It has been almost a decade since Forests NSW became the first forestry agency in Australia to publish an environmental and social values report. In the nine reports produced since, the organisation’s performance measures have altered and expanded, with the Seeing Report now a full representation of the organisation’s sustainability performance. Leah Flint reports.

Sustaining all forest values now and into the future is a challenge for responsible forest managers across the globe, with Forests NSW taking its role as both a leader in sustainable forest management and reporting to the community very seriously.

Forests NSW corporate reporting officer, Stephen Griffiths, said that the Seeing Report has been developed to monitor a variety of social, environmental, economic and sustainability indicators and to communicate results and trends in a transparent and simple to understand way.

“We want anyone to be able to pick up this report and say ‘right, I understand what they are doing’,” Stephen said.

“Sustainability can be cynically seen as just a corporate buzzword – we want to put some substance to our claims of sustainable forest management and report on our performance in areas that matter to all of our stakeholders.”

Stephen said that there were 31 areas of performance (or indicators) reported upon this year, with thought given each and every year on how to improve or add indicators and associated  information.

“The indicators range from the number and type of recreation facilities we provide in State forests; regional employment in harvesting, haulage and timber processing industries; and the types of products that come from our forests through to native forest regeneration and operating profit,” he said.

“Forests NSW has a number of reporting requirements, both voluntary and statutory, at a state, national and international level.”

“The challenge for us is to ensure that our systems for capturing raw information from our staff across the state are robust. We have the report independently audited every two years to verify data as true and accurate.”

“The database that underpins the Seeing Report also provides information for the series of other reports,” Stephen said.

Forests NSW staff are represented on a number of international panels relating to forestry, with Kris Gounder, manager harvesting regulation, recently representing the organisation at the Montreal Process working group meeting in Japan to review and endorse a new set of Montreal Process criteria and indicators.

“The Montreal Process is an international working group formed in 1994 to develop internationally consistent criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests,” Kris said.

“Criteria are the forest values we wish to maintain, for example biodiversity, while indicators are measurable aspects of this activity, for example native forest structure.”

“The process indicators have been re-examined at a national and international level to ensure contemporary relevance and now changes have been made.”

“We will be looking at our reporting to ensure that our indicators continue to reflect international trends and provide meaningful information to our stakeholders.”

Kris said that Forests NSW environmental management system (EMS) and Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management plans were also based on Montreal Process indicators.

“Now that we have our EMS in place, we will be focused on ensuring continual improvement in our management. We will be looking at trends that are evident over the years and developing mechanisms for any required corrective actions,” Kris said.

Stephen Griffiths said that changing the Seeing Report in 2007 would again consolidate Forests NSW position as a leader in government sustainability reporting.

“We think we are contemporary and adaptable in our approach to reporting,” Stephen said.

“We are always looking for feedback on areas for improvement and new indicators that we could report upon.”

“But really, it’s not about just our reporting. It is about managing all forest values for now and for the long-term, ensuring the needs and expectations of future generations can and will be met. The Seeing Report just shows how we are doing it.”

Copies of Forests NSW Seeing Report 2005/06 and Annual Report 2005/06 can be viewed online at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/forests or obtained in hard copy from Forests NSW Information Centre on Ph: 1300 655 687 or (02) 9871 3377.

For more information on the Montreal Process see www.mpci.org/home_e.html

Social

• 19 volunteer programs held with 192 participants
• 257 recreational facilities managed
• $4.21 million spent on education, with over  5 500 participants in educational events
• 7 709 people employed, over 14 493 jobs generated
• Lost time incident rate 13.3
• 133 new sites of cultural significance protected

Environmental

• Total forest estate 2 441 997 hectares
• 41 targeted species found with 2 712 sightings
• $1.21 million spent on feral animal and weed control
• Less than 0.7% of forest burnt by wildfire
• 99.99% compliance rate
• 249 636 hectares of State forest managed  primarily for catchment protection

Economic

• 2.89 million m3 of logs and 1.53 million tonnes of  pulpwood harvested
• Mean annual growth softwood plantation 16.34m3/ha/year, hardwood plantation 13.63m3/ha/year
• 73% of softwood sawlogs going into house framing
• 24 019 hectares of hardwood plantations registered  for NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement Certificates

Sustainability

• 1 251 290 hectares of forest available for timber production
• 655 000 hectares of forest managed for ecological function
• 6 547 hectares of new softwood and 264 hectares of  new hardwood plantation established
• 94% of softwood plantation and 100% of hardwood  plantation successfully established
• Forests NSW environmental management system (EMS)  certified to international standard ISO 14001:2004
• Forests NSW commenced procedures for certification  to Australian Forestry Standard

This article appears in the Summer 2006 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.