The federal government has ordered a logging company to pay up to $3 million for chopping down the wrong forests on the Northern Territory's Tiwi Islands.
The company, Sylvatech, cleared trees from 2004 to 2006, which were supposed to provide a buffer for rainforests and wetlands.
The company has permission to chop down some of the islands' native forests and replace them with tropical acacia plantations, which are used to make paper.
Federal environment minister Peter Garrett today ordered Sylvatech to pay up to $2 million to repair the damage.
The company also has to pay $1.35 million towards indigenous rangers who work on the islands, who are controlling feral pigs and weeds.
"Any action which impacts on a matter of national environmental significance ... is something which I take very seriously," Mr Garrett said.
He said his department had investigated the breaches, and the company then owned up to it.
The Tiwi Islands are located 80km north of Darwin, in the Arafura Sea.