What are Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals?

The Forestry and National Park Estate Act institutes a coordinated approach to the regulation of forestry activities, providing for a system of Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals (IFOAs) for future forestry operations on State forests and other Crown timber lands. An approval can only be granted for operations on forests covered by a Forest Agreement.

Approvals set out the terms and conditions under which logging may occur in a State forest (which is subject to a forest agreement). An approval may be for up to 20 years, but must be reviewed every five years.

A Forest Agreement must be in place for the area proposed for an approval; an approval is revoked if the forest agreement is terminated

An IFOA describes the forestry operations and area to which it applies. The approval may contain the terms of relevant licences under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act, the Threatened Species Conservation Act and the Fisheries Management Act. The approval may also contain other relevant conditions.

As for a Forest Agreement, an Integrated Approval is granted by the Ministers for the Environment, for Planning, for Forestry and, where necessary, the Minister for Fisheries. It can be revoked, suspended or amended at any time by the relevant Ministers. Ministers may also bring proceedings in the Land and Environment Court for breaches against the conditions of the approval, and licences granted under the approval can be enforced by Ministers and/or their agencies.

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Resource and Conservation Assessment Council (RACAC)
June 1995 - Dec 2003

RACAC presided over the NSW Forest Agreements program
from June 1995 to December 2003.

For continuity this site remains under the name RACAC.
However, project management and monitoring of the
NSW Forest Agreements are now provided by the Resource
and Conservation Unit of the NSW Department of Environment
and Climate Change.