Forests of Australia

Australian forest cover

Total employment in forestry and logging in Australia (thousands of people) since 1984

Australia has many forests of importance due to significant features, despite being one of the driest continents. As of 2009^[update], Australia has approximately 147 million hectares of native forest, which represents about 19% of Australia's land area.^[1] The majority of Australia's trees are hardwoods, typically eucalypts, rather than softwoods like pine. While softwoods dominate some native forests, their total area is judged insufficient to constitute a major forest type in Australia's National Forest Inventory. The Forests Australia website provides up-to-date information on Australia's forests. Detailed information on Australia's forests is available from Australia's State of the Forests Reports that are published every five years.

Forest types

There are 458 forest communities distributed across Australia. These have been grouped into the following seven native forest types, which are characterised by dominant species and the structure of the forest:

• Rainforests
• Melaleuca forests
• Eucalypt forests
• Casuarina forests
• Callitris forests
• Acacia forests
• Mangrove forests

Plantation forests (softwood and hardwood) have been defined as an eighth group that covers trees planted for commercial use.

Government

Policies

In Australia the states and territories are responsible for managing forests.^[2] Guidance is primarily provided by the 1992 National Forest Policy Statement (NFPS).^[3] The NFPS allows for the inclusion of Regional Forest Agreements, which are 20-year plans for the management of native forests.

Departments

• Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries in the Northern Territory
• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
• Department of Primary Industries and its child agency Forests NSW
• South Australian Forestry Corporation (trading as Forestry SA)
• Forestry Tasmania
• Department of Environment and Primary Industries
• Department of Environment and Conservation

List of significant forests

Bushfires

Over the years, bushfires have destroyed a lot of trees and this in turn destroyed the habitat of many animals;^[6] most notably koalas numbers have decreased nearly 30% across Australia since 2018.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

• 
  Child standing under 92 metre mountain ash tree in Tasmania's Styx Valley
• 
  Karri forest near Cascades at Pemberton, Western Australia
• 
  Hopetoun Falls, beech forest, near Great Otway National Park, Victoria.
• 
  Toolangi State Forest near the Little Red Toolangi Treehouse
• 
  Old growth forest, near Errinundra National Park.
• 
  Rainforest in Tasmania's Hellyer Gorge is considered a Gondwanan relic.
• 
  Brown Mountain old growth mountain ash
• 
  The buttressed roots of an Antarctic beech in Lamington National Park
• 
  Tasmania's "Big Tree" is one of the tallest remaining mountain ash.

See also

• Deforestation in Australia
• Fauna of Australia
• Flora of Australia
• List of old-growth forests in Australia
• National Reserve System
• Protected areas of Australia
• Forestry in Tasmania
• Woodchipping in Australia

References

1. Australian Forest Profiles Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine – Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
2. "Australia's Forest Policies". Department of Agriculture. 5 February 2013. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
3. "National Forest Policy Statement". Department of Agriculture. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
4. McIntyre, Iain (2020-11-04). "Environmental Blockading in Australia and Around the World - Timeline 1974-1997". The Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
5. http://nccnsw.org.au/sites/default/files/Leardweb.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
6. "Bushfires – across the nation".