A government-appointed panel is exploring an end to logging in NSW native forests within four years, with warring sides reading very different things into the proposal.
The state government is under mounting pressure over the impact of its own logging business on nature.
The historically divisive issue of taking slow-growing hardwoods from native forests has become even trickier as Labor works to deliver its promised Great Koala National Park.
That's because logging by the state-owned Forestry Corporation is continuing in areas earmarked for inclusion in the new refuge.
Conservationists are incensed, saying endangered koalas and greater gliders can't afford to keep losing what's being taken, while the industry says the timber take has always been sustainable.
In August, the government announced an independent expert panel to lead consultations on what the future of forestry should look like.
One of five options being put to stakeholders is an end to native forest logging within four years, with supply to be met through other sources.
That lines up with the end of existing wood supply contracts from northern forests.
Other options include business as usual, reducing native timber harvesting until other sources are found or putting native forests under indigenous management with extra supply to come from private and public plantations.
WWF-Australia forests expert Stuart Blanch says the inclusion of an exit option is a big deal.
"I think this is the first time a NSW government process has seriously consulted stakeholders on ending native forest logging," he said.
"I think this is showing there's enough people in government and parliament who think it's safe enough to articulate this as a real issue they need to explore."
Dr Blanch said the genie was out of the bottle regarding completing the transition out of native forest logging and into plantations.
"The experience from the shutdown of logging in Western Australia and Victoria is that once a government starts to canvass a full exit, the private sector stops investing and workers start finding new jobs."
But the industry has an entirely different take, seeing the exploration of a possible end to native forest logging as a chance to show why it should continue.
"It would be remiss, in the context of this conversation, to not ask that question," said James Jooste, the NSW chief executive of the Australian Forest Products Association.
"We very much saw it on our end as the government saying we need to settle this debate, we want the case for why it would be disastrous to exit out of native forestry.
"The government clearly wants that case put forward. This is a government that has never signalled that it will transition out of native forestry."
In a statement, the government said the panel had been tasked with consulting widely on the future of forestry.
"We want input on what forests and a sustainable forestry industry will look like in the next 30 years."
It said the consultation would consider the sustainability of forestry operations, the future of all types of forestry, environmental concerns, demand for timber and climate change.
