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Managing Director Bob Gordon said today he was disappointed Environment Tasmania had chosen to make media comment about its forestry report ahead of its public release.
"It is ironic that this report makes recommendations about good governance, and calls for more openness and transparency in the forest industry. Environment Tasmania has had the advantage of making public statements about their report before key stakeholders could obtain and absorb the information to make a considered response.
"The report also ignores the fact that one million hectares of former state forest, which was once managed for multiple uses, has now been put into reserves. By definition, Tasmania's high conservation value forests are already protected in reserves.
"The report's recommendation to separate Forestry Tasmania's conservation obligations from its wood supply functions does not take into account the more than $5 million annually in unfunded community service obligations for which FT is responsible.
"Contrary to the implications of the Environment Tasmania report, Forestry Tasmania takes its environmental and social obligations seriously. As detailed in our recent Stewardship Report, we fund essential services such as conservation research, management of forest reserves, fire fighting and roads from the sale of wood products. We receive no external financial support for these functions.
"To give one example, Forestry Tasmania currently pays for 300 forest fire fighters, which makes us the largest forest fire fighting agency in the state. If this function was separated from our wood supply operations, the funding of this essential emergency service would be down to the Tasmanian taxpayer.
"Only one half of state forest is available for harvesting, and only one percent of state forest is harvested for wood products and regrown each year. We manage the remainder, including a quarter of all of Tasmania's old growth forests, to conserve biodiversity and heritage, and to provide recreational opportunities for Tasmanians and visitors to our state. These services are provided at no charge to the community.
"We manage state forests in accordance with our Sustainability Charter, and operate within a strict regulatory environment. We comply with the requirements of the Forestry Act, the Regional Forest Agreement, the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement, our Australian Forestry Standard certification and the Forest Practices Code.
"The requirement to make available a minimum of 300,000 cubic metres of sawlog and veneer log ensures that state forests are managed on a sustainable basis, as it extends the length of the harvesting cycle so that these products can be supplied to industry over the long term.
"It should be remembered that without native forest harvesting, we would not be able to supply high quality sawlogs or our iconic special species timbers such as myrtle and sassafras. Some 4,500 direct jobs in Tasmania would also be lost.”
ENDS
8 February 2010
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