Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) has been fined $360,000 for breaching conditions imposed by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to help the recovery of the Yambulla State Forest, near Eden, after the Black Summer fires.
FCNSW plead guilty to two offences in the Land and Environment Court today after it failed to identify two environmentally significant areas on its operational map, resulting in 53 eucalypt trees being cut down in one of those areas.
These illegal harvesting activities were in breach of the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval and the Site-Specific Operating Conditions issued by the EPA after bushland on the South Coast of NSW was ravaged by the 2019/20 bushfires.
EPA Executive Director of Operations, Jason Gordon said breaching these conditions was totally unacceptable and welcomed the Court's conviction.
"These special conditions were introduced to protect parts of the forest that weren't as damaged by fire, giving wildlife and biodiversity an opportunity to recover.
"FCNSW contractors cut down a total of 53 eucalypt trees in an "unburned" environmentally significant area that was home to important shelters and food resources for local wildlife or native plants.
"FCNSW and its contractors have a responsibility to comply with the rules, and in this case, there was a failure to mark the area off-limits in the operational map used for harvesting operations," Mr Gordon said.
The Court found the harvesting operation caused substantial environmental harm and impacted the refuge of various native flora and fauna species. The Court also found the offending conduct potentially harmed the Dusky Woodswallow, Scarlet Robin and the Varied Sitella, being threatened bird species known to inhabit the area.
FCNSW was ordered to pay the EPA's legal costs and publish details of the convictions in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph and Merimbula News Weekly.
