The spring and summer of 2019-20 saw an unprecedented Australian bushfire season, the largest and most destructive ever recorded. In NSW, the worst hit state, fire affected more than 5 million hectares, destroying more than 2,400 homes and damaging another 1,000, forced thousands of terrified citizens to flee and made many thousands more homeless. In the nearby district of Nymboida, west of Coffs Harbour, the cataclysmic Liberation Fire destroyed 86 family homes in a single night on November 8 2019. Thirty-four people lost their lives in the NSW bushfires.
The fires killed an estimated one billion native animals according to The University of Sydney Environmental Sciences Professor Chris Dickman. The most affected native vegetation community was heath land, with more than half affected by fire. This was then followed by wet sclerophyll forests, the predominant forest type within the Pine Creek district, with more than 40% burnt. Of the 300 fauna species listed as ‘threatened’ under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, the habitat of 60 were affected by these fires.
It is estimated between 35-65% of Koala habitat in NSW was impacted by the bushfires along with a huge loss of koalas burnt to death, with thousands perishing just here on the Mid-North Coast. The internationally significant Koala population around the Port Macquarie area was savagely burnt with thousands of hectares of primary koala habitat, and untold numbers of Koalas, incinerated. Many more suffered horrific burns and were rescued, treated and rehabilitated or euthanized by volunteer wildlife carers.
Pine Creek spared
Largely due to a committed local fire fighting force that provided exceptional community protection and education, early detection and admirable work by fire fighters dousing a number of ignitions before the fires started to run, resulted in the majority of the Coffs/Bellingen native forests miraculously escaping the carnage of the bushfires that erupted all around us.
The fact that the forest of Pine Creek was spared in these fires makes it even more precious as a critical refuge and sanctuary for koalas and all the native animals that thrive in this type of native habitat. It is the position of Friends of Pine Creek that the permanent protection of this globally significant native forest from any future logging, becomes a priority environmental policy position for the NSW Government.
Help us help our forests. Whatever we do, we cannot do it without you.
Friends of Pine Creek 