The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, which represents hundreds of private forest owners, today welcomed the Tasmanian Government’s move to gauge the prospects for the state’s privately-held hardwood plantations in the post-Gunns era.
The TFGA joins Private Forests Tasmania and the Department of Infrastructure on a special panel that the government announced today to examine the future of that part of the forest industry. It is chaired by former federal resources minister Martin Ferguson.
“Our private forests have been in a state of limbo for too long as landholders have awaited the outcome of the Gunns’ collapse,” acting TFGA chief executive Peter Skillern said.
“Because of the uncertainty over ownership of the trees themselves, the plantations have not been managed. Their quality has deteriorated in many cases.
“We need an audit of those plantations to determine the full extent of the plantation estate and those parts of it that are suitable for pulpwood and those that can provide higher quality end uses, such as saw logs and veneers,” Mr Skillern said.
He said farmers needed to be assured of their ability to put their plantations to their optimum use and, as soon as possible, return to sustainable native forest logging.
More than 26 per cent of Tasmania’s forest cover, 885,000 ha, is privately-owned native forest; more than four per cent of the total forest cover is in plantation forests on private land.
TFGA chief executive Peter Skillern
