“We have a special licence called collateral damage” and "You do know wombats are not a threatened species" and “We don’t have to consider wombats because they are not a threatened species", were NSW Forestry Corporation's answers to how they were going to prevent wombats being buried alive during the logging of Glenbog State Forest.
We GPS marked, sprayed fluorescent paint, used survey tape to highlight the location of 150 wombat burrows and provided the locations and information to NSW Forestry Corporation.
We also requested a total exclusion of one section on the Northern boarder due to the fragile endangered Sphagnum bog ecosystem nearby and the large number of old established wombat burrows. Our plight fell on deaf ears and at no time was an exclusion considered.
After contacting EPA (Environment Protection Authority), and numerous letters and phone calls to different Authorities, The Forestry Corporation agreed to protect our GPS marked burrows and included three additional clauses in their harvest plan.
The logging began and burrows were decimated, bulldozed and flattened, large cut down trees were felled above the entrances to burrows, other entrances were blocked by debris, soil, logs and branches. A road was built above an active burrow; tonnes of cut down timber were piled up above another burrow.
As the logging finished each day, and on the weekends, we went out to clear debris dumped on burrow entrances, we dug out back filled burrows trying to re-open the entrances so the wombats could escape a horrendous slow death. With our GPS, shovels, picks, a crowbar and torches, we worked our way through the changing decimating depressing landscape.
We documented the progress and shared via social media. It did not take long before petitions started and thousands of people from all over the world wrote letters to Politicians, Journalists, Wildlife Land Trust, Humane Society International, IFAW, RSPCA, NSW Wildlife Council, EPA, Forestry Corporation, etc…. Media releases were publised and the story of the Glenbog wombats were covered by most media agencies. From Sun-Herald, ABC, Canberra Times, News.com, Radio interviews, media agencies in the USA, UK, Japan and many other countries, as well as the local papers.
Senator David Shoebridge, Senator Janet Rice and Senator Lee Rhiannon raised it in Parliament and questioned Primary Industries Minister The Hon. Katrina Hodgkinson regarding the NSW Forestry Corporation’s failure to comply with our agreement.
Due to public outrage, pressure from media and EPA, an internal investigation commenced and logging was temporarily ceased. We had several meetings with both EPA and Forestry Corporation leading to Jarake Wildlife Sanctuary providing wombat behaviour training days to the Forestry's plant operators, planners, ecologists, managers and contractors and to discuss how and why to better protect burrows during logging.
Together we developed the Glenbog Guidelines that has since been used in all Northern sections of Glenbog State Forest, Mogo State Forest and Corunna State Forest. The guidelines have also been successfully used in other land clearing areas such as the Lake Wallace project.
