NSW forests face uncertain future as ‘desperation’ builds over major parties’ inaction over logging

As NSW approaches a state election, the future of forests is a key question for many communities, conservationists and the timber industry. Photograph: Peter Woodard

In early January Susie Russell was arrested on a road that runs through the Bulga state forest on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

She and about 30 protesters – the NSW Greens upper house MP Sue Higginson among them – were there to support a young local woman who was sitting atop a tripod used to block trucks and logging crews from entering the forest.