The logging halt, announced today, covers more than 8,400 hectares of forest within the proposed national Koala park, which is being gazetted for the region.

The NSW Environment Minister said logging was stopped on Friday and consultation with industry is to begin immediately.

It follows calls by crossbench MPs and environmental groups to ban the practise, out of concern for the remaining endangered species.

More details to come.

Logging in native forests is set to be banned in Victoria and Western Australia in 2024, leaving the New South Wales timber industry asking questions about its own future. 

The NSW government has committed to creating a Great Koala National Park, which will take in existing state forests that span from the Clarence Valley to south of Coffs Harbour.

These areas include swathes of forest that are currently available to be selectively harvested for hardwood.

Industry and conservationists are waiting for details on how the promised koala park will meet timber demands and ecological outcomes. 

Farm forester Andrew Hurford, who also runs a large timber milling operation near Lismore, says the situation in other states has led to a lot of unease about what is going to happen next.

"At the moment we are told there is a process [but] we don't know what the process is," he said.

"We are keen to engage government on that and have a constructive discussion.

"We have a new government that has a commitment to a Great Koala National Park and we are keen to work with the government to continue to supply timber to the people of the state for infrastructure and housing construction, but to also ensure koalas are protected."

NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty, who holds ministerial responsibility for native timber forestry, said discussions on the proposed koala park were still being finalised.

"We have started discussions inside the government now," she said.

"We will make sure there is full consultation.

"We know that it is a significant change, but we are committed to a forestry industry."

Contract harvester Alan Green, who has worked in hardwood forests across the North Coast for most of his life, believes there are controls in place on the forestry front line to protect koalas.

We have protocols, we leave the area, we make sure he [a koala] has a corridor back into a filter strip and then the ecology boys go and search and say he's moved," Mr Green said.

"The last thing I want to do is go to work and kill a koala.

"At this stage we've got five years left on our harvesting contracts — that's if we don't have the plug pulled early."

A balancing act:

NSW Forestry Corporation has said that of the two million hectares it manages, half is managed for conservation and between 1 and 2 per cent of the available area is harvested each year.

The north-east hardwood industry covers an area from the Hunter to the NSW-Queensland border, contributes $700 million to the NSW economy and employs about 3,800 workers across the sector from primary production to distribution. 

The industry relies on sourcing about 70% of its timber from state forests, which are then value-added at processing plants.

"Our resource will never replace the existing timber supply," Andrew Hurford said.

"We are hoping to add to the existing resource to meet future demand.

"There have been simplistic, 'Oh we will just move over to plantations,' but they are fully utilised and producing as much as they can."

Conservationists claim harvesting operations are mismanaged, logged too intensively and come at a cost to the taxpayer and the environment. 

Dailan Pugh (Above) from the North East Forest Alliance says the biggest problem is the loss of mature trees, which are the homes and future for wildlife

Original Story By | Isobel Roe