South East Queensland Forests Agreement
In 1999, the Queensland Government met its commitment to the National Forest Policy Statement for the South East Queensland Bioregion by signing the South East Queensland Forests Agreement (SEQFA) together with co-signatories—the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society, the Queensland Conservation Council, The Wilderness Society and the Queensland Timber Board (now Timber Queensland Limited). The agreement was the culmination of an extensive review of the uses and values of the State-owned native forest estate in the region commencing in the mid 1990s in consultation with local communities, conservation groups and industry. The objectives of the agreement are to develop:
- a world class conservation reserve system
- ecologically sustainable management of forests
- a competitive and efficient timber industry
- enhanced economic development and employment prospects for rural communities.
The agreement provided long-term timber resource certainty for the region’s important hardwood timber industry and enabled a world-class conservation reserve system to be developed in the region. Key elements of the agreement were to:
- immediately cease harvesting timber on approximately 425 000 hectares of State native forest—this area being designated as ‘forests reserves’ and managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service for progressive transfer to ‘protected area’ status, such as national park, under the Nature Conservation Act 1992
- progressively transfer, by 31 December 2025, remaining areas of State forest and timber reserve to protected area status after one further log timber harvest in approved areas
- enable the industry to transition to a plantation resource
- provide 25-year compensatable and tradeable timber supply agreements to continuing sawmillers in the region.
Under the agreement, there will be no clear-felling of native forests and no export wood chip industry based on native forests. Native forest timber supplies will also be supplemented by timber from certain mature State-owned hardwood plantations in the region. Harvesting of non-sawlog material and residues is continuing for traditional products such as poles, landscaping material and minor forest products. The current annual allocation of State-owned native forest log timber to the timber industry under the agreement is approximately 41 000 cubic metres.
The Queensland Government supported the agreement by committing funding for the initial establishment of 5000 hectares of hardwood plantation, industry development assistance, hardwood plantation research and development, development of forest-based tourism projects and for management of an expanded conservation estate.
The SEQFA gives DERM a blueprint for ongoing responsible management of State-owned native forests in the region.
Last updated 18 October 2010