Rex Bowen
Director
This draft report details the interim assessment of the eastern forests in NSW. The assessment is an important step in the NSW Government's Forest Policy and will be used to redefine the current Deferred Forest Agreement between the State and Commonwealth. The interim assessment did not cover private or leasehold lands.
Its purpose is to provisionally identify forest areas which may be needed in the development of a national system of forest reserves. This system will be established following a longer, more detailed comprehensive assessment incorporating all lands. In the meantime, the interim assessment will provide stakeholders with assurances about which forests are deferred for possible conservation reserves and which are available for timber production until the comprehensive assessment is completed and Regional Forest Agreements are made.
The process has been undertaken with the involvement of stakeholders - including industry, union, conservationists, scientists and government agencies - in the forest debate. Stakeholders are represented on the Resource and Conservation Assessment Council and its working groups. They participated in the negotiations which developed the outcomes presented in this report. The agreed conservation criteria used in the negotiations were based on the Commonwealth Reserve Criteria applied in the 1995 deferred forest assessments.
The interim forest assessment established a database of extensive information on the biological features and wood resources of 11 forest areas spanning eastern NSW. This is the most comprehensive data base that has been collected during the forest debate. Nevertheless, the interim assessment process is a precursor for the comprehensive regional assessment where even more data will be collected and further validation undertaken. Taking into account conservation criteria as well as industry needs, stakeholders then negotiated over a four week period a number of outcomes including conservation outcomes as well as a range of levels of timber supply for each area.
This draft report details the assessment process and presents the negotiated outcomes which will be considered by the NSW Government before it makes its final decision on the interim assessment. The draft report is now on public exhibition and you are invited to comment on the outcomes. All submissions will be considered by the State Government in reaching its final decision.
Rex Bowen
Director
Resource and Conservation Assessment Council