Deputy Premier John Barilaro ignored pleas from the environmental watchdog to curb logging in a core koala habitat hit hard by last season’s fires, instead demanding the state firm meet its contracts.  Documents reveal the Environment Protection Authority sought a voluntary halt to logging in the Lower Bucca and other state forests from March onwards. After initially supporting such a move, Forestry Corp rejected the request after intervention by Mr Barilaro, the papers show. The urgency to slow logging in state forests followed spring and summer bushfires that devastated large areas, including about three-quarters of some key koala habitat sites in northern NSW.  Lower Bucca, near Coffs Harbour, “has a high proportion of high-value koala habitat; it contains a koala hub, and is an important koala refugium in bushfire recovery”, EPA document written as advice to Environment Minister Matt Kean in early April shows.