Nature Conservation Council NSW, the state's biggest environment group, has unveiled polling which shows 54% of people in New South Wales oppose logging in state forests.
The release coincides with a visit by NCC Chief Executive Jacqui Mumford to the Bulga blockade on the Mid North Coast, where local residents have disrupted logging operations by the state-owned Forestry Corporation NSW (FCNSW) in the Bulga State Forest.
Ms Mumford says the polling is unequivocal - people want the Perrottet Government to ban native timber harvesting and transition to plantation wood.
"The Bulga State Forest, like native forests across the state, are home to many critically endangered species, such as the Greater Glider and the Koala.
"If logging is allowed to continue, koalas will be pushed even further down the path to extinction as soon as 2050.
"The plunder of these old trees must be stopped statewide if we are to have any chance of restoring threatened biodiversity and abating the impact of global warming," said Ms Mumford.
Ms Mumford says that the logging of precious native forests has galvanised voters ahead of the coming state election.
"The unmistakable message for the Perrottet Government is that the community anger behind the Bulga blockade threatens to run all the way down the east coast to the inner city seats of Sydney before showing up in the ballot box on 25 March.
The Government will ignore the will of the people at its own peril."
Key findings:
- 54% of people oppose or strongly oppose harvesting native forests. Only 19% support it.
- Less than 1 in 4 residents believe the NSW Perrottet Government is doing enough to care for the environment
- 7 in 10 people living in NSW believe we need to protect native animals and plants from harm.
