<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/28/home-of-endangered-marsupial-threatened-by-state-sanctioned-logging-in-nsw-environmentalists-say>
"Conservation groups have accused a New South Wales agency of logging one of
the last known strongholds of the greater glider, an endangered marsupial
species, and urged the state government to intervene.
Bob Debus, a former Labor environment minister and now chair of the group
Wilderness Australia, said there was overwhelming evidence that a Forestry
Corporation of NSW logging operation was “smashing into the middle” of forest
that was home to a large population of greater gliders.
Dr Kita Ashman, an ecologist with the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia,
said researchers had recorded 96 greater gliders in the Tallaganda state forest
east of Canberra over two nights of searching with spotlights last year.
The two groups have written separately to the environment minister, Penny
Sharpe, and state Environment Protection Authority, calling on them to stop the
logging and order an independent scientific survey of the 1,800-hectare
(4,400-acre) area.
“It’s the only place I’ve ever seen where greater gliders were the dominant
species,” Ashman said. “I’ve never seen anything like the density [of the
population]. In most other places where greater gliders were once abundant they
are disappearing. To know this habitat is being logged is extremely upsetting.”
The greater glider is Australia’s largest gliding marsupial. It was listed as
endangered in 2022 after losing significant parts of its habitat to bushfire,
drought, land-clearing and logging.
It was particularly badly affected by the 2019-20 bushfires, which damaged its
habitat in Gippsland and NSW. Scientists say its population has fallen by about
80% in 20 years in some areas."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
