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Native forest regulation
Native forestry is independently regulated by the NSW Environment Protection Authority.
Forestry operations are strictly regulated and compliance is independently regulated
Native forestry is independently regulated by the NSW Environment Protection Authority.
Plantation forestry is independently regulated by the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
Forestry Corporation is indepdently certified to the Responsible Wood standard.
Forestry Corporation takes its responsibility to manage forests sustainably seriously and plans all its forestry operations to align with the requirements of the strict environmental regulations.
Native forestry operations must comply with detailed rulesets that apply only to Forestry Corporation of NSW, the Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals (IFOA). Each IFOA has hundreds of individual conditions that must be complied with on each operation.
Before a single tree is touched, trained and qualified staff spend many months planning operations in line with the ruleset. The planning process includes precisely mapping features and individual trees requiring protection. In-cab GPS and satellite technology is used to implement the mapped protections and track compliance.
Forestry Corporation acknowledges that non-compliances have occurred in recent years. Our Forest Management System is underpinned by continous improvement, and we have reviewed every incident to identify what went wrong and to improve our systems, processes, procedures or training in response. We have also increased staff in the forest, improved technology and established a compliance team who work to continually review, improve and automate processes to improve compliance,.
Compliance continues to be independently regulated by the Environment Protection Authority.
Plantations must be independently authorised and plantation forestry operations must comply with the Plantations and Reafforestation Act and Code Regulation. Plantation authorisation and compliance regulation is managed by the Department of Primary Industries.
Forestry Corporation is independently regulated and forestry operations are subject to ongoing external audits by the regulators.
Forestry Corporation is also audited every nine months to assure compliance with the Responsible Wood standard. See our certification page for summary audits.
In June 2023, the NSW Audit Office completed an audit into the regulation of public native forestry and made recommendations to both Forestry Corporation and the EPA. Forestry Corporation is implementing all of the recommendations.
In September 2022, the NSW Government completed an inquiry into the Long term sustainability and future of the timber and forest products industry. The inquiry found that there remains a place for sustainable harvesting of timber from public native forests, in accordance with the stringent ruleset contained in Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals and other environmental requirements in the NSW Forest Management Framework.