Forestry Corporation NSW has countered criticism of its management of native forests following claims that native forest logging makes no environmental or economic sense post-bushfires and now floods. Source: Timberbiz
NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders admitted in Budget Estimates he had not read a Natural Resources Commission report leaked last year which found native forests were at risk of “serious and irreversible harm … from the cumulative impacts of fire and harvesting”.
He confirmed Forestry Corporation NSW, the state’s main supplier of native timber, sent letters to North Coast logging companies late last year saying negotiations had commenced to extend their contracts for another five years.
The ABC has reported that if extended, the contracts would lock Forestry Corporation into har-vesting “existing annual quantities” of native trees in state forests.
Independent South Coast MP Justin Field questioned Mr Saunders on the feasibility of guaranteeing such volumes given the reduction in viable timber supply in state forests after the Black Summer bushfires.
“How can they possibly continue contracts at pre-fire levels, and do that sustainably, given all we know about the impact of the fires on the forests?” Mr Field asked.
The NRC report, commissioned by government, determined the volume of high-quality wood supply on the north coast has been reduced by nearly 20%.
The report recommended a three-year suspension of all logging from February 2020 in extreme risk zones and restricted logging in high-risk areas.
A spokesperson said the Forestry Corporation was working with North Coast customers to extend the contracts that expire in 2023 to provide the “short term certainty they need to continue investing in their businesses and creating jobs for local people”.
In a detailed “clarification” on its management of native forests Forestry Corp says that since the 2019-20 bushfires Forestry Corporation has adopted additional environmental safeguards above the requirements of the strict ruleset in place in NSW, the Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval, to balance providing timber to local industry employing local people to produce important timber products and ensuring the forests can regenerate after the bushfires.
These measures reduced the scale, number and intensity of operations in coastal forests, while severe wet weather also reduced operations.
In 2021, Forestry Corporation says it carried out a sustainable yield review of the long-term timber supply, which is modelled 100 years into the future to ensure the same forests produce the same amount of timber for the next generation as they do today.
The sustainable yield review was not an environmental assessment, it was a calculation of how much commercial timber could sustainably be supplied each year based on the strict environmental rules already in place for all native forest operations.
Forestry Corporation says the sustainable yield impact is varied across the state. Depending on the species, the quality of timber may not be affected at all and where it does degrade, it may not degrade immediately, it degrades over time as fire affected trees die or as the epicormic growth following fires creates defects in the timber.
It says that on the north coast, models show it would be able to continue to supply timber at existing levels over the long-term as forests are harvested and regrown time and again.
There were strict environmental rules in place for all forestry operations and Forestry Corporation was committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
Forestry Corporation says it takes any non-compliances very seriously and that operations only take place in regrowth forests which have been harvested for timber and regrown many times be-fore.
To read Forestry Corporation of NSW full statement head to https://www.forestrycorporation.com.au/about/releases/clarification-on-native-forest-management
