Forest Products Industry

  The City of Coffs Harbour will be represented as the NSW Government moves toward the creation of a Great Koala National Park on the Mid North Coast. Source: Timberbiz The NSW Government committed $80 million in funding over four years to support the development of the park as part of the 2023/24 State Budget. The consultation process – as it works toward the park’s formation – includes establishment of three advisory panels (Aboriginal groups, community and industry). City of Coffs Harbour along with other regional councils (Kempsey, Nambucca Valley, Bellingen and Clarence) has been invited to be represented on the community panel. At its meeting on 14 November, Coffs Harbour Council resolved to nominate Cr Jonathan Cassell to the Great Koala National Park Community Advisory Panel, with Cr Tony Judge as the alternate. The NSW Government notes some 176,000 hectares of State Forest will be assessed for inclusion in the Great Koala National Park, along with areas of the existing National Park estate.

Victoria’s state government has already laid the groundwork to create the Great Forest National Park, lodging a plan with the federal government in May that requires it to lock up 300,000ha of Victoria’s Central Highlands to protect Leadbeater’s possums. Source: The Weekly Times Action 2.5 of the plan, which was marked “urgent”, required the Allan government to implement “a substantial expansion of the current reserve system to encompass all areas of high likelihood of occurrence of the species (currently and in the future)”, estimated at 300,000ha. The plan’s adoption, under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act, means failing to expand the reserves within a new Great Forest National Park risks the Victorian government facing legal action from environmental groups. “Given the current state and prognosis of Leadbeater’s possum, all sites at which the species has recently been recorded are important and merit protection; as do all areas at which there is a reasonable likelihood of its occurrence as indicated by occupancy and population viability analysis (PVA) modelling,” the plan states. Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester said locking in the plan “makes a mockery” of the Victorian government’s public consultation on whether to lock up the Central Highlands in a new national park. “Locking up more land in national parks will guarantee more serious bushfires and less opportunity for people to enjoy our natural environment,” Mr Chester said. Victorian Opposition Environment spokesman James Newbury said the plan “added a big legal padlock to more of our public land”. “It’s further proof of a con – that the government has a secret plan to lock Victoria away,” Mr Newbury said. But Victorian Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos’ office said “the Leadbeater’s Possum Recovery Plan is a commonwealth initiative that sets a national framework to co-ordinate recovery efforts across states, it does not require Victoria to create national parks”. The federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water’s website states “the recovery plan for Leadbeater’s possum has been made jointly with the Victorian government under the EPBC Act”. One Labor Party source said it was clear the Victorian government had led the charge on adoption of the latest plan, despite ending native timber harvesting on January 1 this year, which environmentalists had long argued was a threat to the possum.

Parks Victoria manages more than four million hectares of parks and reserves which attract more than 100 million visits every year. These assets must meet the needs of Victorians for generations to come. It’s clear that Parks Victoria’s current operations need to be improved to meet community expectations according to Steve Dimopoulos Victorian Minister for Environment. Source: Timberbiz “I have therefore ordered a comprehensive review of Parks Victoria, to advise how the organisation can better serve the needs of Victorians and help them enjoy the great outdoors,” he said in a statement. The review will focus on Parks Victoria’s priorities, the delivery of its objectives under the Parks Victoria Act 2018, the organisation’s administration, finances, functions and delivery model – to identify ways the organisation can reduce red-tape, improve customer service, and deliver better outcomes for Victorians. The review will be completed by March 2025, and will be overseen by the Victorian Government with the support of Korda Mentha. As part of this process, Matthew Jackson, the CEO of Parks Victoria, has departed his position by mutual agreement. Graeme “Gus” Dear has been appointed as Interim CEO of Parks Victoria. Mr Dear brings 30 years of experience in public and private sector administration and has served on the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) Board since its inception, most recently as Chair. “Gus loves the bush. Ever since he caught his first redfin at Ringwood Lake as a young boy, he’s been hooked on fishing,” Mr Dimopoulos said. “His passion for the great outdoors and experience in administration means he is the right person to help Parks Victoria change. “His leadership will ensure Parks Victoria continues to provide accessible, enjoyable outdoor experiences while protecting and enhancing the state’s natural environment.”  

I am at risk of sounding like a cracked record. I have 59 years’ experience of managing productive native forests. The Department promoting the Improved Native Forest Management Plan (INFM) proposes an end to sustainable management. I Googled INFM and found references to just about anything but the proposed INFM Plan. I suspect the Department’s proposed “management” really proposes the traditional conservation reserve management which effectively excludes any commercial production from a native forest. Let nature take its course. Then when the forest does not conserve all the species that were present on day one, having let nature take its course it won’t be the Department’s fault if an extinction occurs. In my research I did find reference to the National Parks Association’s condemnation of the Regional Forest Agreements as being a total failure. As I see it, they are right, but not in the way they want it seen. The Regional Forest Agreements saw extensive tracts of productive forests locked away in conservation reserves such as National Parks. They were the best forest habitats for the most threatened species. What has happened to the threatened species in all those protected habitats? I am just one of the foresters that have been managing our productive native forests for over 100 years. Why is it that the next area to be harvested places a threatened species at risk of extinction? This claimed threat of extinctions tells me that in only 25 years the National Parks Association and their cronies have totally failed to protect the threatened species in the native forests they were entrusted to protect. The harvesting of managed productive native forests may threaten the survival of individuals, but it is obviously providing the preferred habitat for those threatened species in the long term. Our productive native forests had their share of severe wildfires. Often because neighbours thought their place and the forest “needed a bit of a burn”. We didn’t have a lot of people working in the forests, but they were all attuned to fire suppression so, damage was minimised. I grew up in Sydney and recreated in the surrounding native forests and woodland. Over the years I observed the increasing frequency and severity of bush fires. We encourage our population to recreate in the bush and most are careful but as the numbers increase so does the number of the less than careful. The Royal National Park and the Blue Mountains rarely have a fire free summer these days. It is very easy to blame lightning from the summer storms but there was an old forestry adage that many a lightning strike came out of match boxes. So, when all our native forests are protected from production, we won’t have the timber industry to blame for adverse outcomes. No doubt the conservation movement will find another fall guy to take the blame for their failures. In my early years as a graduate forester forest plantations were being condemned as biological deserts. That was till they were overnight proclaimed as the alternative to harvesting native forests. I have long believed that as soon as the last native forest is protected from harvesting the plantations will once again be condemned as a blight on our landscape. It intrigued me recently to learn that we are now importing our native hardwoods from plantations on the other side of the world. Paul Keating once said Australia had to become “the smart country”. We still have a long way to go.   Vic Eddy joined the Forestry Commission of New South Wales as a forester in 1966 and worked across the state until 1984.He holds a Bachelor of Science (Forestry).