Progress Report 2007-2008 - Department of Environment and ...

Ongoing
Ongoing
2002
2007
140
Due date Region FA section Milestone Progress
No less
than two
months
before
commence
ment of
forest
agreement
Two
months
before
activities
begin
31
December
30 April
and each
five-year
review
UNE
LNE
Eden
2.2.7
Sthn 2.2.7
Sthn Att. 6(2n)
Sthn Att. 6(2n)
operations to NPWS, EPA, NSWF and DoP, as
outlined in IFOA arrangements.
Liaison by SFNSW with DUAP, NPWS, and EPA for
proposed forestry operations and activities not
originally covered by forest agreement or IFOA.
SFNSW must carry out an appropriate assessment of
the impacts resulting from any proposed changes,
and each agency must consider the environmental
consequences of any proposed changes in terms of
their regulatory responsibility.
Liaise with DoP, NPWS and EPA on proposed
forestry activities not covered by forest agreement
and integrated forestry operations approval. Impacts
from the proposed forestry activities must be
assessed.
Establish a process, including public reporting, for
regular audits of compliance and reviews of codes of
practice, eco field guides and regional prescriptions.
Undertaking audits of compliance at first and
subsequent five-yearly reviews.
Refer to milestone above.
Continuing
This process was not required during 2007–2008.
Continuing
Refer to milestone above.
Implemented
DECC assesses compliance with the Environment Protection Licences and Threatened Species Licences, which form part of the
IFOAs. See the Compliance with the IFOAs section of this report for further information.
Forests NSW has defined its audit procedure in Forest Practices Circular (FPC) 2006/17: Monitoring and Audit Manual Forests NSW,
Pennant Hills NSW. Forests NSW publicly reports, at a statewide level, compliance and monitoring results in its SEEing report each
year. As part of the implementation of the Forests NSW EMS, all operational control documents are regularly reviewed and updated in
accordance with the required timeframes within the final documents or as for Forests NSW standard operating procedures.
DPI–Fisheries performs opportunistic threatened species compliance activities in relation to forestry operations where they coincide
with other fishery compliance duties. NSW Fisheries investigate complaints when received.
Information on TSL, EPL and Fisheries Licence compliance is provided in Chapter 3. Forests NSW internal compliance results are also
provided in Chapter 3.
In progress
During 2007–08 Forests NSW was audited on two occasions against the Australian Forestry Standard {AS 4708 (Int)—2003} and twice
against the environmental management system standard ISO 14001. Regions audited against the Australian Forestry Standard were
Northern (UNE and LNE) and Monaro (Southern and Eden) planted forest regions, as were Native Forest Regions Central (LNE) and
Southern (Southern and Eden). The auditors also visited the corporate offices in Cumberland State forest during each audit. ESFM
plans and schedules had not been finalised, which was identified as an issue but subsequently achieved to the auditors’ satisfaction.
Another issue related to the Adverse Impacts Identification Register and Procedure, which is part of the environmental management
system. Social and economic aspects had not been included and this has since been addressed. A number of minor issues (referred to
as non-conformances) and observations were also reported and summary reports are available on request from Forests NSW.
NSW FOREST AGREEMENTS AND INTEGRATED FORESTRY OPERATIONS APPROVALS