A new road map for the forestry industry is underway in NSW amid deep disquiet about the harm it's doing to endangered koalas.
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Environment Minister Penny Sharpe flagged the new forestry plan at a major summit focused on saving the species from extinction in NSW.
"I know many of you are deeply concerned about the impact of forestry activities on koalas," she told delegates including conservation groups and the government's own logging business, the Forestry Corporation of NSW.
She said work was was beginning with industry on a road map for sustainable forestry and forest-based industries across NSW.
"All of you will be part of this," she said.
"You'll hear more about this in coming weeks but today is an opportunity for you to have a view about where you think forestry should go into the future. We will feed that into that work."
About 150 representatives attended Friday's koala summit including conservation groups, indigenous owners, wildlife carers, farmers and government agencies.
The event was closed to the media but the minister's speech was released.
Delegates say they were heartened by her acknowledgement of forestry impacts, including deep frustration over ongoing logging when the boundaries of the promised Great Koala National Park are not yet settled.
"I think it's an acknowledgement by the government that this is an issue they have to address," WWF-Australia's forests expert Stuart Blanch said.
"This is further reinforcement that the government is now open to considering the option of ending native forest logging. We weren't there 12 months ago."
Delegates were asked to consider key themes to inform a promised rewrite of the state's koala strategy.
CEO of the Nature Conservation Council Jacqui Mumford said she was focused on what needs to be done to protect koala habitat in NSW.
"One of the key themes we discussed was revisiting Forestry Corp, and re-imagining forestry for NSW.
"She (the minister) certainly acknowledged the threatening processes around habitat destruction. It felt very open and there was a lot of goodwill in the room."
Ms Sharpe said NSW koalas were in a perilous situation.
With 17 per cent of the state's population lost in the Black Summer fires, the task of helping them has never been more urgent.
"Without further action we are facing the shameful reality that koalas could become extinct in NSW by the middle of the century," the minister said.
"This is a reality that cannot be ignored if we are serious, truly serious, about saving koalas in the wild.
"The NSW government can't and won't accept a future without koalas."
Australian Associated Press
