Conservation groups are bracing themselves for another "logging onslaught" just days after the one year anniversary of the devastating Currowan Fire was marked.
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The bushfire tore through the Shallow Crossing and South Brooman region and Clyde River locals are bracing themselves for an onslaught of logging by NSW Forestry Corporation with 18 forestry areas slated for logging, in burnt forests between Batemans Bay and Ulladulla.
Conservation groups claim the logging plans, detailed on the Forestry Corporation's Plan Portal, shows logging activities in the 18 sites as either approved, planned, or proposed.
Two sites in the South Brooman State Forest were logged immediately after the fires leading to a stop work order being issued in July by the NSW EPA for breaches by Forestry Corporation contractors including the illegal removal of hollow-bearing trees.
President of the South Brooman State Forest Conservation Group Brian Bennett said the destruction needs to stop.
"We have had enough. Clyde River locals fought fires twice, were flooded out by torrential rain, then bang, from March on, the struggling wildlife that survived in our spotted gum forests has had to survive logging of two compartments logged in South Brooman right next to unburned creeklines," he said.
"Us locals are shocked at Forestry plans to log eighteen more State Forest compartments between Batemans Bay and Ulladulla in the next 12 months.
"All of the planned areas to be logged have areas of unburned canopy and creek lines of unburnt forest with surviving birds and wildlife.
"Despite these plans, Forestry won't say which one of the eighteen compartments will be next, so the community is left facing tremendous uncertainty about what is about to happen in our forests or be able to advise Forestry Corporation on important ecological, historical and cultural areas.
"We know Forestry are keen to log, without the EPA bushfire affected operation site-specific conditions, that protect unburned canopy, increase creek buffers by 10m and protect rainforest and threatened ecological communities with an extra 35m buffer and keep all big old habitat trees with visible hollows, so vital for wildlife to take refuge and breed in."
Mr Bennett said the land was a vital habitat for the swift parrot.
"Birdlife Australia has called for an end to native forest logging on the South Coast between Ulladulla and Merimbula to protect critically endangered swift parrot feed trees," Mr Bennett said.
"Swift parrots fly here from Tasmania to feast on flowering gum blossom and there are less than a thousand pairs left.
"We want the Forestry Corporation out of these forests as 85 per cent of South Coast forests were burnt in the fires and billions of animals killed.
"These forests need to be given time to recover, not further degraded by logging."
He added the logging would put locals and the many holiday-makers at risk.
"Logging plans include four compartments behind Shallow Crossing Campground that people will be holidaying in the summer. One of these Shallow Crossing compartments directly borders the western bank of the Clyde River," Mr Bennett said.
Takesa Frank, who has been part of the anti-logging campaign, said the logging would hurt the vital tourism industry.
"Local businesses who rely on access through the State Forests are struggling because of logging activities," she said.
"Tourists and locals will have to navigate the dangers of loaded logging trucks on narrow dirt roads while viewing kilometres of devastated logged forests."
Ms Frank added there were waste issues to consider as well.
"We're also worried about the thousands of tonnes of logging waste that has already been left on the forest floor in the two compartments logged this year in South Brooman that is adding to future fire risk," she said.
"Forestry is in and out for a quick buck and the community is left with the impacts and risks.
"Investment in local tourism and local jobs are being sacrificed for logging, which is barely profitable, being conducted by a couple of workers employed by interstate contractors in each compartment.
"Enough already. Who would want the destruction and waste of logging in their local native forest to deal with?" We're calling for a transition of the forestry industry out of public state forests and into plantations and private land forestry."
Mr Bennett said a transition into plantations would ensure future timber supply and certainty for timber workers while allowing the forests and wildlife to recover.