Hostile environments, terminal habitat, and tomb trees: The impact of systemic failures to survey for mature-forest dependent species in the State forests of NSW.

Grant Wardell-Johnson; Todd Robinson

Just Accepted

This article has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication. It is in production and has not been edited, so may differ from the final published form.

Hostile environments, terminal habitat, and tomb trees: The impact of systemic failures to survey for mature-forest dependent species in the State forests of NSW.

Grant Wardell-Johnson , Todd Robinson

Abstract

Context; The Coastal Integrated Forestry Approval (CIFOA) areas of NSW include most populations of at least two threatened species of glider (Petaurus australis australis - Yellow-bellied Glider [south-eastern], and Petauroides volans - Greater Glider [Southern and Central]) in the State. The NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) administers protocols to conserve gliders within forest compartments intensively managed for timber production by Forests Corporation NSW (FCNSW). These protocols include pre-logging surveys and retention of hollow-bearing trees (HBTs), den trees and associated buffers. Citizen scientists have ground-truthed these protocols in some compartments. Aims and methods; We assessed the effectiveness of surveys by FCNSW and associated outcomes in the context of planned logging operations. Key Results; Although gliders have been detected and abundant HBTs retained in 10 State forests across the CIFOAs, no den trees were identified by FCNSW in any ‘active’ compartment (as at December 2023). Thus, isolated HBTs or tomb trees were retained without associated buffers. Several phases of EPA protocols have not improved the outcomes for glider conservation within logged compartments, even when complied with by FCNSW. Conclusions; Based on the FCNSW data and on citizen science, surveys implemented by FCNSW under CIFOA protocols result in poor outcomes for gliders and other mature forest dependent species. Wholesale changes in process are likely required for effective conservation. Implications; New approaches in monitoring and research commitment, administration, and oversight are likely required to halt the increasingly rapid decline of threatened gliders, as well as local forest communities in the State forests of NSW.

PC24014 Accepted 15 December 2024