ABOVE: End native logging signs have been hung on the overpass at Iluka and Woodburn. Photo: Contributed
Susanna Freymark
The NSW Environment Protection Authority has fined a logging company $15,000 for breaches under the Local Land Services Act.
In July last year, Kyogle Council received a complaint about the logging of native forest at a site along Forest Rd, about 30km out of Kyogle.
Kyogle Environment Group members witnessed the logging aftermath near the entrance to the Border Ranges National Park and with the help of local ecologists, identified potential breaches and reported the operation to the EPA.
Eight months later, the EPA issued Urbenville-based Rojech Pty Ltd with a $15,000 penalty notice for breaching the Local Land Services Act and the Private Native Forestry Code of Practice.
The EPA also issued Rojech with a caution for harvesting trees in a riparian exclusion zone along an unmarked drainage line, a spokesperson said.
Also, the landholder has been issued with a formal warning for not adequately ensuring the harvest contractor complied with the conditions of the code.
The Rojech penalty notice sends a strong message to landholders and private native forest contractors that non-compliance with the code will not be tolerated.
Kyogle Environment Group member Tori Bail said more than half of all private native forests on freehold title in the Kyogle LGA are approved for logging and for clearing of critical habitat land.
