sustainable forest management - Forestry Tasmania

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2007/08 PERFORMANCE SUMMARY Below is an overview of Forestry Tasmania’s performance for 2007/08. This is as measured against our sustainable forest management performance objective and targets. A more comprehensive summary of our detailed trend data is available in Appendix one. ✓ Positive performance as based on progress against our targets and indicators. X More effort is required to improve our performance. Biological diversity ✓ On 1 June 2007, Forestry Tasmania announced the end to the practice of converting native forests to plantations. This announcement exceeded the target set by the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement to phase out conversion of native forests on public land by 2010. ✓ Good progress continues to be made in the development of alternatives to clearfelling. In 2007/08, partial logging, including variable retention contributed to 67 per cent (1424 hectares) of the total oldgrowth area harvested (2114 hectares). ✓ Four research projects were undertaken that specifically covered threatened species (flora and fauna). Productive capacity ✓ A total of 304,000 m 3 of high quality sawlog was supplied to Forestry Tasmania’s customers. This volume is within the sustainable production level as was confirmed by the preparation of the 2007 fiveyearly review of sustainable high quality eucalypt sawlog supply from Tasmanian state forest as required under Clause 98 of the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA). ✓ An additional 3179 hectares of hardwood plantation was created bringing the total hardwood plantation estate to 52,718 hectares. ✓ Out of the 10,207 hectares of native forest regenerated, 98.1 per cent (10,010 hectares) met the prescribed standard. X 8400 ha (3100 hectares of clearfelled area and 5300 hectares of partially harvested area) was treated for site preparation. 89 per cent of this area (94 per cent of clearfell and 86 per cent partial harvest areas respectively) achieved the site preparation quality standard. This reflects a slight decrease of four per cent on the previous year’s achievement. ✓ 141 hectares of commercial native forest thinning was completed, 133 hectares of which met the quality standard. This is an achievement rate of 94 per cent and compares highly favourably with the five-year average of 50 per cent. X In the 2007/08 year, 3387 hectares was sown with eucalypt seed. 1435 ha (42 per cent) of this area achieved the seed provenance quality standard. This is a six per cent decrease when compared with the five-year average of 48 per cent of area achieving the standard. The main cause of not achieving the desired standard was as a result of insufficient on-site seed being available. X From the post logging residue assessments conducted in 93 harvesting areas, the standard of less than five merchantable tonnes per hectares was achieved in 92 per cent of the areas sampled. This represents a five per cent decrease on last year’s performance. Ecosystem health and services ✓ Following the cessation of the use of 1080, native forests managed by Forestry Tasmania are generally chemical free, as pesticides (herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) are only used in exceptional cases where introduced weeds, pests and disease pose an unacceptable risk to the environment. ✓ For commercial eucalypt and pine plantations, pesticides are required to reduce weed and pest infestations to acceptable levels. All of the 139 water samples collected and submitted for independent testing following the application of pesticides were free of chemicals. X The ratio of Spinosad (Forestry Tasmania’s preferred organic insecticide used instead of cypermethrin) has shown an unfavourable decline over the past three years. In other words, the area treated with Spinosad over the three-year period 2005/06 to 2007/08 was 29 per cent, three per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively. ✓ Through correlation of the days on which Forestry Tasmania was conducting planned burns, it is unlikely any of these high intensity burns contributed to the Air Quality Particulate Standard (PM 10 ) being exceeded.
X As a result of 18 recorded fuel and chemical spills, the total volume of spills recorded in 2007/08 was 597 litres, with seven of these being greater than 20 litres. Two spills made up the majority of this volume, with the largest spill being 200 litres of hydraulic oil released as a result of a broken hydraulic fitting at the Southwood merchandiser. In the second, 150 litres of diesel leaked as a result of a contractor’s truck colliding with a boom gate resulting in its fuel tank being punctured. ✓ Developed an improved understanding of carbon sequestration in state forests. This work shows that by 2050, the amount of carbon stored in state forests will increase by some 27 million tonnes of carbon to 357 million tonnes. Working with our stakeholders and delivering socioeconomic benefits ✓ The sale of high quality veneer billets through Forestry Tasmania’s merchandiser in the Huon district to the Ta Ann rotary peeler veneer mill has resulted in value-added manufacturing taking place in Tasmania and marked the end of the commercial shipment of unprocessed logs from the port of Hobart. X Achieved a safety performance figure of 11.36 (LTIFR), slightly higher than the performance measure of 11. ✓ The second highest number (438) of community forums were attended by Forestry Tasmania staff. ✓ A total of $36,463 was awarded to a wide range of community programs, events and projects through district sponsorship programs, with approximately $86,000 awarded through the new Community Assist program. ✓ In addition to the development of the Hollybank Canopy Tour, a number of tourism and recreational projects were undertaken with the assistance of community groups and state partners. ✓ The estimated value of wood production from state forests, based on the price paid by Forestry Tasmania’s customers at the mill door was $252 million. ✓ Total payments made to suppliers, contractors and employees was $189 million. Regulatory environment and continuous improvement ✓ A score of 3.8 (maximum is four) was achieved in the external audits conducted by the Forest Practices Authority. This is above the benchmark of 3.5 set by Forestry Tasmania. X While no notices were issued to Forestry Tasmania under Section 41 of the Forest Practices Act, seven were issued to Forestry Tasmania’s contractors. Ta Ann rotary peeler veneer mill Merchandiser means a facility at which logs are segregated into different products and in the case of the Southwood merchandiser, cut into different lengths for sale to Ta Ann for further processing into veneer. X Forestry Tasmania was fined $25,000 by the Forest Practices Authority for a breach that was reported in June 2007. Although it is Forestry Tasmania’s objective not to receive any notifications or fines, it needs to be noted that during the 2007/08 year, there were 1838 Forest Practices Plans covering thousands of individual operations. X Three notices were issued to Forestry Tasmania and three notices to Forestry Tasmania contractors for breaches against Section 38 of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1998. ✓ Forestry Tasmania was not only recertified against the environmental management standard (ISO14001) and Occupational Health and Safety Standard (AS4801), but was also upgraded to the revised Australian Forestry Standard (AS4708) as a result of no non-conformances being raised in the third party audits. 9
Page 1 and 2: 2008 REPORT sustainable forest mana
Page 3 and 4: contents Forestry Tasmania GPO Box
Page 5 and 6: eporting scope & structure This is
Page 7: economy, employment and regional ar
Page 11 and 12: Case Study - Biodiversity responses
Page 13 and 14: In response to this, the Tasmanian
Page 15 and 16: Oldgrowth The Tasmanian Community F
Page 17 and 18: International science panel In addi
Page 19 and 20: forests now and into the future Pro
Page 21 and 22: Wood quality The Forestry Act conta
Page 23 and 24: Successful plantation establishment
Page 25 and 26: During 2007/08, 21,703 m 3 of high
Page 27 and 28: Seed and sowing Forestry Tasmania c
Page 29 and 30: Non-timber values Honey production
Page 31 and 32: The ongoing issue of defoliation ca
Page 33 and 34: Chemical pesticides Forestry Tasman
Page 35 and 36: Pesticide Impact Rating Index PIRI
Page 37 and 38: The Tasmanian position Tasmania’s
Page 39 and 40: working with our stakeholders Deliv
Page 41 and 42: Community Access Bus In order to en
Page 43 and 44: Provision of tourism and recreation
Page 45 and 46: Figure 33. Members of the naming ex
Page 47 and 48: Forest estate value Through sustain
Page 49 and 50: egulatory environmenT Continuous im
Page 51 and 52: Other legislation Auspine launched
Page 53 and 54: where to from here? With the Sustai
Page 55 and 56: Table 2.2. Merchantable residue ass
Page 57 and 58: 3. Ecosystem health and services Ta
Page 59 and 60:
Table 3.6. Days on which the Tasman
Page 61 and 62:
Table 4.3. Visitor numbers to speci
Page 63 and 64:
Table 4.5. Forest estate value summ
Page 65:
Tell us what you think In line with
show all

sustainable forest management - Forestry Tasmania

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?