It all started at the beginning of July with spirited opposition from the state member for Nicklin Peter Wellington. Peter wanted to stop logging in the western section of the Cooroy State Forest. So, the Queensland Government halted logging for a few days. Now it has decided logging will resume.
The heated issue is all about the iconic koala.
Peter Wellington’s opposition is based on a claim that the forest is home to a colony of koalas. Some doubt that there are any koalas living in the forest, but Premier Anna Bligh said that logging would not resume until officers from the Forestry Department completed an on-site koala inspection.
Timber Queensland chief executive officer Rod McInnes said while he doesn’t believe there are any koalas on the site, he was happy to comply with the Government’s orders. He has suggested going through the area to be logged, and identifying koala tucker trees which will be left standing.
“Our advice is that there have not been seen any koalas in that area when contractors started the logging process,” he said.
Refuting the Timber Queensland claim that koalas did not exist in the foliage, Mr Wellington said, “Quite clearly that is not the case on the advice that I’ve received.”
Mr McInnes responded, “I don’t know first-hand and I couldn’t give a guarantee, that there wouldn’t be a koala seen nearby or that they might traverse through that plantation on their way to somewhere else.”
Rod McInnes says the 15-hectare site is a plantation that was always going to be logged as part of the South East Queensland Forestry Agreement, which was struck in 1999 between the State Government, the timber industry and conservationists, to preserve native habitats on the Sunshine Coast.
But Mr Wellington was adamant. “This is unbelievable”, he said. “The Federal Government is calling on the community to comment on their koala conservation strategy while we see the State Government actively participating in destroying their homes.
Well, at the time of going to press, the inspection has been made, no koalas were seen and the Premier has promised no logging opportunities will be jeopardised. However, Timber Queensland will continue to protect koala tucker trees and let residents monitor them at regular intervals. Peter Wellington is also confident that buffer zones around this sensitive area will be extended. Fortunately it wasn’t koala fur that’s been flying, so perhaps they’ll now return to this crucial corner of Cooroy.
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