Tasmania hosts forestry study visit from South Pacific Nations

With the aim of learning more about forest management practices, monitoring, and managing for multiple values, a group of 16 forestry practitioners from six nations in the south Pacific, recently toured forestry sites in Tasmania to learn from the experiences gained by foresters in Tasmania.



The main purpose of the study tour was to present Tasmania’s forest practices system to our neighbours in the south Pacific. The visit is part of an ongoing project that Graham Wilkinson, Chief Forest Practices Officer of Tasmania’s Forest Practices Authority (FPA) has been involved with on the implementation of codes of forest practice throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The FPA sponsored the tour, in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). In most cases, these nations are looking to develop or improve their system of monitoring and enforcing codes of forest practices.

Participants in the study tour included representatives of Papua New Guinea Forest Authority, Samoa Forestry Division, the Forestry Departments of Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Solomon Islands, as well as Fiji Pine Limited, Fiji Hardwood Corporation, Kolombangara Forest Products Limited (Solomon Islands), and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (based in Fiji).

I presented the group with an overview on FT’s management of state-owned forests, followed by Terry Ware and Lindsay Wilson, who went over the preparation of forest practices plans and how they are approved and implemented. Senior Environmental Officer, Kevin Swanepoel provided an overview of FT’s Environmental Management System.

Led by Graham Wilkinson, the five-day study tour also included visits to the Forest Heritage Centre, the Huon Wood Centre, the Warra Long-Term Ecological Research site, and Forestry Tasmania’s Tahune Airwalk.

The delegation was given demonstrations on how safety and safety training are practised in Tasmania, and was shown how we assess sustainable yield, biodiversity and cultural heritage. The group also visited harvesting operations, toured private plantations and wrapped up with a visit to the Bonorong Wildlife Conservation Centre.

This was a valuable opportunity to demonstrate our practices and share the experiences of Tasmania’s forest industry. The Forest Practices Authority and the SPC are to be congratulated for their efforts in pulling this together.