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Timber harvesting has ceased near where an endangered coastal emu nest was discovered in a state forest near Grafton on the NSW North Coast.
The Forestry Corporation of NSW had initially found nine eggs in the nest, but the state's environment department confirmed that its Saving our Species (SoS) team later found another egg had been laid.
SoS collected and transferred seven of the 10 eggs to an incubator, where two have hatched so far.
One of the chicks died from unknown causes.
Back at the nest in the state forest, two emu chicks hatched successfully while the final egg was deemed unviable and collected for testing.
Coastal emus are endangered, with fewer than 50 believed to remain in the wild.
Forestry Corporation senior ecologist Chris Slade said they voluntarily ceased timber harvesting in the state forest on Tuesday afternoon this week.
"We recognised that the operation was close to finishing anyway, and just with the newly hatched emus and the adult father wandering around we just decided to wrap up the operation," he said.
"The nest was successful, the male has hatched two eggs and there are two chicks running around with dad now in the forest.
"We're now very happy that that's been achieved."
Mr Slade said Forestry Corporation immediately put a protective buffer around the nest when it was first discovered, which is required under its licence conditions.
Logging inside the state forest where an endangered coastal emu nest was found. (Supplied: NSW Greens)
Calls for larger buffer
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson has called for a halt to all current and planned native forest logging in the known range of the coastal emu population.
She also said the 100m exclusion zone required under the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval was not enough.
"When you are talking about a population like the coastal emu, 100 metres doesn't cut it," she said.
"Many experts are suggesting that that level of disturbance — we're talking about an industrial scale timber logging operation, these are massive machines major disturbance going from dawn until dusk — this is just not compatible."
She said a 1,000m exclusion zone would provide a "genuine buffer".
"We also now understand that there were two other nests close to the state forest," she said.
"Fortunately [they are] on private land, but very close."
An coastal emu on a private property at Bungawalbin. (Supplied: Jimmy Malecki)
Minimal loss for local timber mills
Timber NSW vice-president Donna Layton said that the halt to operations would have minimal impact on the local industry.
Ms Layton said she felt the 100m exclusion zone provided adequate protection.
"Emus are already there, they've nested and everything was safe so it just seems a bit over the top to have a 1,000 metre exclusion zone when everything worked out well," she said.
"It was discovered and the nest was safe and the emus were safe and that's per the regulation."
She said a larger exclusion zone would impact local mills due to less harvested timber to process.
Challenges with raising chicks
Retired ecologist Dr Greg Clancy, who has had an interest in coastal emus for decades, said he was excited by the recent find.
However, he said with so few nests discovered it had been difficult to monitor the species, with several factors impacting their chances of survival.
"Pigs have been implicated, foxes, dogs, and dingoes will probably take the odd young one," he said.
"But dingos and emus have co-existed for thousands of years.
"The other possibility, because of the small population, inbreeding could be an issue with genetics. I don't think that's been investigated."
Dr Clancy said that there could also be challenges with raising the emu chicks in captivity, including imprinting — when an animal bonds with its caregiver — being a possible issue.
Five eggs from the nest are still being monitored as they remain in incubation.