Take Action

12 April 2023

Here’s where you’ll find updates on all the important events and other links related to WAFA’s campaigns.

Permanent protection for Southwest forests

Publication of the final WA Forest Management Plan 2024-2033 is due by the end of 2023. You can view WAFA’s submission on the draft plan here
The next step is for the EPA to decide on a review process of the draft FMP. It is critical that there is a full environmental assessment and that Ministerial Conditions are imposed to make the next FMP legally enforceable. The EPA are now seeking input about whether to conduct a PER. We have until the 18th May to respond.

New National Parks and other protected areas

WAFA is urging the State Government to use the forest values mapping project by Daniel Jan Martin for the creation of over 400,000ha of new National Parks and protected areas: Defining and Creating New Protected Areas in the South West Forests Beyond 2024.

Last year of logging

We are working to reduce the impact of logging in its final year and urging the Forestry Minister to take the most ecologically and socially significant forests off the logging list. The logging plans are available on the Forest Products Commission website.
You can write to the West Australian Forestry Minister Jacquie Jarvis to express your concerns at: Minister.Jarvis@dpc.wa.gov.au

Northern Jarrah Forests

WAFA has referred Alcoa’s Mine Management Plans to the EPA – read our media release and referral documents
You can find detailed information about the impact of mining on the Northern Jarrah Forests here
Send an email to the Premier
Read our report ‘A Thousand Cuts: mining in the Northern Jarrah Forests:’

Fire
Take action and join us in calling for an expert, independent review on WA’s prescribed burning practices. Every year, DBCA burns over 200,000 ha of forests and other ecosystems in the South West of WA.

The program is intended to reduce the risk of wildfire but in reality, it is having profoundly negative impacts on ecosystems, wildlife, climate and people’s health.

Every voice counts! Please send an email to Minister Whitby today!

Black Cockatoo Crisis
Screening times and tickets for this award-winning social impact documentary by filmmaker Jane Hammond can be found here

Save the Black Cockatoos
Visit the website where you can find all the current actions, the Emergency Plan and links to social media:

Volunteer with WAFA
WA Forest Alliance has a long and proud history of being volunteer-driven. We rely on the community’s generosity and passion for forest conservation to help us achieve our campaign goals and protect the South West forests.
Volunteer with WAFA
Co-work for forests

The Sustainability Handbook
Check out the fabulous guide to sustainability and volunteering prepared by Kirsten, a student intern at The Wilderness Society – it’s a fabulous resource for young people in WA! Read it as a digital flipbook

Protect the tingles from prescribed burning, for good

Tingles are a large, ancient tree species that are only found in a small area in WA’s Southwest, close to Walpole. They can live for more than 400 years, reach heights over 55 metres and have the largest base of any eucalypt, and provide critical habitat to many threatened plants and animals. They are vulnerable to frequent fire.

In December 2024, Giants East, a tingle forest block in the famed Valley of the Giants, was torched as part of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA)’s prescribed burning program.

More than 100 giant trees collapsed in the intense burn, with flames reaching the tops of many trees in one of the worst outcomes seen by WA’s prescribed burning program.

After persistent community action, three tingle-karri blocks, Nornalup, Coalmine and Mount Clare received a reprieve at the end of 2025 and were removed from the burn plan until July 2026.

But these blocks, and other tingle forests, aren’t safe forever. They could be on the burn plan for 2026-27. There must be a commitment from the WA Government to permanently protect tingles from prescribed burning and revise how fire is managed in these areas.

Over time, tingle forests self-thin and become naturally less flammable. Left unburnt, they are less of a fire risk than forests burnt in the last 30 years.

In a drying climate that is increasingly prone to bushfires, it’s important to be bushfire ready, but prescribed burning shouldn’t be the only tool in our bushfire prevention kit. It is vital that the Southwest’s prescribed burning practices reflect current science and a changed climate, and funding is directed towards rapid detection and suppression of bushfires.

Smoking collapsed Tingle after the giants east burn

It is of the highest priority that the tingles are protected from fire not just in this burn plan, but for good.

Please contact the Premier and relevant Ministers using our template to urge them to permanently protect tingle forests from prescribed burning. Enter your details to start writing your email.

Read more about the Giants East burn or about rapid suppression technology.