By Bellingen Shire News
Local campaigners have reported the logging of Ringwood, a rare rainforest tree found only in three river valleys on the Mid North Coast, in Pine Creek State Forest, as a decision by the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee on whether to list the species as endangered remains pending.
Ringwood, also known as Aniseed myrtle, is largely restricted to the Bellinger, Kalang and Nambucca river valleys. Scientists have nominated the tree for threatened-species assessment. The species is also under pressure from a leaf rust that researchers describe as frequently fatal.
Local campaigner Charlotte Rogers said community members had been shocked to discover the logging, and that video footage taken at the site showed felled Ringwood waiting to be removed from Pine Creek.
“I can’t believe this amazing rainforest is being cut down and burned to generate so-called ‘green power’,” Ms Rogers said.
Ms Rogers said the timber was being trucked approximately 200 kilometres to be processed for biomass energy sold as renewable electricity.
Pine Creek State Forest lies within the proposed Great Koala National Park boundary, which has been subject to a logging moratorium on native forest areas since September last year. The NSW Government excluded hardwood plantation compartments from that moratorium when the boundary was announced, and Forestry Corporation of NSW has said operations in those zones continue.