The NSW  Auditor-General, Peter Achterstraat, released a performance audit report on the native forest and hardwood plantation operations of Forests NSW in April 2009.

• View the report and Forests NSW response (www.audit.nsw.gov.au)

The report made nine recommendations to improve Forests NSW knowledge of timber availability and to address business risks.

Essentially the audit was undertaken to assess Forests NSW ability to identify how much native forest and plantation hardwood is available for harvesting and whether the volume is sufficient to meet timber supply commitments.

The Auditor-General found there should be sufficient timber to meet wood supply commitments up to 2023, but the cost of harvesting and hauling this timber is likely to increase.

He also found Forests NSW has adequate estimates of the quantity of native forest timber available, but more could be done to improve the reliability of these estimates.

Forests NSW advised the Auditor-General that any supply problems from traditional sources will be met by sourcing timber from plantations, private property and leasehold areas.

The audit also identified that native forest operations ran at a loss of more than $14 million in 2007-08.

The report and the implementation of its recommendations will assist Forests NSW to improve all aspects of native forest operations.

The following reports were prepared as a result of the recommendations:

• Implementation of recommendations  30.3 KB
  
• Review of yield estimates for native forests  922.9 KB
  
• Yield Forecasts - hardwood plantations  899.7 KB
  
• Yield Forecasts - Eden Regional Forest Agreement  4.4 MB
  
• Yield Forecasts - Southern Regional Forest Agreement, South Coast sub-region  986.6 KB
  
• Yield Forecasts - Southern Regional Forest Agreement, Tumut sub-region  1.0 MB
  
• FRAMES Strike Rate Modifier Review  192.7 KB
  
• FRAMES Net Harvest Area Modifiers  1.7 MB
  
• FRAMES Reconciliation  196.8 KB