NSW forest agreements
As part of the NSW Government’s commitment to regulatory modernisation, the Forestry Legislation Amendment Act 2018 repealed provisions in the Forestry Act 2012 that made NSW Forest Agreements prerequisites for Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals (IFOAs).
NSW Forest Agreements largely duplicated the Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) between the NSW Government and the Commonwealth. The amended Forestry Act removed the requirement to maintain duplicative policies and reporting and review processes and all NSW Forest Agreements have now lapsed.
Letting the NSW Forest Agreements lapse will not affect environmental protections or timber supply, nor will it impact on the design, management or implementation of the IFOAs.
The four NSW Forest Agreements are:
- upper north east region (PDF 334KB) [lapsed 4 March 2019]
- lower north east region (PDF 324KB) [lapsed 4 March 2019]
- Eden region (PDF 328KB) [lapsed 4 March 2019]
- southern region (PDF 493KB) [lapsed 4 May 2022]
Annual forestry reports
Annual forestry snapshot reports provide an overview of the management of the NSW public native forest estate with respect to:
- progress towards ecologically sustainable forest management (ESFM)
- compliance with integrated forestry operations approvals (IFOA) in the coastal and western regions
The reports also summarise annual:
- monitoring and research activities and conservation highlights
- harvesting and timber volumes
- EPA compliance and enforcement of public and private native forestry operations, and any regulatory action taken.
The reports have been prepared by the EPA as required under section 69H of the Forestry Act, with input from all agencies involved in the management of NSW forests. As all four NSW Forest Agreements have now lapsed the 2021–22 snapshot report is the last in the series which commenced in 2000.
The last two snapshot reports are provided here. Note that some of the links and addresses in the reports may have changes since they were first published.