Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management (ESFM) plans are the blueprint for how NSW state forests are managed. These plans are developed at a regional level, and all Forests NSW regions have an ESFM plan to guide their forest management practices.

Each ESFM plan sets out the broad strategies, performance indicators and measurable outcomes for forest management in the relevant region over a five-year period.

Forests NSW ESFM plans complement the National Forest Policy Statement (NFPS) (www.daff.gov.au) which outlines agreed objectives and policies for the future of Australia’s public and private forests.

Aspects of forest management

Each ESFM plan relates to the many different aspects of forest management, including:

• natural heritage
• Aboriginal cultural heritage
• non-Aboriginal cultural heritage
• nature conservation
• forest health
• sustainable timber supply
• economic development
• social development
• forestry operations
• consultation, monitoring and reporting.

To ensure a systematic and continually improving approach to managing, measuring and monitoring our performance related to these aspects, Forests NSW has implemented an environmental management system (EMS), certified to ISO 14001:2004 standard.

The ESFM plans

• Eden Region  1.8 mb
• Hume Region  1.4 mb
• Macquarie Region  1.3 mb
• Monaro Region  1.3 mb
• North East Region - Lower  1.4 mb
• North East Region - Upper  1.6 mb
• Northern Region  1.2 mb
• Riverina Region  1.7 mb
• Southern Region - South Coast  1.4 mb
• Southern Region - Tumut  1.4 mb
• Western Region  1.5 mb

Supplementary plans and maps

See the supplementary plans and maps for the various regions.