Rock Valley resident and wildlife carer Renata Phelps has taken up the fight to save Bungabbee State Forest from imminent logging and wants the community to join her. 

Situated between Bentley and Rock Valley, a 20 minute drive from Lismore, Renata said Bungabbee is an important forest remnant, wildlife corridor and nature reserve. 

“Lots of Lismore locals don’t even know Bungabbee Forest exists,” Renata said. “It’s highly accessible and used by bush walkers and horse riders.

“We have been reforesting on our property and we always envisaged we were creating wildlife corridors to link up with Bungabbee State Forest.

“There are so many different animals and birds live there, it’s a special area. Lots of locals here are also reforesting properties to create corridors for wildlife to travel in.

“Bungabbee forms part of the Mackellar Wildlife Corridor, connecting to the World Heritage Border Ranges. When you see the forest it on satellite image, it indicates clearly how important a remnant it is in the middle of otherwise clear farmland.”

Mobilise

Renata said the next few months is critical to stop the logging by mobilising the community and raising awareness of the logging plans.

“A lot of people feel affinity with that area having worked hard to save it from CSG – I’m sure they will want to see it saved from logging once they realise how important it is.”

Logging schedule discovery

Renata said she only became aware of the fact that the forest was scheduled for logging when a group of locals were reviewing the maps and schedules of NSW Forestry Corporation.

“We saw Bungabbee had been listed for logging over 12 months ago, and there was only four weeks till logging was due to start," she said. “Forestry are required to do community consultation but they hadn’t and we were concerned and asked them why hadn’t they talked to us.

“Then forestry revised the logging date to April 2021.”

“They are only required to give the community two days' notice before their logging trucks come in and they said they will consult with us and give us as much notice as they can.

“What we need is to have a community meeting with forestry in person in a hall – it’s an important obligation for them.”

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Squirrel glider.

NEFA Forest survey

Late last year, the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) organised a group of renowned ecologists including Dave Milledge, to do a weekend survey in the forest.

NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh said, as well as the known 27 threatened species found there, ecologists found more species not yet recorded, including the Long Nosed Potoroo and a population of Marbled Frogmouths – as well as critically endangered plants like native guava.

Threatened species

"The population of Marbled Frogmouths is one of only a handful of species that the Forestry Corporation is still required to protect additional habitat for, though in this case there is no requirement to look before they log. Luckily we did," Dailan said.

"It was particularly disturbing to find significant populations of the Critically Endangered Scrub Turpentine and Native Guava. The very survival of these species is threatened by the introduced fungus Myrtle Rust, they are unlikely to regenerate and now the Forestry Corporation are intending to bulldoze over the survivors.  

"Our results clearly demonstrate the need for pre-logging surveys to identify the presence and locations of threatened species so they can be appropriately protected."

Macropods

Renata said she was a macropod carer with Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (WIRES) and it was incredible to find Palma wallabies there.

"They are a tiny wallaby species and rare to find," she said. "There are red legged pademelons there and they are a threatened species too. 

“There are also yellow belly and greater gliders and at the moment they are listed as threatened, but after the fires last year, they are probably critically endangered now.

Bentley community

Renata said the proximity of the forest to Bentley where the community staged a successful action to stop CSG from taking off in the area gave her hope that locals could again be motivated to save an important natural asset. 

“A lot of people feel affinity with that area having worked hard to save it from CSG – I’m sure they will want to see it saved from logging once they realise how important it is.”

Renata said a petition had been created, targeted to local and state representatives such as Lismore MP Janelle Saffin to get the issue known to them. 

Black cockatoo

How to help

If you are interested in being part of the Save Bungabbee campaign, you can join the Facebook Group, “Bungabbee Forest Friends” https://www.facebook.com/groups/3470743116309388/ or subscribe to the email list at http://eepurl.com/hhtdOr

Children’s book art needed

Renata is also coordinating a new digital children’s storybook aimed at saving Bungabbee Forest and is calling for local artists to contribute art to the project.

Read more: Local children's book needs artwork to help save Bungabbee

Forestry roading work

Late last year, Forestry Corporation said it would be entering Bungabbee to repair the road network in the state forest.

Forestry Corporation Roading Manager Craig Busby said the work was to address significant damage to the roading infrastructure and “improve public access and safety, including the repair of an important fire trail network”.  

“Maintenance of these roads is important for the environment (soil conservation), safe access for forest visitors and the broader community in terms of fire management, strategic fire protection and the provision of forest products," he said.

Indigenous cultural heritage

“This work has been planned to ensure the highest standards are met, with surveys conducted to identify and protect any Indigenous cultural heritage and threatened species prior to any onground work starting," Mr Busby said.

“A number of sites have been identified with Aboriginal cultural heritage values and these areas will be protected during the remediation work.  

“Likewise, ecological surveys have identified numerous threatened species within the operational area, such as brush sophora, bog onion, native jute, thorny pea, rainforest cassia, scrub turpentine and pointed trefoil.”