Conserving and protecting forest values ranging from biodiversity and forest productivity to the ability of forests to act as carbon sinks and for the many recreational and cultural values they provide is the focus of Forests NSW ESFM Plans. Photos Forests NSW Image Library

Gone are the days when forests were just for cutting down timber to build house frames. In today’s world, our forests are living, working environments that we all want to see managed for a wide range of values. Howard Spencer explains how the new Forests NSW Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management Plans will help.

Just as we need blueprints to build a house, State forests in New South Wales are being managed by a set of blueprints that determine how Forests NSW workers go about ensuring they measure up to world standards.

The blueprints, the Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management (ESFM) Plans, have been endorsed by the Minister for Primary Industries, the Hon. Ian Macdonald. The plans cover the State forests and State forested lands of Upper North East, Lower North East, Eden, Tumut and South Coast of NSW.

“Our goal is to conserve and protect forest values ranging from biodiversity and forest productivity to the ability of forests to act as carbon sinks and for  the many recreational and cultural values they provide,” said planning specialist, Jim Simmons, who has been living with the plans for the past three years.

The plans describe natural and cultural heritage values, and how these are to be conserved while preserving forest health. The plans also indicate how timber supply will be sustained and the forest resource used for economic and social development of rural communities.

Operational planning processes are specified and the plan ensures continued improvement through public consultation, monitoring and reporting. The ESFM Plans  specify regional coordination, involve cooperation of other land managers to ensure maximum effect, and require management on State forests to complement management on other forested tenures such as national parks.

“The national objective is to look at the whole forest landscape and balance the way we use and conserve Australia’s forests,” Jim said.

Forests NSW has adopted the National Forest Policy Statement definition of sustainable forest use and will:

• maintain ecological processes within forests (the formation of soils, energy flows, and the carbon, nutrient and water cycles);
• maintain the biological diversity of forests;
• optimise the benefits to the community from all uses of forests within an ecological framework.

“The NSW Government has identified natural resource management as a basis for primary industries and building vibrant communities in rural NSW,” Jim said.

“The ESFM Plans recognise that forests are dynamic places and that our management needs to be flexible and be guided by the occurring ecological processes.

“Over the past 20 years or so, Forests NSW has moved to actively manage other forest values such as flora and fauna, water and soil, recreation and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal heritage, as well as timber.

“These plans set out how we are going to provide for forest uses such as timber supply, grazing, honey production, access, regional infrastructure and recreation while maintaining the ecological processes and environmental values.

“The plans also identify how Forests NSW will maintain forest health by protecting the forest from bush fires, insects, diseases, weeds and pest animals,” Jim said.

Developing landscape management with community participation has not been an overnight project.

Stakeholders have had a long period of input during the regional assessment process which included the identification of areas for the comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve network and development of the Regional Forest Agreements.

Draft ESFM Plans recognising the presence of dedicated and informal reserves within State forests were prepared in 2000, and then after stakeholder input, redrafted for public display again. That process finished last year, and the final plans are now being released.

“These ESFM Plans apply to over 1.5 million hectares of native forest, and the coverage will be extended into Western and Riverina native forest areas as well as planted forests,” Jim said.

“This will introduce a consistent way of managing our forests and form part of Forests NSW environmental management system.

“Planning does not stop with the strategic ESFM Plans but becomes more detailed as the area of operation becomes smaller and the activity more intense.”

Manuals are used to ensure that the same planning process is used across the state. Adaptive management principles are used by Forests NSW, which means that forest processes are monitored, and where there are possible adverse impacts, operations changed to suit.

In practice, if a harvest plan called for operations in a certain 150 hectares, and a pre-harvest survey found habitat of threatened species of plants or animals that needed to be protected, a set prescription of harvest exclusion is imposed. This and other exclusions to protect water quality and areas of heritage significance might reduce the net harvest area by up to 40 to 50 percent.

“Forests NSW will report each year on our progress in implementing ESFM Plans and these reports will be consolidated into State of the Environment Reports and the Australian State of the Forests Report,” Jim said.

“These provide a snapshot of how we are doing in comparison with world standards of forestry practice.”

Hard copies of the plans can be purchased by contacting Forests NSW Information Centre Ph: 1300 655 687 or (02) 9871 3377 for $20. Copies are also available for free download at http://www.forest.nsw.gov.au/esfm/default.asp.

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