New management strategies for jarrah and karri forests

5/8/93

Uncertainty in the timber industry resulting from 18 months of indecision has finally been dispelled, Environment Minister Kevin Minson said today,

He said the cut had been set on a proper scientific basis.

Announcing new forest management strategies for the State's jarrah and karri forests after a Ministerial Review, Mr Minson said they represented a new direction for the forest and timber industry.

The emphasis was on sustainable timber harvesting and value-adding.

Mr Minson said the key elements of the strategy were:

·         implementing the Department of Conservation and Land Management's principles of forest reserves set out in its 1992 draft strategy.  A further 120,000 hectares of forest would be set aside from timber cutting.  This meant that 33 per cent of the jarrah forest and 46 per cent of the karri forest would be in reserve systems from which timber harvesting was excluded;

·         the annual timber cut would be 490,000 cubic metres of first and second grade jarrah sawlogs and 417,000 cubic metres of first grade and other karri logs for the next 10 years.  This was a reduction of 30,000 cubic metres on the 1992 approved jarrah harvest;

·         big sawmillers would bear the brunt of the lower cut;

·         small sawmillers would get a 10 per cent increase in their allocation of first grade sawlogs;

·         all hardwood sawmillers would have to initiate value-adding processes for at least half their sawlog allocation within three years. Those mills which did not reach this target would have their allocations rescinded.

Mr Minson said value-adding was the key to the timber industry's future.

"The Government is confident the industry will meet the challenge so that the traditional green-sawn structural timber will be a thing of the past," he said.

"It is hoped that the within 10 years, the WA hardwood forest industry will employ significantly more people than it does today even though the overall timber harvest will be less."

Mr Minson said the new cut levels reflected the Government's endorsement for the National Forest Policy objective of maintaining a permanent forest estate and managing it in an ecologically sustainable manner.

"This means optimising the social and economic benefits which forests supply to the community with the goal of maintaining forested land, its biodiversity and options for future generations," he said.

Mr Minson said the Ministerial Review endorsed CALM's forest management proposals based on sustaining the ecosystem.

"It is apparent that the biggest threat to biodiversity in animals in the South-West forests comes from introduced predators such as the cat and the fox," he said.

"The fungus which causes dieback in jarrah and other species is the major threat to plant biodiversity.

"CALM is already making dramatic progress with its forest fox control program and there has been a major increase in the occurrence of native animals in those areas where foxes have been controlled.

"As far as dieback is concerned, I have already appointed a panel of eminent scientists to investigate the problem and advise on additional measures to control the disease."

Mr Minson said the Ministerial Review also endorsed the Resource Assessment Commission's conclusion that logging native forests did not threaten any plant or animal species.

"Therefore, provided sensitive management practices are retained or enhanced, harvesting native forests cannot be challenged on the basis of needing to protect biodiversity," he said.

Mr Minson foreshadowed a further reduction in the jarrah log harvest after 2003.

"The long-term level of sawlog supply at today's standards is likely to be around 300,000 cubic metres a year but could reach 450,000 cubic metres if utilisation rates increase," he said.

"Even if the conservative level is accepted, it represents a dramatic improvement over the long-term projects of the previous two forest management strategies implemented in 1982 and 1987."

Mr Minson said contractual and administrative arrangements for the new management strategy would be implemented in the next five months.

Media contact: Diana Callander 222 9595