes protected from harvesting.
Senator Waters reflected community opposition to the logging, writing that opponents saw it as a cynical and “last-ditch effort to make a buck before the protections come into place on 31 December 2024”.
“It has taken decades for this forest to recover from the last logging, and it now faces increased threats from climate change, invasive weeds and exotic fungi, namely phytopthora and myrtle rust. Consequently, there is an enormous risk that the forest, which hosts at least 190 native plant species, will not be able to recover this time,” she wrote.
The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has repeatedly insisted that no decision has been made to log Ferny Forest despite an ‘Intention to Harvest’ notice posted at the site of the forest in late 2021.
Senator Waters said many factors were in play that should see plans to log scrapped, including the fact the forest is listed as core koala habitat.
“In February the status of koalas in Queensland was raised from vulnerable to endangered,” Sen Waters wrote.
“The South East Queensland Koala Conservation Strategy 2020–2025 states that core koala habitat forests are prohibited from being logged, with no mention of state forests. However, this forest is not a monoculture plantation, it is a native forest, and the Queensland Government itself has identified Ferny Forest as core koala habitat.”
The Senator also noted that First Nations Gubbi Gubbi people had also asked that the forest be preserved due to the cultural significance of the site.
“The site contains song-lines, silcrete tools, and scar and protected trees. It hosts ancient Indigenous trails and meeting grounds, with Bunya Dreaming activities recently being held at Ferny Forest,” Senator Waters wrote.
She added that the decision to log was a clear example of the “weakness of our current environmental protections laws”.
“To allow this forest to be destroyed to make power poles would be devastatingly short-sighted,” Senator Waters wrote.
“(It) would fail the Traditional Owners, diverse and endangered plant and animal life, local Sunshine Coast constituencies and visitors to the Forest, and Queensland Government policy.”
“I strongly urge the Queensland Government and Sunshine Coast Council to prevent this proposal from going ahead, and I ask that you use your office to oppose this logging.”
