Dailan Pugh
15 Tallowwood Crescent
Byron Bay, NSW 2481
ph: 0266807063
dailan@spot.com.au

SUS FOREST MANAGEMENT

Dailan Pugh

In its latest assault on publicly owned native forests State Forests recently exhibited its so-called Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management (ESFM) Plan for public comment. Under the guise of ESFM, their plan is to liquidate large trees across the public forest estate, zone vast areas of native forests as plantations, destroy irreplaceable oldgrowth forests and push many of our most threatened species further towards the brink of extinction.

State Forests intent is to take the attainable from sustainable, and leave it totally sus. This is tragic for both our forests and our future.

As part of their plan, State Forests have put forward some 119,000 hectares of public native forests in the Upper North East (UNE) region (north from Coffs Harbour and west onto the Tablelands) for logging over a 3 year period from 2000/2003 in an indicative Proposed Order of Operations (POO).

In effect, State Forests are proposing to log over 10% of the loggable area of public native forests per annum. You don’t have to be Einstein to realise that the implied intent is to log the total loggable area on State Forests in the UNE within 10 years. This rate of logging is clearly unsustainable in terms of large sawlogs that may take 60-80 years to grow under favorable conditions.

The situation is in fact far worse than this reveals, as numerous areas that State Forests logged on a maximum economic yield basis in the past 6 years are again proposed for logging. This has nothing to do with sustainability, it is a slaughter. At this rate there will be no large sawlog industry, based on public forests, left in 10 years. What will be left is a heavily degraded and suffering public forest estate.

The plan includes logging 474 hectares in Wollumbin and 1,038 hectares in Whian Whian from 2001 to 2003. 550 hectares of this is in the water catchment of the Rocky Creek Dam.

Half the areas included in the POO (and the whole of Whian Whian and Wollumbin) were identified by State agencies in 1998 as required for a reserve system that meets the nationally agreed minimalist JANIS reserve criteria. At least 2,600 hectares of unprotected oldgrowth forest is also directly targeted for logging. Inadequately reserved forest ecosystems, oldgrowth forests and the habitat of threatened species which clearly need protection are to be devastated to satisfy the insatiable appetite of loggers for short-term profits.

As part of their ESFM plan State Forests have also proposed that 21,060 hectares in the UNE be zoned as plantations. They are currently requesting DUAP to accredit as plantations 4,000 ha of this (as well as 11,000 ha in the LNE). Presumably they are not pursuing accreditation for the remainder because they can not be justified. Without having to prove their case, State Forests are using their ESFM plan to grab every bit of native forest they can as plantation.

Where State Forests have purchased properties for plantations they have zoned the whole properties as plantation, even where the majority is native vegetation. A total of 763 hectares of mapped oldgrowth is included in these zoned plantations.

For Wollumbin they are now claiming 321 hectares (15% of the forest) as plantations. For Whian Whian they are claiming 655 hectares (26% of the forest) as plantations, 490 hectares of which falls within the catchment of the Rocky Creek Dam. The vast majority of these areas are definitely not plantations.

There is nothing sustainable nor ecological about State Forests’ ESFM plan. It is a short-sighted plan to devastate forests owned by the many for the unsustainable profits of a very few. The time they allowed for public comment is past. If you are concerned then show you care by letting your local community and representatives in State and Federal government know – please.