Letter to the Editor: Facts, not hypocrisy, on plantations

DEAR News Of The Area,

IN the NOTA article of 18 February 2026 titled “Forestry organisations promote sustainable management in new report”, Steve Dobbyns, the Chair and Director of Forest and Wood Communities Australia, accused proponents of the Great Koala National Park of “hypocrisy” in telling Australians that plantations would replace native forests.

Telling the truth, Mr Dobbyns, is far from “hypocrisy”.

It is in fact an outstanding achievement, beyond most anticipation, that softwood plantation timbers now supply over 90 percent of the timber used in house building and construction in Australia.

Referring to the fragmented native forest plantations in the Great Koala National Park the circumstances are quite different- environmentally and economically.

With some help from hindsight we know that these plantations were predominantly established on heavily over cleared floodplains and lowlands, commencing in about the 1960s, by the Australian Pulp and Paper Mill Company. The intention was to use them as a wood supply source for a paper mill proposed to be built on the Bellinger River.

The then Forestry Commission quickly followed suit, clearing and planting areas of the most fertile coastal state forests, including areas of now critically endangered lowland rainforests.

The initial target was to plant flooded gum, a fine pulpwood species and prime koala food tree, but only a low value sawlog.

After about 10 years it was realised there was not enough water flowing in the Bellinger River to support a paper mill and most of the Company’s low sawlog quality flooded gum plantations were eventually purchased by the NSW Government as a “supplementary hardwood sawlog resource” for the Forestry Commission.

I think we are starting to see a pattern of past mistakes emerging here which are still being compounded today.

Forestry Corporation is in a period of extensive clear felling of the original plantations, removing all the prime koala food trees and replacing them with blackbutt, not attractive to koalas.

This is especially occurring within the Pine Creek and Tuckers Nob State Forests.

These forests form part of the habitat for what was the most outstanding and best researched coastal koala population in the world.

Its population is now depleted.

At the same time, contrary to Mr Dobbyn’s suggestions, the market for woodchips and sawlogs from these plantations has crashed due to world oversupply and market conditions.

Furthermore, the small size and fragmentation of these plantations is not attractive to further investment.

Supporters of including suitable areas of plantation in the GKNP are seeking to address the multiple environmental and economic issues they have created over time and to help restore the outstanding koala population in an approach that may eventually lead to their World Heritage listing.

Regards,
Ashley LOVE,
Coffs Harbour.