Stop the loggers and save our endangered wildlife

Can you support the campaign to save our wild cockatoos?

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I am calling on you to protect Western Australia’s endangered wildlife species and put a stop to any further logging of their remaining habitat and feeding areas.

I am appalled that our iconic Carnaby’s, Baudin’s and Red-tailed black cockatoos are now starving to death, forced out of their forest homes by logging, fires and the impacts of drought.

As Environment Minister you have the choice of giving the cockatoos a fighting chance, or allowing a loss-making logging industry to destroy their habitat and drive the cockatoos to extinction.

Forest logging and land clearing remain the most significant long-term threats to black cockatoos. Together with the combined effects of the South-West’s driest year on record and bushfires burning tens of thousands of hectares, our cockatoos are now in a desperate situation.

I am appalled by news of wildlife rescue centres reporting unprecedented numbers of starving cockatoos – some of which are so seriously deprived that they have to be euthanised.

Despite all this, the Forest Products Commission has released its plan to log thousands of hectares of high-conservation forests this year. This includes the incredibly important Arcadia and Warrup forests, as well as Helms forest, which is one of the last remaining areas of intact cockatoo habitat in the fire-ravaged Nannup area.

We call on you to

Instruct the EPA to conduct an urgent and comprehensive audit to identify remaining food resources for black cockatoos, and actions that can be taken to protect them.
Immediately suspend logging in high-conservation forest blocks includingHelms, Warrup, Arcadia, Merribup and Koonan forest blocks to protect these critical food resources for black cockatoos.

Our unique and charismatic black cockatoos are a part of Western Australia’s identity and it is my belief that they should be protected accordingly. Without action now, we can’t guarantee a future for the species. The continuation of harmful logging activity in the face of all this is not acceptable.

Please advise me urgently on what action you will take to secure a future for our black cockatoos and protect their food sources during this crisis.

UPDATE: We now have verified photographs of numbats in the Warrup Forest, have confirmed the existence of a rare mainland population of quokkas in Arcadia Forest and know of sustainable populations of phascogales and western quolls (chudditch) in Helms Forest. We call on you now to:

End logging in our last unprotected high-conservation-value forests and give our native animals a chance at survival, and
FInally conduct a long-overdue audit of the endangered species currently at risk in native forests gazetted for logging.

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WA's endangered wildlife is suffering

Western Australia’s endangered wildlife is right now under attack by state-sanctioned loggers working for the Forest Products Commission. Loggers have moved into some of the last high-conservation forest left in the South West.

Logging has already begun in the Warrup Forest, 25km south-east of Bridgetown. This is a critically important habitat for black cockatoos, numbats and many other rare native animals. Logging has also begun in the Arcadia Forest, home to one of the last remaining mainland quokka populations, and will soon commence in Helm's Forest, where rare western quolls live in significant numbers.

If we don’t act now to stop the logging of these areas, thousands of native animals will have their homes destroyed and some of our most endangered and unique species could be pushed over the brink.

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This numbat was photographed just 300m from the Warrup Forest logging area and a mere 3m from a logging access road.

Our native animals need large areas of bushland to forage for food. Each mature cockatoo must eat 100 large marri gum nuts or 1000 small jarrah nuts every day just to survive, while a solitary numbat can chew through 10,000 termintes in a single day. Now, the combined impacts of logging, land clearing, recent bushfires and last year’s record drought mean that, in many places, there is simply not enough food to go around.

Helm's Forest near Nannup, is even home to a flock of cockatoos that were rescued and released into the area by the Department of Environment and Conservation! This area is also acting as a temporary refuge for a huge variety of species that have escaped from that district’s recent bushfires.

Forest areas like the Warrup forest near Bridgetown are not just a vital food source for the cockatoos, but are providing some of the last remaining refuges for our unique endangered mammals like the chuditch, quenda, and even our WA emblem, the numbat.

If we allow these beautiful forest areas to be logged, then there is a strong chance that we will lose our unique black cockatoos from WA’s skies forever, while any of our already highly threatened ground dwellers which survive the logging will face devastating fires lit to clear up the unsellable 'waste' timber.

By writing to Minister Marmion and telling him to stop destroying key native habitats, you will be helping to save some truly unique and beautiful WA icons.