NSW farmers stepping up tree felling even before land-clearing laws loosened

The state's farmers have lopped paddock trees at an accelerating rate in the past 18 months even before a new land-clearing law eases controls further, government data shows. The new figures, which reveal the rate of clearing of paddock trees has more than doubled since November 2014, come as the to call for a reversal of "retrograde changes" planned in the new Biodiversity Conservation act. NSW farmers used a new self-assessment code to remove 21,716 paddock trees – or more than 50 a day – over the past year and a half. The rate, at an average of about 50 per day,...