Aspects of ecologically sustainable forestry in temperate eucalypt forests - beyond an expanded reserve system

Abstract

The utilization of native forests is one of the most contentious and socially-divisive issues in Australia. Much of the recent conflict over the conservation and exploitation of Australia's temperate forests has focussed on the expansion of the reserve system. Even if this aspect of forest conflict is resolved, there will be a number of major changes required before the forest sector can be regarded as having made the transition to ecological sustainability. The expansion of the reserve system must not result in a reduction in off-reserve conservation efforts as most of the nation's forest biodiversity will still occur outside the protected area network. This means that progress toward ecological sustainability will involve an overall reduction in timber and pulpwood production from native forests. There needs to be a concerted research and monitoring effort to better understand forest ecosystems targeted for management. Such efforts must not only provide better knowledge of forest biota, but they should assist foresters to develop more ecologically-sensitive silvicultural systems ? including the partial replacement of traditional cutting methods with new ones. As part of this effort, there is a need for better stand inventory to assist more accurate resource and yield estimates, and the implementation of mechanisms to assess adherence to environmental codes for timber harvesting.