The Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) was convicted on Friday for the 2020 illegal felling of six giant trees and three hollow bearing trees in Wild Cattle Creek State Forest, west of Coffs Harbour.
It was ordered by the Land and Environment Court to pay the sum to the Yurruungga Aboriginal Corporation for restorative justice actions instead of paying a fine.
Restorative justice is a voluntary non-legal process that allows perpetrators to take greater responsibility for offending by making public admissions and communicating with victims.
The forest where the logging took place is within the 315,000-hectare Great Koala National Park, the boundaries of which were updated on March 3.
The case was brought by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and assisted by the Bellingen Environment Centre in consultation with the elders of the Gumbayngirr people, whose land covers the area where the illegal felling act took place.
Parties agreed that restorative justice was the most appropriate course of action for only the third time in the court's history, the Bellingen Environment Centre said.
On top of the financial contribution, the FCNSW was ordered to publish print admissions of its wrongdoing and penalties in multiple national, state and local newspapers.
The FCNSW was not criminally negligent for the tree felling and there were no extra orders made for the protection of further trees.
But the forestry body was told to engage independent consultants to assess their processes and training procedures for logging activities.
The EPA brought further court action against the corporation in August related to alleged breaches of forestry laws in the Tallaganda State Forest, in southeast NSW.
In January, the FCNSW was fined $60,000 for water pollution in the Mogo State Forest, near Batemans Bay.
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson said the decision forced taxpayers to pay the price for a government corporation's mismanagement.
"When the government's own logging corporation is convicted of destroying old growth forest in a koala hub ... it demonstrates that the system regulating native forest logging in NSW is fundamentally broken," she said.
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