The Statewide Forests Process

What is the Statewide Forests Process?

The Queensland Government, in partnership with ARCS and the Queensland Timber Board, is undertaking a Statewide Forests Process (SFP), modelled on the outcomes of the South-East Queensland Forests Agreement (SEQFA), to resolve forestry issues in Queenslandıs State-owned native forests outside South East Queensland.

The SEQFA model, the most successful Forest Agreement in Australia, involved the Queensland Government, the timber industry and conservationists working together as partners to find long-term solutions and a shared vision for South East Queenslandıs native forests and the future of the hardwood timber industry.

The SFP involves a similar assessment and planning approach for the three other hardwood producing regions in Queensland - the Western Hardwoods region, the Mackay-Proserpine region and the North Queensland Ecotone Forests.

The broad aims of the SFP are to:

• protect environmental values;
• provide certainty to the timber industry, essentially through a transition to plantations; and
• ensure ecologically sustainable management of all forests

The specific aims will be to:

• plan for the phasing out of logging of hardwood from native forests on State-owned lands over an agreed timeframe;
• transition the timber industry to principally a plantation-based resource;
• increase the area of the conservation estate;
• provide for other forest uses consistent with the broad aims of the SFP;
• maintain or increase regional employment opportunities in ecologically sustainable forest based industries, including recreation and tourism opportunities;
• provide support for the growth and development of a vibrant timber industry recognising the changing nature and sourcing of the resource; and
• recognise and respect the interests and aspirations of indigenous people in protection and management of forests identified for addition to the conservation estate.

A snapshot of the regions

The SFP covers more than 40 million hectares of Queensland from the New South Wales border north to Cape York Peninsula. The three major regions involved are the Western Hardwoods region (most of the Brigalow bioregion), the Mackay-Proserpine region and the North Queensland Ecotone Forests (involving western parts of the Wet Tropics and the eastern section of the Einasleigh Uplands bioregions). The SFP maintains a watching brief on Cape York Peninsula where there is no long-established timber industry.

The current annual public forest (Crown) hardwood sawlog allocation in the major regions totals 57,360 cubic metres, with the majority (53,435 cubic metres) allocated in the Western Hardwoods region. In the three major regions, the public forest estate supplies approximately 50% of the hardwood sawlog volume processed by industry.

Interim sustainable yield calculations show that the Crown allocations cannot be maintained in the long term. For example, in the Western Hardwoods region, the long-term sustainable yield under the current harvesting and utilisation system is estimated to be 30 per cent of the current allocation. Without a managed process of change, the timber industry faces large reductions in resource availability.

The challenge facing the SFP is to develop solutions that maintain industry viability and protect high conservation value areas.

The Science of the Statewide Forests Process

The SFP will draw on scientific information that is solutions-based and specifically directed at achieving the agreed aims of the process.

Projects will provide the information base including:

• environmental studies of the forests' biodiversity including threatened species of flora and fauna, and wilderness;
• wood and other resource assessments;
• plantation capability analyses;
• profiles of the existing wood products industry and opportunities for new processing industries that use a lower volume and quality of resource without compromising economic and employment objectives;
• social and economic analysis of the timber and other forest-related industries and their significance for local communities, the region and the State.

The Statewide Forests Process and community participation

The opportunity exists to capitalise and build on the cooperation and goodwill that has been developed during the SEQFA process and its implementation.

An interdepartmental policy group ensures a whole of Government approach to achieving outcomes for the SFP. The Department of State Development, through the Timber Taskforce, is the lead agency and responsible for coordination and management of the regional planning process.

A Steering Committee involves the principal stakeholder signatories to the SEQFA (ARCS and the Queensland Timber Board) who also contribute to data gathering, analysis and interpretation directed towards achieving the specific aims of the SFP.

Community consultation will occur during the process. Interest groups and key stakeholders such as local government, conservation groups, timber industry, indigenous groups, graziers, beekeepers, and tourism and recreation interests will be consulted either through local government, industry associations or other appropriate bodies.

What is the timeframe?

The SFP is due to report to the Queensland Government in June 2004.


Download the summary and introduction to the ARCS Report 'Conservation Values of the Western Hardwoods Area'. (4.4 MB)