One Stop Chop is where logging and other forestry operations in regions covered by a Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) don’t need Commonwealth environmental approval even if they are likely to impact on threatened species or other matters of national significance. Other industries must comply with both state and federal environmental laws but native forest logging is delegated to the states – One Stop Chop.

The One Stop Chop exemption covers more than six million hectares of native forest on public land in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and WA. They include some of Australia’s best loved and most iconic forests; places of great significance to Aboriginal people; habitat for threatened species like Greater Gliders, Swift Parrots and a myriad others; places important for water and climate regulation; and places of beauty, recreation, refreshment and adventure.

For 20 years the One Stop Chop regime has devoured forests in ever more remote locations. It’s still happening – and will continue inexorably while the One Stop Chop exemption remains.

On the chopping block

These are just a few of the forests set to be logged under the One Stop Chop policy, and some of the species that depend on forests remaining intact.

One stop – chopped!

As unlogged forests become harder to find, state logging agencies are targeting both remote forests and those close to settlements that no-one ever thought would be touched. In less visible areas, the coupes (logging areas) spread across the landscape like a disease.