North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) is calling on the NSW state government to reassess the Wood Supply Agreements (WSA) that facilitate native forest in NSW’s state forests.
NEFA spokesperson Dailian Pugh, OAM, told The Echo that native logging WSAs that currently exist for north-east NSW have not been able to be met since before 2003.
‘The WSAs were renegotiated in 2003 and reissued for reduced, but still unsustainable volumes, for the next 20 years (until 2023),’ said Mr Pugh.
‘Boral took the Forestry Corporation to court every year thereafter for failure to supply; then in 2014 the NSW government paid Boral $8.55 million to buy back 50,000m3 per annum for the remaining nine years. In the 2019/20 fires many trees were killed, and yields declined.’
The timber industry is calling on the NSW government to extend their WSAs past their December 2028 expiry date. This raises concerns over the ability of the state forest to supply the timber with IPART (Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal) emphasising that timber was being sold to sawmillers below the cost of harvesting and hauling that timber in 2022.
‘Since the 2019-20 black summer fires, actual yields of all products have declined by 49 per cent, including a 46 per cent decline in large high quality sawlogs, 47 per cent decline in small high quality sawlogs, and 61 per cent decline in low quality logs,’ explained Mr Pugh.
‘Over the five years 2020/21 until 2024/25, Forestry Corporation’s actual yields of high-quality logs from native forests have only been 55 per cent of predicted yields, with yields from hardwood plantations increased to 228 per cent of intended yields to help make up the deficit.’
The Echo sent questions on the WSA to Janelle Saffin, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Recovery, and Minister for the North Coast, asking if she continues to support logging in NSW native forests.
A response was received from ‘a government spokesperson’ claiming that, ‘Revenue from timber production does cover the costs of harvesting, haulage and administration’.
They went on to tout timber as the ‘most renewable building product available’ stating that ‘state forests are managed sustainably in line with the robust NSW government regulations’
Independent?
Responding to the assertion that the ‘independent forestry panel’ is biased, they doubled down and stated that, ‘The NSW government has established an Independent Forestry Panel to lead consultation and to inform the development of the Forestry Industry Action Plan (FIAP), which will outline the path NSW will take to support a sustainable timber industry while aligning with the government’s key environmental priorities.
‘The NSW government has published the Forestry Panel’s Stakeholder Consultation Report, which is the product of a broad consultation process across industry, environmental groups, unions, local government, regional communities, and researchers. The panel has been tasked with developing a Considerations Report, which will accommodate consultation findings and identify opportunities to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the NSW forestry industry and support jobs.’
NEFA says the NSW government needs to do a proper independent assessment of the recent downturns and the impacts of the 2019/20 wildfires. Do the overdue five-year reviews of actual yields compare to predicted yields and the Regional Forest Agreement and Coastal Integrated Forestry Operations Approval. As well as provide an assessment of the alternative economic benefits of managing public forests for carbon credits, tourism and water.
‘The timber industry is calling on the NSW government to extend their WSAs past their December 2028 expiry date to lock in logging of specified volumes of timber from public native forests for at least another decade,’ said Mr Pugh.
‘This is intended to frustrate the campaign for an end to logging of public native forests, or at least require massive compensation payments to the sawmill owners should any future government end logging of public native forests.’
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