The issue of logging in the Riverina red gum forests has pitted two NSW government departments against each other.

That’s according to internal documents obtained through a freedom of information application by Greens MP Ian Cohen.

The documents reveal Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, denied he prevented Department of the Environment and Climate Change officials from assessing the red gum forests.

They also revealed Ian McDonald’s department believed the Department of Environment, would take ''a pseudo-scientific position'' to favour protection of the red gum forests.

As the National Resources Commission prepares to hand down its recommendations in late November, there are fears they will be watered down.

2SER's Biwa Kwan reports.