1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2008
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/02/2008
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FORESTRY Native forest A forest is defined by the NFI as an area incorporating all living and non-living components, dominated by trees having usually a single stem and a mature or potentially mature stand height exceeding two metres, and with an existing or potential crown cover of over-storey strata about equal to or greater than 20%. This definition includes Australia’s diverse native forests, regardless of age. It is also sufficiently broad to encompass areas of trees that are sometimes described as woodlands. Based on this definition, the total area of native forest (parts of which are considered 'old growth') reported in the latest Australia's State of the Forests Report is estimated at 162.7 million hectares (mill. ha), which is about 21% of Australia’s land area (table 17.1). Some 121.6 mill. ha (75%) of native forest were on public land, and 38.9 mill. ha (24%) were on private land with the remaining 1% on land of unresolved tenure. The 121.6 mill. ha of forests growing on public land, consisted of 75.6 mill. ha (62%) on leasehold tenure, 21.5 mill. ha (18%) in Nature Conservation Reserves, 13.1 mill. ha (11%) on other Crown land, and 11.4 mill. ha (9%) managed by state forest authorities for multiple uses including wood production, recreation and informal reserves. Including forested leasehold land and private freehold forest, some 114.5 mill. ha, or 70% of Australia’s native forests, were privately managed.
Plantations Australia’s plantation estate continued to expand in 2006. The total recorded area of plantation established reached 1.8 mill. ha to December 2006 (table 17.2). This was an increase of 78,000 ha (4.5%) over 2005. The proportion of hardwood species has increased to 44% of the total with softwood species making up just over half (56%) of the total area (graph 17.3). About 95% of the softwood plantations are Pinus radiata and other introduced pines. Nearly all of the hardwood plantations are native eucalypts, including Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), shining gum (E. nitens) and flooded gum (E. grandis). A diverse range of ownership arrangements exists in the Australian plantation industry, including a variety of joint venture and annuity schemes between public and private parties. For several years, most investment in new plantations has been by the private sector through managed investment schemes, which funded 86% of all new plantations in 2006 and now own 26% of the total plantation area (graph 17.4). The proportions of public and private plantations were equal at 46% in 1999. Privately-owned plantations now represent 59%, far exceeding public plantations at 36%. This difference is especially pronounced for hardwood plantations, about 86% of which are privately owned compared with 36% of softwood plantations.
Farm forestry Farm forestry generally refers to the incorporation of commercial tree growing into farming systems. This may take the form of small plantations, timber belts, wind breaks, alleys and wide-spaced trees, and may also include management of native forest for commercial returns. Farm forestry has been adopted by relatively few Australian farmers, although a large proportion of them plant trees for land protection and amenity purposes. Managing private native forests is a potentially important component of farm forestry given 24% of Australia’s total native forest area was on privately-owned land. Wood and paper products Australia's wood and paper products industries are important components of Australia's primary and secondary industry sectors. They are particularly important in providing economic development and employment in many regions of rural Australia. The industries include hardwood and softwood sawmilling, plywood and panels manufacturing, woodchip production and export, and the pulp and paper industries. In 2005-06 total roundwood removed from forests declined by 1% to 26.7 mill. cubic metres (mill. m3). The removal of broad-leaved wood (primarily from native forests) declined 3% in 2005-06 to 12.3 mill. m3, while 1% more coniferous wood (mainly from plantations) was removed. The value of exports of forest products in 2005-06 totalled $2.1 billion (b), of which 40% were woodchips and 28% paper and paperboard products. The value of imports of forest products in 2005-06 was $4.0b, of which 53% were paper and paperboard products and 10% sawnwood. This indicates a trade deficit in forest products of $1.9b in 2005-06. Australia produced 93% of its sawn timber needs in 2005-06, of which 70% came from softwood plantations while the remainder came from native forests. Imported sawn timber is mostly Radiata pine from New Zealand and Douglas fir (also known as Oregon) from North America.The hardwood and softwood sawmilling industries comprise mills of various sizes which process wood into sawn timber and other products such as veneers, mouldings and floorings. The hardwood mills are generally small scale and scattered. The softwood mills are generally larger and more highly integrated with other wood-processing facilities. Australia's production of sawn timber in 2005-06 increased by 2% to 4.8 mill. m3 (table 17.5).
Other value-added timber products include plywood, wood-based panels and reconstituted wood products. Australian wood-based panels include particleboard, medium-density fibreboard, and hardboard made from softwood or hardwood pulp logs, sawmill residues or thinnings.Pulp and paper mills use roundwood thinnings, low-quality logs, harvesting residues and sawmill waste, recycled paper and paperboard to produce a broad range of pulp and paper products. Over the past five years there has been almost a four fold increase in the volume of wood for paper and paperboard sourced from eucalypt plantations as they have come into production. In 2005-06, production stood at 3.6 mill. m3, a 35% increase over the previous year. Wood for paper and paperboard sourced from native eucalypts has been in steady decline in recent years with 2005-06 production of 5.2 mill. m3 down 19% on the previous year. Similarly, use of coniferous wood for paper and paperboard is in decline. Some 42% of the paper and paper products consumed domestically in 2005-06 were imported, with 87% of printing and writing paper coming from overseas. The majority of paper products produced domestically were packaging and industrial paper (60%) along with printing and writing papers, newsprint and tissue paper. Recycled paper now contributes about half of the fibre used in the production of all paper and paperboard. Woodchips are mainly used in the production of Australia's paper and paper products. The woodchip export industry uses sawmill residues and timber which is unsuitable for sawmilling and not required by the pulp, paper and reconstituted wood-products industries. Before the advent of the woodchip export industry, much of this material was left in the forest after logging. Considerable quantities of sawmill waste material, which would otherwise be burnt, are also chipped for local pulpwood-using industries and for export. Up until 1990-91 at least 95% of woodchips exported from Australia had been eucalypt, but since then greater quantities of softwood woodchips have become available from pine plantations.
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