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The Big Pictureforests & firesThe forest resourceAustralia has about 164 million ha of nativeforest, including rainforest. Most of the trees areon Crown land. Commercial forestry is permittedon about 11.4 million ha of this Crown land andis concentrated in Western Australia, Victoria,Tasmania and New South Wales. Another1.7 million ha of commercial trees are locatedin plantations. 4 Commercial timber harvestingon Crown land is carried out under 20-yearRegional Forestry Agreements between eachstate government and the Commonwealthof Australia. 5The forest industries are Australia’s secondbiggestmanufacturing sector, contributingabout only 1% to GDP and about 7% ofmanufacturing output. 6 Forest industries alsoFigure 1. Changes in area plantedto softwoods and hardwoods,1994–2004Since 1994 there has been significantchange in the composition of treeplantations across Australia. Whilethe planting of pines (softwood) hasremained fairly steady, there has beena major increase in the area of landplanted to eucalypt (hardwood) species.This has been occurring in those partsof Australia with the most reliablerainfall.Source: Department of AgricultureFisheries and Forestry – Bureau of RuralSciences, National plantation inventoryAustralia, 2006 Update, p. 1.1,800,0001,600,0001,400,0001,200,000AREA (ha)1,000,000800,000600,000400,000200,0000provide direct employment for approximately80 000 people. 7 This employment is widelydispersed, with employment in many smallcommunities critically dependent upon loggingcontracts, haulage, and jobs in around athousand local saw mills, manufacturingplants and paper mills.The move to aregulated industryCommercial harvesting of native timber waswell established in NSW as early as 1820.Port facilities had been constructed in SydneyHarbour, the floodplains of the Parramatta andLane Cove rivers were littered with farms and,as settlers continued to spread out and clearland, ancient stands of red cedar trees wereHardwoodSoftwood1994 1995 1996discovered. Each summer these trees were felledby groups of timber cutters, and cedar becameone of the young colony’s first export products. 8For more than a century, extensive commercialtimber harvesting was a feature of Australia’sdevelopment. Timber was produced for buildingand construction, for railways, ports, roads andmines as well as furniture, paper products andpackaging. During this time, state governmentsintroduced legislation and regulation tomanage logging in each jurisdiction.Today’s forest industry is highly regulated.Most harvesting of native forests is carried outon Crown land in upper catchment areas. Areaswith commercial trees are usually harvestedusing a method called clear-felling, so that mostof the suitable trees are felled at one time. Some1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003Yearstime after the sawlogs have been removed, theresidual material is burned and, after rain, theeucalypt seeds germinate. Seedlings are allowedto grow into mature trees which will be harvestedabout 80 years later. 9 Not all forest management,however, observes this rotation interval.Logging is not allowed on steep slopes orclose to the edge of streams. Mature treesthat provide seed for forest regeneration, andalso shelters and nesting sites for wildlife, arepreserved. These regulations are in place toensure that disturbed soil is not washed intothe watercourses of the upper catchment andthat logging impacts upon native fauna aremoderated. Loggers operate under contractswith state governments and their operationsmust comply with prescribed codes of practice.Plantations & farm forestryCommercial timber can be grown either onCrown land or on private land in plantations.Although trees have been grown in plantationsin Australia for about 100 years, there has beena major expansion in the past 10 years, withthe conversion of productive farmland to treeplantations on a large scale.Driving this development was the 2020 VisionStatement, released by the then deputy primeminister, John Anderson, in 1997. This statementproposed that: ‘Plantations have the potentialto be of significant benefit to the naturalenvironment, and a sustainable and viableland use in regional Australia. Commonwealth,state and territory governments have in placea set of national principles for the sustainablemanagement of plantations, providing aframework for environmental, socio-economic38 Victorian Women’s Trust - Our Water Mark