Eurobodalla Greens are demanding an immediate end to all logging of Mogo State Forest so that the forest landscape can recover and be managed as a world-class mountain bike facility.
The Eurobodalla Greens say "The bushfires of black summer hit the region around Mogo particularly hard wiping out not only huge numbers of native wildlife but also the economic base of the town itself. "Mogo, on the New South Wales south coast, is a heavily tourist dependent town. So in 2020 when the local member, himself a mountain bike rider, announced $3 million of government funding for an adventure trails network centred on the town he was met with cautious optimism. "Council pledged another $750,000 and a company was engaged to develop the plan and construct the trails. "Within the footprint of the project are forests which haven’t been recently logged so provide a very appealing natural experience full of hollow bearing trees and surviving wildlife through which people can walk or ride. These remaining unlogged sections need to remain unlogged if the project is to attract visitor numbers high enough to achieve the economic viability of the project. Contrary to the best scientific advice available post-fire logging did resume in these forests in April 2021." In their on-line petition the group present: Dear Premier, We demand that you intervene to protect the viability of the fledgling Mogo Adventure Trails Hub to which your government has already granted $3 million in funding and the local Eurobodalla Shire will co-fund at 25% of the State government contribution.
We urge you to instruct the NSW Forestry Corporation to set aside all current and planned logging of Mogo State Forest in order to protect and enhance the natural asset base of this important initiative in the economic recovery of the fire-devastated Mogo district.
You can find the petition HERE
Above: This map shows 574 to the west near Mt Wandera and 146 (orange polygon) east of Mogo which will go active in October. Interestingly there is now a 3rd compartment in Mogo State Forest proposed for logging – 179 - which adjoins the currently active 180.
179 contains a current mountain bike trail.
Local Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, himself a mountain biker and proud supporter of the Mogo Adventure Trails Hub is one of the cabinet ministers sitting on a report into the future of native forest logging in NSW by the Natural Resources Commission. The Beagle has been told by activist groups that “Ït is understood this report could be recommending the phasing out of native forest logging in the state." "Why else is it classified as cabinet– in-confidence?
"If FCNSW reserve the right to “harvest” the landscape at any time (and they do have the “right”) then any millions of dollars poured into infrastructure for mountain biking then not only is it money down the drain but also a substantial slap in the face for the locals of Mogo (and Eurobodalla) trying restore the economy devastated by fire and now Covid.
"Let’s not forget the Narooma Adventure Trails Hub also planned for State Forest land ( Bodalla State Forest) also the recipient of millions of dollars where FCNSW also reserves the right to “harvest” at any time. The only difference between the Narooma and Mogo projects is that the logging in Mogo is current and imminent."
"This is a classic clash of land management values where a gutless State Government is lagging behind community expectations. An increasingly environmentally aware public supports the transition of the management of these precious ecosystems away from logging in favour of nature based tourism."
