In February, the EPA put a stop to this nonsense, and said Forestry must do its surveys for the nocturnal species at night, starting within one hour of sunset to increase the odds of seeing them leave their dens.

Yet during 243 surveys after this rule change, Forestry found only nine den trees and four potential den trees. Sure, 261 gliders were sighted, but their homes were not identified, and therefore not protected.

The reason? Public records show Forestry started more than three out of four surveys more than an hour after dark, sometimes after midnight, when the gliders had well and truly left their dens and were out foraging.

Even with a torch and a map, they couldn’t find what they were meant to be looking for. Meanwhile, citizen scientists had no problem.

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Forestry Corp says this was not deliberate and it was always its intention to comply with regulations.

The latest is that the EPA has sided with Forestry that the requirement is only for the first survey of the night to start within a certain timeframe after sunset, and Forestry can run multiple surveys on the same night. The EPA said this was always its shared understanding with Forestry, but had not been worded clearly.

The EPA admitted that it was updating the rules because Forestry had advised them that the current conditions and lack of clarity would reduce the state’s wood supply.

To appease environmental concerns, the EPA has now mandated that the first of the evening’s searches must now start within half an hour of sunset, so more of the work gets done in the window when gliders leave their hollows.

General sightings of gliders throughout the evening will now also count, with a new 25-metre exclusion on any tree where a glider is seen. Effectively, it is trying to protect the glider by protecting its playground.

Citizen scientists can officially identify den trees, but public sightings of gliders in general may not count.

No one is happy. Environmentalists say the EPA has weakened protections, while Forestry says it was given little notice and forced to stand down 15 operations on Monday to review the changes.

Greater gliders were one of the reasons Victoria finally shut down native forest logging, with citizen scientists leading the research. More recently, a dead greater glider was found next to a tree felled in the Yarra Ranges National Park, with the cause of death later being confirmed as blunt trauma.

NSW Forestry Corp is unprofitable, but the state government under Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty is committed to keeping it alive because of the importance of regional jobs. Forestry Corp directly employs 600 people.

Moriarty said she expected Forestry to operate by government rules and regulations, and she wanted the agency to work through the changes with the EPA quickly so the stood-down workers could get back to work.

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