Police arrested two activists peacefully protesting the NSW Forestry Corporation’s logging of Bulga State Forest on January 9.
The community of Bulga Plateau, west of Port Macquarie, has maintained a 50-person blockade to stop industrial machinery from accessing native forests.
One of those arrested was long-term activist and North East Forest Alliance spokesperson Susie Russell. Her bail conditions prohibit her from entering any part of the forest.
“I have no doubt I was arrested in order to try and limit my involvement in the campaign,” Russell said. “It has however, made my resolve stronger.”
Russell vowed to continue resisting logging in the area. “I feel I owe it to young people and to those lives without voice, to not stand by in silence while the destruction continues.”
As part of the ongoing actions, a community member, dressed as a koala, has spent a number of nights in a tree platform to protest the logging of koala habitat.
“I’ve decided to climb and stay in this tree as long as I can, to protect this native forest from being cleared,” she said. “This is amazing forest — old trees are home to many animals, some of whom are already threatened and endangered.”
“We must defend what remains of our native forests … to reduce the severity and impact of a changing climate, we must protect our forests.”
Greens MP Sue Higginson, who was at the blockade, said that logging of native forests needed to end.
“The NSW government is ignoring science, industry and communities by pushing forward with plans to destroy native forests through unprofitable and dangerous logging.”
Despite the arrests, the blockade forced Forestry Corporation to temporarily halt planned native logging operations and instead log a nearby plantation forest. But there is “no guarantee that they won’t switch back to the native forest at any time”, Higginson said.
[For more information, visit Save Bulga Forest.]