Forest Matters January 2025
Dear NRPG members and interested,
For your interest, and action!
Kind regards,
Steve Gates
President, NRPG Bushcarers
Forest Matters January 2025
Latest forest updates from WAFA
 Dear Steve, Welcome to the January edition of Forest Matters. The WA Government is celebrating the biggest expansion of conservation areas in Australia’s history – an extra 6.5 million hectares of unique landscapes, culture, wildlife and plants for future generations. Whilst this is fantastic progress, we are looking to the Government to ensure delivery on the committed protection of over 700,000ha of South West forests. They’ve proven if resources and motivated, it can be done. The WAFA team has grown this week and we are thrilled to have Emma Heyink join us as Community and Events Organiser and Phil Evans as Communications Officer. They both bring experience in community organising, campaigning, communications and much more. Thank you to outgoing Social Media Officer Kate Arebon for her hard work over the last few months. We’ll miss having Kate in her current role but are glad that she’ll continue to be part of the WAFA team in other ways. This weekend we will be standing in solidarity with First Nations people who have long protested the celebration of January 26. Find an action near you here. The Southwest forests always have been and always will be Noongar/Bibbulmun boodja. Jess BoyceDirector Will Tanya Plibersek act to save Southwest forests?  South32’s destructive bauxite mine expansion has moved one step closer to reality with the WA State Government providing its final approval for the project. This means that Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, now has the opportunity to save 3,855ha of the Northern Jarrah Forests from bauxite mining. Join the thousands of people who have already emailed Minister Plibersek by clicking the button below, and please share the action amongst your friends and family. Bonus action: Phone the Minister on (02) 6277 7920 to let her know what you think.  Photo: Jake Parker Hundreds of concerned community members joined WAFA and friends for a rally on the banks of the Kwakoorillup Beela/Frankland River in Nornalup on Saturday to protect the Tingle forest from prescribed burning. The rally was featured on the ABC and local media outlets. The ABC also featured a story about the collapse of at least one 400 year old Red Tingle – discovered by local scientists. The counting continues and we will keep you up to date as that information comes to hand. We must continue to keep pressure on Premier Roger Cook, Minister for Tourism Rita Saffioti, and Minister for Environment Reece Whitby to not torch the Tingles, and exclude fire-sensitive ecosystems from future prescribed burns. You can take action using the button below. Thank you to Fire & Biodiversity WA, Denmark Environment Centre, South-West Forests Defence Foundation Inc., BirdLife Western Australia, Denmark Bird Group, Gondwana Link, South Coast Environment Group and Doctors for the Environment Australia for rallying with us.  Thank you! We were so pleased that 3,388 people joined the call for important changes to DBCA’s prescribed burns in Southwest forests with our recent parliamentary e-petition. Whilst the online version of the petition is now closed, your chance to be heard has not! You can join groups like Nannas for Native Forests, who have been out raising awareness about the issues with the current method of prescribed burning in the Southwest by getting out into the forests and community and collecting signatures via our paper version of the petition. Be like the Nannas, and download your copy via the button below. It’s time for the WA Government to adopt more early detection and rapid suppression technology to extinguish bushfires faster. We must stop the dangerous over-reliance on prescribed burning that sees vulnerable ecosystems and wildlife torched. Please download and print the petition to gather signatures from your network, returning it to us before 30 April.  The WA State Election on the 8th of March is fast approaching and we need to make sure candidates are hearing from their communities that they want to see forests protected. The Conservation Council of WA has developed the 2025 WA State Election Environment Priorities with input from the sector including WAFA. Whilst not an exhaustive list, the document addresses some of the most imminent threats to the state’s unique and precious places. Please take a look and consider taking a copy to your local candidates ahead of the election and call on them to pledge to support the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to provide Strategic Advice on the Northern Jarrah Forests, increase funding for rapid suppression to quickly extinguish bushfires, or other forest and environmental protections listed in the document that are close to your heart. Please reply to this email to find out how you can help more.  To raise money for WAFA, 50 year-old Sarah Carlton will run 42.4km from Yallingup to Howard Park as part of the Margaret River Ultra Marathon. We are impressed as this will be Sarah’s first marathon and we thank her for thinking of WAFA for this monumental feat. You can sponsor Sarah with a tax-deductible donation for the Margaret River Ultra Marathon by clicking the button below. Thanks Sarah!  Do you love forests? Why not wear your passion on your sleeve and pick up some of our stickers and signs to tell the world proudly: I love WA Forests! With an election coming in March, now is the time to sing it loud and sing it proud. So if you want to ‘stop the chop’ or ‘end forest mining’, then head on over to our shop. Proceeds help WAFA continue to work to protect WA Forests. Join TWS and the End Forest Mining Alliance to let Alcoa and the Labor Government know that as long as the health of our communities and forests are at stake, no amount of greenwashing will make up for the destruction Alcoa is causing!12 February – Conservation Council of WA – Birds of a feather: Saving the Black Cockatoo Join the CCWA and Urban Bushland Council for the first Environment Matters forum of 2025, as they share an overview of the plight of the Black Cockatoos and hear from a line-up of guest speakers on the all-important question – how do we save the Black Cockatoos?Are you one of WAFA’s member groups? If you would like a brief note of your group’s event, activity, or call for submissions included in this section of the Forest Matters newsletter, please send to [email protected] Not a member group? Find out more about the alliance here.  We acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional owners of the southwest forests across the Noongar/Bibbulmun nation. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land. wafa.org.au Stay connected with us and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter and Linkedin. We rely on private regular donations to be independent and effective. Donate to WA’s Forest Protection Team today. |
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