Timber production in State forests

Forestry Corporation has been appointed to manage State forests for multiple uses, including environmental conservation, community access and renewable timber production. Around half of the State forest estate is permanently set aside for conservation, with the remainder zoned for timber production and periodically harvested and regrown. Timber harvesting is highly regulated and takes place in about one per cent of NSW State forests each year, with all harvested areas fully regrown.

Timber harvesting in native State forests is regulated by the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (CIFOA), which sets strict conditions developed with the input of expert scientific panels to protect and maintain wildlife habitat, forest flora, water quality and biodiversity across the landscape and to balance responsible timber production with ongoing conservation.

Producing timber in a post-fire landscape

The 2019-20 fires were the worst NSW has ever experienced. They impacted around five million hectares of NSW, including around 830,000 hectares of native State forests and 65,000 hectares of State forest timber plantations, as well as national parks and private properties.

Many species of eucalypt are fire tolerant and wetter than average conditions in the years following the fires have resulted in significant recovery in many forests. However, the forests' response to the fires is influenced by a range of factors including the severity of the fire and the species affected. Just as the extent and severity of the fires was highly variable across the landscape, so too has recovery been variable across the forest estate.

To fully assess the impact of the fires on State forests and timber, we have carried out an environmental assessment and reviewed the sustainable timber yield as part of our fire recovery plan to regrow, replant and rebuild for the future. We carry out ongoing environmental monitoring across State forests and this will continue throughout the recovery.

Protecting wildlife, water quality and biodiversity

Forestry Corporation has been managing forests and producing timber for more than a century. The sustainability of these forests and the responsible stewardship of that resource is fundamental. As one of four firefighting authorities in NSW, Forestry Corporation took an active role in fighting the 2019-20 fires and acted quickly to voluntarily suspend timber harvesting operations in native forests impacted by fires while further assessments were carried out.

In the initial period after the fires Forestry Corporation worked with the Environment Protection Authority to implement site specific operating conditions in recently burnt forests that focused on soil and water protection, potential impacts on unburnt patches within fire affected forests and ensuring that harvesting could take place in a precautionary setting while ensuring the safety of forestry workers.

Since early 2021 Forestry Corporation has developed a suite of additional protection measures that are now implemented on a voluntary basis in regions that were affected by fire in 2019-20 to augment the environmental protections already in place under the CIFOA. These additional voluntary environmental safeguards have been designed based on the best available information, including review of relevant literature, surveys undertaken since the time of the fires and assessments of forest recovery across the state.

The CIFOA was established in the context of a broad public forest landscape that includes a large reserve network both on state forest and other public land tenures. State forests available for timber harvesting make up less than five per cent of the public forest estate in NSW and the CIFOA is designed to ensure that timber harvesting operations in these areas are planned and managed in a responsible manner. Under this existing environmental ruleset, timber harvesting is selective and an average 40 per cent of each harvest area is already set aside to protect environmental features and wildlife habitat. Existing environmental rules include:

• permanent conservation of nearly half of the State forest estate to protect significant environmental features including old growth, rainforest, wetlands, stream network and habitat corridors
• limits on harvesting in local areas to ensure harvesting is spread across the landscape
• requirements to carry out broad area searches to identify threatened species and set aside their habitat as well as specific targeted surveys for some species
• soil and water protection measures to maintain stability, minimise erosion and protect water quality
• protection of 10 per cent of each harvest area in wildlife habitat and tree retention clumps, focused on the best available habitat
• protection of individual trees with habitat value.

The additional conditions augment these measures and are detailed below for each region. These measures strike a responsible balance between environmental conservation, supplying essential timber products and maintaining employment in small communities reliant on timber jobs in the post-fire environment. The conditions have been incorporated into the harvest plans for selective timber harvesting operations in forests that were impacted by fires in the north coast, south coast and Eden regions. Compliance with harvest plans is strictly audited. Further details are in our rationale document.

Additional environmental measures - North coast

Fires impacted north coast forests between August and November 2019. While recovery is not uniform and cannot be simply described, overall significant areas of forests where canopies on mature trees were scorched or fire‐consumed have re‐established through epicormic budding systems. While there was some loss in older hollow- bearing trees, mortality in mature trees has not been high. In the majority of sites, ground cover recovery has been prolific, with vegetative ground cover observed in many sites to be significantly more abundant than during the drought that preceded the fires. Remote sensing data shows that the fire spread at varying intensity across the landscape, with patches remaining unburnt or lightly burnt providing refugia for wildlife throughout the fires. Similarly, remote sensing data can be used to assess at a landscape scale of the recovery of important shelter and feed resources that are used by forest fauna, as well as the recovery of the vegetation.

Since 2019, we have taken a highly precautionary approach to timber production, allowing significant time for forest recovery and assessment of fire impacted landscapes. To maintain some level of timber production, we moved the majority of our timber harvesting operations on the north coast to hardwood plantations. Operations have also taken place in forests not impacted by fires. Two operations were carried out in forests impacted by fire under Site Specific Operating Conditions issued by the EPA.

The standard CIFOA with all normal survey and assessment requirements applies to all operations including in burnt areas. On top of the CIFOA, additional conditions are applied on a voluntary basis to forests that were affected by the 2019-20 wildfire as outlined below. The conditions are incorporated into our Forest Management System (FMS). Further details on these measures are in an addendum to the rationale document referred to above.

Additional environmental measures - South coast and Eden

Fires impacted forests in the south coast and Eden regions in December 2019 and January 2020. There are no hardwood plantations in these regions, so  Forestry Corporation sought Site Specific Operating Conditions (SSOC) from the Environment Protection Authority. These ensured the changed environmental risks were addressed and mitigated in any harvesting operations while delivering some small quantities of timber. Operations reduced to around a third of the normal rate during 2020 and 2021 and additional rules were put in place on every operation.

The standard CIFOA with all normal survey and assessment requirements applies to all operations including in burnt areas. On top of the CIFOA, additional conditions are applied on a voluntary basis to forests that were affected by the 2019-20 wildfire as outlined below. The conditions are incorporated into our Forest Management System (FMS). Further details are in the addendum to the rationale document referred to above.

Additional environmental measures - Tumbarumba

Fires impacted forests in the Tumbarumba region in December 2019 and January 2020. These forests are addressed separately to the south coast and Eden forests due to the different forest types.

The forests around Tumbarumba include Alpine Ash and Mountain/ Manna Gum species that are sensitive to fire and generally killed. Trees that have been killed by fire can be harvested and processed for timber within a limited period following the fire impact before they begin to deteriorate. These forest types regenerate prolifically following fire, with young regrowth and removing dead trees can have benefits for promoting regeneration when done in a carefully planned manner.

The CIFOA applies on all operations and additional conditions are applied on a voluntary basis to forests that were affected by the 2019-20 wildfire as outlined below. The conditions are incorporated into our Forest Management System (FMS).

Regenerating for the future

Timber is a renewable product and the same State forests have been harvested and regrown and recovered from fire many times over the past 100 years. Fire-affected forests will regenerate following the 2019-20 fires and many are already showing remarkable regeneration.

Good regeneration is not an accident – it is something we carefully consider from the time we first start planning a timber harvesting operation. In all fire-affected locations identified for selective harvesting with augmented environmental conditions, a key consideration will be ensuring that for each tree harvested, new trees germinate and grow in its place, restoring the forest and regrowing a renewable timber supply for future generations.

The Ultimate Renewable

Timber is an essential renewable resource and renewable timber sourced from sustainably managed forests is a key part of the climate solution.

Taking into account the energy required to transform raw materials into building products and the fact that timber stores carbon for the whole of the product’s life, timber has a much smaller carbon footprint than other popular building materials like steel or concrete.

Carbon calculations must take into account the impact of sourcing timber and wood products from elsewhere or of using alternative, more carbon intensive, products such as concrete and steel.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change notes that in the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.

Every time a tree is harvested, a tree regenerates in its place, making timber a sustainable, renewable resource for future generations when carefully managed – the ultimate renewable.