FORESTRY CORPORATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES NATIVE FOREST HARVESTING PLAN

Transcription

1 _Forestry J: Corporation FORESTRY CORPORATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES NATIVE FOREST HARVESTING PLAN Compartments 11, 20, 25, 26, 158, 159 parts of 16, 17, 21 and 27 I Certification This plan has been prepared in accordance with the Integrated Forestry Operations Approval issued under the Forestry and National Park Estate Act Prepared by: Ken Drew Approved by: Brent Bailey Harvest Planner Date: May 2014 Signatur Date: Note: Approval encompasses the Harvest Plan Operational Map (HPOM) with the corresponding approval date displayed on the map, verifying final approved version. I Description of Proposal This native forest timber harvesting plan aims to: 1. Provide the means by which native forest timber can be efficiently and effectively harvested in accordance with the requirements of the Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA). 2. Describe the silviculture objectives and constraints that will apply to this operation to ensure appropriate treatment of the forest to achieve object number 1 and to provide for the regeneration of the forest where required. 3. Outline the critical boundaries and modified harvest practices that are to apply to safeguard environmental values, neighbouring properties, State forest or other tenures. Environment Protection Licence (EPL) This operation will not be licenced under the EPL, therefore: 1. Unmapped Drainage Line harvesting is permitted. However, as best practice all conditions of the EPL will be applied to this operation with the exception of Schedule 4 Condition 6 relating to filter strips on unmapped drainage lines. Attachment 1: Site Safety Plan prescribes describes safety requirements and MEEP for this harvesting operation. Attachment 2: Road works plan outlining reading requirements for this harvesting operation. Attachment 3: Central Region Standard Operating Conditions for Native Forests Operations under the IFOA

2 IArea identification and yield estimates State Forest Compartments Region Management Bulga 11,20,25,26, 158, 159, patts of ,27 Area Price Zone Harvest Plan ID Central Wingham Wingham Cpt 11 Cpt 16 Cpt 17 Cpt 20 Cpt 21 Total Event ID Gross Area 111ha 124ha 189ha 202ha 224ha 850ha Net Harvest Area 50ha 71ha 72ha 70ha 51ha 314ha Offset Area's 59ha 52ha 32ha 143ha Net Harvestable Area's 50ha 12ha 20ha 70ha 19ha 171ha Estimated Yield 1800m 3 170m 3 380m m m m 3 Cpt 25 Cpt 26 Cpt 27 Cpt 158 Cpt 159 Total Event ID Gross Area 185ha 215ha 186ha 44ha 91ha 721ha Net Harvest Area 76ha 112ha 68ha 9ha 26ha 291ha Offset Area's 35 ha 35ha Net harvestable area's 76ha 100ha 33ha 9ha 26ha 256ha Plantation 20ha 13ha 33ha Estimated Yield 2660m m 3 590m m3 native 860 m3 native 6750m 3-2

3 HARVEST PLAN - Compartments 11, 20, 25, 26, 158, 159 and parts of 16, 17, 21, 27 I Special Conditions Critical boundaries Private Property The north-eastern and eastern boundary of compartment 26 join private property. This boundary is not fenced. This boundary should be checked and marked in the field by a FCNSW Technician using a GPS well in advance of harvesting. Machinery must not enter the National Park and trees must not be felled into the Private Property. National Park. The western boundaries of compartments 158 and 159 join Tapin Tops National Park, The boundary joining 158 is separated by rainforest and drainage line. The western boundary of compartment 159 that joins Tapin Tops National Park has no geographically defined boundary. This boundary should be checked and marked in the field by a FCNSW Technician using a GPS well in advance of harvesting. Machinery must not enter the National Park and trees must not be felled into the National Park. All other boundaries are bound by State Forest. Modified Harvest Area This area is shown on the Harvest Plan Operational Map. This site is protected by a 20m buffer zone, as marked on HPOM. This is total exclusion, no felling into or out of this buffer is permitted. Existing Roads passing through this buffer may be used, however any disturbance must be minimised. Research / Inventory Plots A permanent growth plot is contained within compartment 27 (Plot number PPT906). This plot is contained within High Conservational Value Old Growth (HCVOG) and will not have an impact on harvesting. Management of Filter Strips on Unmapped Drainage Lines This operation is a non-scheduled operation under the Environment Protection Licence issued under section 55 of the Protection of the Environment Act This Harvesting operation, including the roads and trails associated with harvesting are not licensed. All EPL conditions will be applied to harvesting operations as best management practice only, except for schedule 4 condition 6 relating to filter strips on unmapped drainage lines. Any breach of these conditions is not a breach of the Licence, but is a breach of the conditions of this Harvest Plan. The Best Management Practices detailed in Appendix 3 of this Plan are to be applied to unmapped drainage lines. Snigging on Roads Due to no appropriate dump sites within some areas of compartments 26, snigging along and across Padmans Road is required. Padmans Road is use by the general public. Appropriate signage and traffic control measures are to be implement when snigging along or across Padmans Road, by the Harvest Contract Coordinators. - 3

4 A operational strategy should be planned and implemented for snigging along and across Pad mans Road to minimise the time for when road will be blocked. On completion of snigging on each day, Padmans Road should be maintained in a trafficable condition for all vehicle configurations. On completion of harvesting the road surface should be repaired of any damage. Snigging across Padmans and Knodingbul Roads is required when plantations in compartments 158 and 159 are Harvested. The same strategy as described above should be implemented. Harvesting Debris Management Logging debris must be removed within 5 meters of the base of retained seed trees, retained growers and hollow bearing Habitat trees to avoid damage in burning operations. Hunting Declared within State Forest has been declared as a hunting area under the conservation hunting on Public Land initiative managed by the NSW DPI. Only accredited, licensed hunters may apply for permission to hunt certain species of introduced game and feral animals on declared State forests and Crown Lands. Harvesting compartments are no longer excluded for areas available for hunting, so signs should be considered for use as a control as required. Note Harvesting of plantation within compartments 158, 159 will not commence until further notices. SFO Notes A revised SFO notes page has been incorporated into this plan. This page should be used in recording operations under unmapped drainage line prescriptions J Silviculture and harvesting prescriptions Compartment History Compartment history records refer back to the late 1950's giving a good account of previous harvesting and silvicultural activities that took place within these compartments. Several logging events have taken place within these compartments with the last being in 2004 in compartment 16. Prior to 2004 harvesting events had regimes consisting of TSI (timber stand improvement) work, ring barking and light and heavy STS logging Compartment histories indicate that limited fires have taken place in these compartments. The fires that have occurred have been of a low intensity with minimal damage. Compartment histories and field inspections indicate no fires have taken place in these compartments for at least 1 Oyears. Silvicultural Planning The silvicultural objective of this harvesting operation is to harvest large over-mature senescent stems and mature stems down to 40cm DBH and poorer quality and defective stems <40cm DBH. Where previous openings failed to regenerate harvesting machinery should be used to traverse these area's to create ground disturbance and conditions suitable to achieve regeneration. Basal - 4

5 Area limits will be managed by retained growing stems and smaller diameter regeneration areas that won't be harvested, in addition to areas containing unmerchantable timber species Number of harvesting operations remaining in the WSA period ( excluding this event ) Next anticipated harvesting operation 2022 Enrichment Planting 1 No Stand type %of net area Example Treatment (%STS,AGS,THIN) Tallowwood, Sydney Blue Gum New England Blackbutt, Silvertop Stringy bark, 80% 20% Most of compartments Scattering throughout Single Tree Selection (STS) Removal of merchantable mature stems & poorer quality merchantable stems >40cm DBHOB. Remove poorer quality stems <40cm DBHOB. Single Tree Selection (STS) Removal of merchantable mature stems & poorer quality merchantable stems >40cm DBHOB. Remove poorer quality stems <40cm DBHOB. Max. number of AGS openings Thinning BA limit (60%) STS BA limit (max 40% removal) Nil NIA Will not be reached due to retained growers, Habitat and recruitment trees within the compartments, and area's of non merchantable sections and inaccessible areas throughout all compartments I Forest Management Zoning Zone FMZ2 FMZ 3a FMZ 3b FMZ4 FMZ 5 Management (Informal Reserve) - Occurs throughout. Harvesting is excluded from these areas (Harvest Exclusion Zone) - which is mainly Rainforest, Old Growth and Rock. Harvesting is excluded from these areas (Visual) - which is to be treated the same as FMZ 4- not displayed on HPOM. (General Harvesting Prescription) - which is available for harvesting. Normal prescriptions apply. (Plantation) - which is not available for harvesting at this stage - 5

6 Cultural heritage Aboriginal heritage An Aboriginal site survey was performed by Forests NSW Aboriginal Cultural Heritage officer in September If any Aboriginal sites are detected during the course of this harvesting event the suspected site must be marked in the field and protected by a 20m logging exclusion until sich time that the ACHO can be notified and the site confirmed. Non-Aboriginal heritage There are no known sites of Non-Aboriginal heritage within these compartments. Flora and Fauna - Refer to TSL Booklet for Conditions Refer to the Threatened Species Licence (TSL) Booklet for Conditions. General TSL Prescriptions SFO Mark Up Searches - Conditions 5.l(h), 5.2 and 5.13 (general, koala and bird roost and nest searches) must be implemented. 1 Koala star search triggers were identified during pre-harvest surveys. The star search for this has been conducted by ecology staff resulting in a high use area in cpt 11 Tree Retention -Regrowth Zone. Conditions 5.6 (d), (e) and (t), must be applied. Condition 5.6(g) Glossy Black Cockatoo feed trees. Riparian Habitat Protection - Condition 5.7 must be applied. Ground Habitat protection - Condition No I commercial firewood collection permitted in these compartments. Site-Specific Conditions, Exclusion Zones & Modified Harvest Areas Mapped exclusion areas occur for the following. Site-specific conditions must be implemented - 6

7 Boundary Tvoe TSL Condition Number Prescriotion Name Prescriotion Summary 1, Solid 5.12 Dams and waterbodies 1Om buffer on dams 2, Accidental 5.04 Rainforest Mapped Exclusion 3. Machinery 6.03 Giant-barred or Stuttering Frog Mapped exclusion, 30 m buffer on mapped streams within 200 m of a records and no UMDL within 200m of a record. Revert to 1 Om UMDL EPL protection 3. Machinery 6.04 Sphagnum Frog Mapped exclusion. 50 m buffer on records 3. Machinery 6.20 Golden-tipped Bat 4. Limited 5.03 HCVOG Mapped Exclusion Ridge and Headwater 4. Limited 5.08 Habitat Mapped Exclusion Mapped exclusion, 30 m buffer on mapped streams within 200 m ofa records and no UMDL within 200m of a record. Revert to 1 Om UMDL EPL protection 4, Limited 5.11 Rocky Outcrop 20 m buffer on outcrops> 0.1 ha or cliffs> 3m high 4, Limited 6.14 Koala High-use Area Mapped Exclusion. 4. Limited 6.16 Squirrel Glider Mapped exclusion. Sha exclusion 4, Limited 6.9 Owl Landscapes Mapped exclusion - Bulga North planning Unit 5, Modified 6.14 Koala Intermediate Use Tree retention requirements - 10 Primary browse species per 2 hectares must be retained where available. These trees must be marked for retention. - 7

8 J Fisheries Licence Conditions Fisheries Licence does not apply to this Harvesting Operation. J Soils and Water Protection - Refer to EPL Booklet & Standard Plan Conditions. Refer to EPL Booklet & Standard Plan Conditions Site-specific EPL conditions Element Conditions Unmapped Drainage Lines Drainage Feature Protection Inherent Hazard Class Dispersible Soils Mass Movement Seasonal Harvesting Exclusions Seasonal Burning Exclusions Best Management Practices for Umapped Drainage Lines apply See HPOM for widths IHC2 Log Dumps Refer relevant conditions for IHL 2: Conditions 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 and 33. Schedule 4 of EPL Snig Tracks Refer relevant conditions for IHL 2: Conditions 38, 40, 41, 42, 68, 70, 80, 81 and 82 Schedule 4 of EPL. Condition 5. 7 of the TSL Roads No No Nil Nil Conditions 15, 16, 17, 21and22 schedule 5 of EPL - 8

9 Element Technique Drainage Crossings Downhill Snigging Wet Weather Grade Rutting Schedule 4 EPL Conditions Conditions Schedule 4 EPL Conditions Schedule 4 EPL Conditions Schedule 4 EPL Condition 5.7 TSL Condition 82 Schedule 4 EPL Condition 81 Schedule 4 EPL Max grade must not exceed 25 except for short sections under certain circumstances. Refer to Condition 41 Schedule 4 EPL Max allowed soil disturbance Snig/Extraction tracks = depth 20cm I Length 10m (Forest Practices Circular 2008/4) I Legal Conditions This operation must comply with: Standard Harvest Plan Condition for Native Forest Operations in Central Region Licence Conditions issued by Forests NSW under the Forestry Act ( 1916) State Forests of NSW Forest Practices Code - Part 2 Timber Harvesting in Native Forests 1999 and Forest Practices Code Part 4 Forest Roads and Fire Trails ( 1999). Integrated Forestry Operations Approval issued under part 4 of the Forestry and National Parks Estate Act 1998 (I FOA) as amended May 2003 including associated licences for Lower North East Region. o Threatened Species Conservation Licence (TSCL) issued under the Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995) as amended May 2003 o Part 7 (Div 3) Fisheries Management Act (1994) as amended May 2003 This operation is a non-scheduled operation under the Environment Protection Licence issued under section 55 of the Protection of the Environment Act This Harvesting operation including the roads and trails associated with harvesting are not licensed. All EPL conditions will be applied to harvesting operations, except for schedule 4 condition 6 relating to filter strips on unmapped drainage lines. The Best Management Practices detailed in Standard Harvest Plan Condition for Native Forest Operations in Central Region are to be applied to unmapped drainage lines - 9

10 - 10

11 I Pre-Operational Briefing I acknowledge that I have received a copy of the Harvesting Plan for Compartments 11,20,25,26, 158, 159 and parts of 16, 17,21,27 s and that I have been briefed on the conditions of the Plan and understand the supervision and operational control requirements as explained to me by the Forest Planner or his/her delegate. Position Name Signature Date - 11