Australian Loggers Exploit 'Road Maintenance' Label to Avoid Environmental Laws

Loggers in New South Wales, Australia, have removed around 1,000 trees, some of which were vital habitat for threatened species, by classifying the operations as "road maintenance." This practice in Glenbog State Forest has been criticized by conservationists and legal advocates as "logging in disguise," exploiting a "legal loophole" that could permit unregulated logging across 50,000 kilometers of roadside forest.

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This looked like a logging operation, not a road management operation.

Andrew Wong, an environmental campaigner and executive director of Wilderness Australia, observed that the operation "looked like a logging operation, not a road management operation." The logging occurred within 50 meters of nine dens used by the critically endangered greater glider, an activity that would typically require protection zones under commercial logging regulations. However, these protections did not apply under the relaxed rules for road maintenance.

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I think the New South Wales public would be really concerned if they thought that Forestry Corp were able to carry out logging in state forests that didn't comply with the conditions that were intended to provide some level of protection for wildlife.

"I think the New South Wales public would be really concerned if they thought that Forestry Corp were able to carry out logging in state forests that didn't comply with the conditions that were intended to provide some level of protection for wildlife," said Justine Emerson, a lawyer for the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO). Wong estimates that at least 1,000 logs over 20cm in diameter were removed and sent to a mill.

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The work in January included some tree removal to enable machinery to access the road and safely carry out works, as well as removal of vegetation that had regrown on the road edge to maintain the road at a suitable width.

Forestry Corporation of NSW did not directly address specific questions about the operations. However, a spokesperson stated that the work was conducted within the previously disturbed footprint of the road corridor. "The purpose of road maintenance works is to improve access and safety for the many community members who use and rely on these roads," the spokesperson added. They also noted that while timber recovery is sometimes possible, the primary goal is road maintenance. The operation, planned under NSW planning laws for road maintenance, has so far completed 2.7 kilometers of a 90-kilometer road plan within Glenbog State Forest.

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While there is sometimes an opportunity to recover some timber rather than mulching trees within the forest, the purpose of road maintenance works is to improve access and safety for the many community members who use and rely on these roads.