Forestry Minister Kim Chance has welcomed the release of ‘Australia’s State of the Forests Report’ for 2008.

“This national report shows Western Australia’s local forestry industries have made many significant improvements and are striking the right balance to achieve social, economic and environmental sustainability over the long term,” Mr Chance said.

Released by the Australian Government’s Bureau of Rural Sciences, the report is the third five-yearly update on Australia’s forests and presents information on their progress from a wide range of sources.

The Minister said there is clear evidence that sound forestry policy and the application of constantly improving best practice in forestry continues to achieve positive environmental outcomes for WA.

For example, the report notes the impact of the WA Government’s ‘Protecting our old growth forests’ policy which took effect in 2001, ending timber harvesting in old growth forests.

This increased the total area of old growth on public land set aside from timber harvesting to 331,000 hectares and contributed to a reduction in supply of first and second-grade jarrah and karri sawlogs to the timber industry from 457,000 cubic metres per year to 185,000 cubic metres per year (‘Australia’s State of the Forests Report’, page 17).

In a similar vein, the report notes the impact of WA’s ‘Forest Management Plan 2004-2013’, which resulted in significant increases in the area of forest in nature conservation reserves … and altered management prescriptions in many other areas. (page 21).

Areas of forest protected in formal conservation reserves across the country have grown to 23 million hectares, an expansion of 1.5 million hectares nationally in the last five years.

In WA alone, Mr Chance said the area excluded from harvesting has increased to 3.6 million hectares, which includes nature conservation reserves, informal reserves and fauna habitat zones in State forest.

At a national level, the size of Australia’s plantation estate has grown by 12 per cent to 1.82 million hectares in the last five years and provides sustainable resources for two-thirds of the national log supply.

The Minister also noted that Australia imports more timber and forest products than we export, which means there is still much work to be done to make our local industry more competitive and boost our value adding capabilities.

WA’s recently launched Plantation and Farm Forestry strategy, combined with recommendations to appoint the Forest Products Commission as the State’s lead forestry agency, will play a key role in the continued expansion and development of the forestry sector within the State.

‘Australia’s State of the Forests Report’ mentions a number of activities and policies with direct relevance to WA as highlighted below:

·          WA is leading the transition from native hardwood to plantation timber, with 34 per cent of the nation’s total hardwood plantations, more than any other State or Territory (page 57);

·          In WA, the area excluded from harvesting increased to 3.6 million hectares. The area excluded includes nature conservation reserves, informal reserves and fauna habitat zones in multiple-use public forest (page 89);

·          halting land clearing combined with mass tree planting in the upper Denmark catchment has resulted in measurable reductions in the salinity of the Denmark River (page 109);

·          WA forests sequester significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which helps to counteract the effects of global warming (pages 112-122); and

·          In WA, the Forest Products Commission is producing a series of tree farming and industry development plans, which aim to deliver environmental services in target areas through the development of viable plantation industries (page 195).