With logging due to start in the Braemar State Forest next Friday, the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) are calling on the community to voice their opposition to the logging of core Koala habitat.

NEFA undertook its third koala assessment of Braemar State Forest last weekend and say they again found abundant koala scats.

NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said this reaffirmed that it was one of the most significant koala populations known in State Forests.

‘We now estimate that there are over 100ha of Koala High Use Areas, which is unprecedented in State Forests,’ Mr Pugh said.

‘Over the past 20 years, across the hundreds of thousands of hectares they logged, the Forestry Corporation only found a total of 200ha of small scattered Koala High Use Areas.

‘Braemar encompasses core breeding habitat that is part of the nationally significant koala population previously identified across the nearby Carwong and Royal Camp State Forests.

‘Our appeals to the Premier to intervene and ensure that all Koala High Use Areas are identified and protected were counter-productive. Instead the Government has decided to switch over to the new rules where Koala High Use Areas are no longer protected.

‘A new Harvesting Plan was released last Saturday and logging is due to start on the auspicious date of Friday the 13th September.

‘There are likely to be 60-90 koalas living in the area they are about to trash.’