The NFPS proposes the establishment of a national forest reserve system which is Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR).
This will serve two purposes. It will safeguard biodiversity, old growth, wilderness and other natural and cultural values of forests and at the same time make it possible to identify the preferred use and management of areas outside the national reserve system. To begin the work needed for the eventual establishment of the forest reserve system, Commonwealth and State governments have agreed to carry out Comprehensive Regional Assessments (CRAs) of the values - economic, social, Aboriginal, environmental and heritage - of Australia's forest regions. Once completed, these CRAs will be incorporated into formal agreements - called Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) - between Commonwealth and State Governments. These will detail the basis for long-term decisions on forest use, i.e. in which areas logging and other uses can take place in an ecologically sustainable manner and which shall be protected under the reserve system.
Prior to completion of the CRAs, it has been necessary to define areas available for logging. This was achieved in the joint Commonwealth-NSW Deferred Forest Areas report of December, 1995. That report contains further detail of the national policy framework for the deferred forest assessment process.
Section 1.3 details the arrangements between the Commonwealth and NSW.
The aim of the June 1995 NSW forestry reforms is to maintain a sustainable native timber industry while protecting NSW forests which are of high conservation value.
When fully implemented, the NSW Forestry Policy is intended to remove the uncertainty which has existed for many years for all stakeholders in the State's public forests.
The policy is made up of immediate and longer term strategies. It combines guaranteed industry resource access with long-term industry restructuring. It provides immediate interim protection for high conservation value forests while developing RFAs with the Commonwealth.
Its main features include:
The NSW forestry reforms involve the implementation of a moratorium on logging in identified wilderness areas, unlogged forest and most lightly selectively logged forest while the IAP is undertaken.
Integral to the NSW forestry reforms was the commencement of the IAP to identify areas to be available for logging and areas to be deferred from logging in the period from July 1996 to the completion of the RFAs.