Ballengarra Tree-Sit Stops Logging | Media Release February 27, 2023

 

Logging crews arrived before first light to Ballengarra State Forest south of Kempsey, to find their machines captured by the ropes of a tree platform. A group of about a dozen people were also present holding signs and banners. Forest protector Tim Evans, said he’d chosen to take this radical action because the plight of the forests is urgent.

 

“We can’t afford to lose more biodiversity, these forests represent diminishing ecosystems that are crucial for our survival. Without these forests we have no hope of restoring a functional, safe climate.”

 

“I’ve been studying soil carbon for many years. I’m doing my PhD on it. Soil science 101 is that when the forests are logged, massive amounts of carbon is released into the atmosphere. That doesn’t show up in the carbon accounting, but contributes to global warming which in turn contributes to the growing number of extreme weather events we are seeing around the world.

“I’m taking this action today to draw attention to the destruction of habitat that the Government is subsidising. Trees in Ballengarra were once so big it took 6 people to hug them. Once this logging is finished, there’ll be no tree here so big that I can’t put my arms around it. That’s tragic.

“But more tragic for the Greater Gliders, Yellow-Bellied Gliders, Sugar Gliders, Powerful Owls, Masked Owls and Barking Owls. They once thrived here. Now they don’t. And Koala colonies are being annihilated by the logging here. This forest was identified by the NPWS as a Key Climate Change Corridor for Fauna, but it’s usefulness is being degraded with each load of logs.

“I’ve been going to the Bulga Plateau on and off over several years now. I’ve been inspired by the tenacity of the Save Bulga Forest people.

 

“Their awesome tree-sit, standing in the way of the logging of Bulga Forest, has been in place now for 50 days. Each day I read the tree-sit diary entry and am blown away at the beauty of the world when it’s seen from the canopy.

 

“This tree is not so grand, and I don’t expect to be here for 50 days, but in a climate and biodiversity crisis, we each need to do what we can. So here I am,” Tim Evans said.