Old-growth forest areas and their reservation status across Australia

Transcription

1 Old-growth forest areas and their reservati status across Australia Adam Gerrand, Tim Clancy, Stuart Davey, Geoff Dunn, Ian Frakes with thanks for put from States and Territories Science for decisi makers Outle of talk Growth stages described, works well for some forests, but not all species/types Why are we terested old-growth? Old-growth defiti Old-growth Natial Forest Policy, and RFA s Mappg of old-growth where and when Old growth by tenure esp. areas cservati reserves Threats for old-growth Cclusis

2 Why is growth stage formati useful? Growth stage is an dicator of biodiversity Old-growth forests usually have high structural and species diversity and support some dependent species It provides an dicati of the balance of different age classes across the forest estate The sustaable producti of wood and the matenance of values such as species diversity are often enhanced by a mix of areas different age classes and a mosaic of growth stages Growth stage works well for even-aged eucalypts Four ma growth stages native forests are: regenerati (less than 20 years sce disturbance) regrowth (20 80 years) mature (80 or more years) and senescent (irregular crown form due to age) These four categories work reasably well for many eucalypt forests, which are often even-aged. Substantial areas of forests are mixtures of e or more growth stages, especially forests domated by other species.

3 Native forest growth stages Old growth Where old-growth doesn t work well Wet tropics Drier s Where disturbance history not known N-eucalypt communities

4 Sometimes old trees aren t classified as old-growth forest Why are we terested old-growth forests? Old-growth forests are the subject of significant scientific and public terest Old-growth forests have habitat, cservati and aesthetic values that are not found other forest areas Public ccern about timber harvestg old-growth forests

5 Eucalypts can be very tall even to 90 metres Varyg State old-growth defitis but agreed natially Less disturbance or lg time sce The 1992 Natial Forest Policy: ecologically mature and has been subjected to negligible unnatural disturbance such as loggg, roadg and clearg. Old growth forests has specific attributes => habitat values Increasg age of the stand

6 Natial Forest Policy old-growth Natial criteria were established for the cservati of forests (JANIS criteria) and old-growth defiti: Ecologically mature forest where the effects of disturbances are now negligible The Natial Forest Policy Statement gives high priority to the protecti of old-growth forests, specific provisis however, target to be applied flexibly - to clude representative examples of old-growth forest across the range - to ensure that high-quality habitat areas are cluded, and to take the largest and least fragmented areas Old-growth forests both old and little disturbed

7 RFA old-growth criteria and objectives RFA s developed a set of natially agreed criteria for establishment of a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system Australia to protect, cservati reserves: 15% of the pre-1750 distributi of each forest type 60% of the existg distributi of each forest type, if vulnerable 60% of the existg old-growth forest 90% or more of high-quality wilderness forests all remag occurrences of rare and endangered forest ecosystems (cludg rare old-growth forests) RFA cservati outcomes >15% of forests cservati reserves 70% of old-growth forests cservati reserves plus additial protective measures Cservati Ecomic & social

8 Mappg old-growth forests Mappg old-growth forests requires knowledge of both the growth stage and the disturbance history of the forest Disturbance is often not well known terpret from other formati, such as forest structure, or evidence of disturbance, such as tracks, stumps and fire scars Sometime usg aerial photographs, but often expensive and labourtensive -the-ground specti is required Thus, ly a relatively small area (15%) of Australia s forests (mostly tall, wet forests) has been assessed for old-growth values Old-growth forests are usually identified patches larger than 2 or 3hectares Where have old-growth assessments been made? Mappg old-growth forests

9 Where have old-growth assessments been made? Where have old-growth assessments been made? No comprehensive survey of old growth forests across Australia has been de Only relatively small areas have been assessed for growth stage about 15% of Australia s forests Focused the taller wetter forests with Regial Forest Agreement (RFA) areas Old-growth forest not assessed the ACT, NT or SA Old-growth forest does occur outside RFA s but it is not well known or documented

10 Where are Australia s old-growth forests? Almost half of Australia s identified forest is NSW, mostly public Old-growth forest also occurs outside RFA s, but its extent is not well known. In Victoria, surveys have been cducted of old trees red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) forests, but those forests often do not meet the formal defiti of old-growth forest Old-growth forest mapped RFA/CRA areas NSW, Tas, Vic, Qld, WA

11 Old-growth identified and protected WA The WA Government developed an old-growth policy 2001 Aims to protect 100% of identified areas of old-growth all public forest the Southwest Forest Management Plan area assessed for growth stage (11% of WA forests) 331,000ha of old-growth identified

12 Forest tenure old-growth forest reserves (comg so the 2008 State of the Forests report) Native forest area identified as % of forest public private formal and formal reserves a % reserves NSW b 8,989 2, , , Qld. b 3, Tas. c 3,116 1, , c 79 Vic. 5, WA d 1, n/a Total 23,018 5, , ,702 73

13 old-growth forest reserves (comg so the 2008 State of the Forests report) Native forest area identified as % of forest public private formal and formal reserves a % reserves NSW b 8,989 2, , , Qld. b 3, Tas. c 3,116 1, , c 79 Vic. 5, WA d 1, n/a Total 23,018 5, , , old-growth forest reserves (comg so the 2008 State of the Forests report) Native forest area identified as % of forest public private formal and formal reserves a % reserves NSW b 8,989 2, , , Qld. b 3, Tas. c 3,116 1, , c 79 Vic. 5, WA d 1, n/a Total 23,018 5, , ,702 73

14 old-growth forest reserves (comg so the 2008 State of the Forests report) Native forest area identified as % of forest public private formal and formal reserves a % reserves NSW b 8,989 2, , , Qld. b 3, Tas. c 3,116 1, , c 79 Vic. 5, WA d 1, n/a Total 23,018 5, , , old-growth forest reserves (comg so the 2008 State of the Forests report) Native forest area identified as % of forest public private formal and formal reserves a % reserves NSW b 8,989 2, , , Qld. b 3, Tas. c 3,116 1, , c 79 Vic. 5, WA d 1, n/a Total 23,018 5, , ,702 73

15 old-growth forest reserves (comg so the 2008 State of the Forests report) Native forest area identified as % of forest public private formal and formal reserves a % reserves NSW b 8,989 2, , , Qld. b 3, Tas. c 3,116 1, , c 79 Vic. 5, WA d 1, n/a Total 23,018 5, , , Current old-growth cservati reserve areas High levels of protecti for identified old-growth forests: Of the 23 milli hectares of forest assessed for old-growth, 5.03 milli hectares (22%) is so classified as old-growth This is about 200,000 hectares less than that reported 2003 State of the Forests report (5.23 milli hectares) the difference is due maly to the impact of severe fires, with younger forests replacg some areas of old-growth, and also to some remappg Over 73% of known old-growth forests are now with formal or formal nature cservati reserves

16 Most old-growth has been surveyed and identified public There has been an crease the area of privately managed forest (cludg private freehold, leasehold and Indigenousmanaged s) managed for cservati objectives but the extent of this crease is not well documented Potential threats to old-growth forests Fire and disease are significant threats to forests across all tenures In Victoria and New South Wales, large areas of old-growth have been burned and cverted to regenerati and earlier growth stages sce the RFA surveys mostly the 2003 fires, but the impact the extent of old-growth areas has not been fully reported

17 Other risks for old-growth forests For jarrah forests to be classified as old-growth Western Australia, they must be free of the Phytophthora root-rot disease, which is csidered a form of disturbance. Loggg is also a ctentious issue, several states have developed policies for the exclusi of harvestg from old-growth; or for altered management prescriptis (eg alternatives to clearfellg) to reduce impacts Cclusis Australia has made substantial progress identifyg old-growth forests through the CRA-RFA process the 1990 s however, there has been little new mappg or updatg of the data sce then Just over 5 mill. ha of old-growth forest identified out of 23m ha assessed The RFA s also substantially creased the areas of old-growth reserves The levels of protecti reserves varies by State from 68% to 100% Natially, 73% of old-growth forest is reserves Lg term management of old-growth forests is important to protect and mata the values cludg biodiversity and aesthetic qualities Protecti reserves is no guarantee The biggest threats to old-growth forests Australia are from fires and disease (eg Phytopthora - a root rot fungus)

18 For more formati Australia s forests Australia s State of the Forests Report 2008 comg so Short forest profile series (Eucalypts, Acacia etc.) Forests at a glance (pocket size) Science for Decisi-makers Old-growth forests Available free ternet: /nfi /stateoftheforests