The role of forestry in the community permeates broadly, but often subtly. Bush Telegraph always aims to highlight the many facets of forestry and forest management across New South Wales. This issue is no exception.

For many, the most obvious role of Forests NSW is to manage and grow the forest resources that underpin the economic well-being of many regional communities in NSW. Read about the highly successful joint effort to maximise the recovery of useable timber from the fires that ravaged our pine plantations near Tumut last year (pg 3). Also at Tumut, our major commercial pine nursery is focused on growing the best trees for the future for ourselves and other forest managers (pg 6).

This issue also highlights our wider role as an active participant in the life of the communities in which we operate. On the north coast, for example, we have supported a new sculpture project celebrating the life of Henry Kendall (pg 8) and sponsored a conference that attracted foresters from across Australia and New Zealand (pg 19). On the south coast, we have completed research on flowering eucalypts which produce one of the many important non-timber forest products – honey (pg 13).

Forest NSW environmental stewardship of the many areas we manage is perhaps most obvious in the Riverina. There we play a key role in managing the red gum forests and wetlands along the River Murray, implementing many programs designed to enhance ecological health of the region (see pgs 9-11).

In the city, too, we are working to ensure people appreciate the value of forests and timber. We were thrilled to support a cutting-edge exhibition of contemporary furniture (pg 8), and now have notched up a decade of organised community activities at Cumberland State Forest (pg 6).

I hope you enjoy reading the magazine and this brief taste of the role of forestry in New South Wales.

This article appears in the Spring 2007 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.