Conservationists slam 'tunnel visioned and dangerous' draft timber plan

A 25-year Queensland Future Timber Plan was released today, which aims to maximise native forest logging and will have devastating consequences for the endangered greater glider and other forest dependent threatened animals and plants.

In a policy shift reminiscent of the former Newman Government, the Crisafulli Government's timber plan will rip up the South East Queensland Forest Agreement which would have seen all native State Forests south of Gladstone protected.

Conservationists are urging Queenslanders to demand Minister Perrett stop logging greater glider habitat and focus on expanding plantations to supply the small percentage of native timber needed for housing.

QCC Protected Areas Campaigner Nicky Moffat said

This plan doesn’t value Queensland's native forests for anything other than logging, nor does it propose improving the transparency and accountability around logging of native forests.

The conservation sector has been shut out of the plan’s development and there are signs the State’s increasingly endangered forest plants and animals would be sacrificed for another smash and grab of timber from native forests.

Forests give us clean air, water, they store carbon and support a vast diversity of unique plants and animals. These values must be accounted for and considered through a transparent and inclusive process.

The Crisafulli Government must urgently review native forest values in planned logging areas. Evidence of logging in endangered greater glider habitat continues to mount, while plans to establish the Greater Glider Forest Park announced in 2024 appear to have stalled, and are threatened by this plan.

There is a growing call for more forest parks to support outdoor activities and healthy lifestyles as well as protect nature, but it seems the Crisafulli Government is only interested in logging our forests.

We are calling for Queenslanders to tell the Government we want our native forests protected. We hope the Government listens, and the consultation process informs a very different direction for the Queensland timber sector, which ought to focus on innovation in wood processing of plantation timber and the re-establishment of a State-supported plantation expansion scheme.

Images of Lannercost State Forest, threatened by logging

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