Source: NSW CRA/RFA Steering Commitee

Lower North East Forest Forum Sets the Ground Rules

2 June 1997

The first Lower North East Regional Forest Forum meeting on Saturday saw the ground rules set for local participation in the comprehensive regional assessments (CRAs) for the area’s regional forest agreement.

More than twenty members of the newly formed forum met in Taree for a day of discussions and briefings from the State and Commonwealth Governments.

Consisting of representatives from regional groups with a major stake in the future of the lower north east forests, the forum will act as a communication channel between the community and the State/Commonwealth Steering Committee for the assessments.

The assessments, run by the Resource and Conservation Assessment Council (RACAC) in NSW and the Commonwealth Forest TaskForce, will provide the basis for the first of four Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) between the NSW and Commonwealth Governments. Regional Forest Forums are also being established in other RFA regions of the State.

RACAC Manager, Ian Cranwell, and NSW project leader for the Forests Taskforce, Richard Webb, emphasised the forum’s critical role in the forest assessments.

"This is the first time a forum of this type - in which the community advises Government - has been established to deal with forest issues," Mr Cranwell said.

"The success of the forum lies in the enthusiasm of participants, and the turnout from so many groups on Saturday was a clear sign of the community’s commitment to lasting solutions for the region’s forests."

Mr Webb said that the forest assessments are the most systematic and comprehensive ever undertaken. "Ranging from systematic and targeted flora and fauna surveys to cultural and natural heritage assessments and specialised social and economic studies, they will provide a solid basis for the Lower North East regional forest agreement," he said.

The chairman of the forum, Cr Leslie Brown, said the forum’s role was to seek local and regional solutions to the formal requirements of the CRAs, and to advise the governments’ Steering Committee on those solutions.

"If this is going to happen then we must strive for consensus," Cr Brown said. "We need to agree from the outset that members of the forum are working together towards a common goal - lasting environmental and economic solutions for the region."

The next meeting of the Lower North East Regional Forest Forum will be on 19 July.

Contacts: Ruth Dewsbury (C’wlth) 02 274 1904

Gillian Higginson (RACAC) 02 9228 3991

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