Plantation development was recognised by the 1992 National Forestry Policy Statement as a significant issue. It acknowledged the contribution that plantations can and do make to wood supply, the environment, regional Australia, farm returns and the Australian economy as a whole. The 2020 Vision (Plantations for Australia - The 2020 Vision) released in 1997, aimed to treble the area of plantations in Australia from one million hectares in 1994 to three million hectares by 2020. New plantations were to be established on cleared agricultural land.

In 2023/24 the area of plantations was about 1.7 million ha, down from a peak in 2009/10 of 2.0 million ha.

In addition to the national 2020 Vision, Victoria, through Department of Natural Resources and Environment support, developed its own policy statement called Private Forestry in Victoria: Strategy towards 2020, which has recently been re-released as Private Forestry Victoria: Focusing on 2002-2005.

Private Forestry Development Committees

One of the organizational arrangements introduced under the 2020 Vision was the establishment of Private Forestry Development Committees (PFDC). While initially called Regional Plantation Committees, most of the 18-20 Committees did not follow any particular naming protocol. The Committees were in established major plantation regions in Australia. The aim of PFDCs was to enhance the economic development potential of their region through increasing the commercial plantation estate and allow industry to continue to expand and remain competitive.

Many PFDCs were successful in achieving the desired results, and in assisting with the implementation of a number of Federal programs/initiatives, including the Natural Heritage Trust, the National Plantation Inventory and State and Commonwealth regional development programs.

Two PFDC’s were created in South Australia - the Green Triangle Regional Plantation Committee (created in conjunction with Victoria) and one on Kangaroo Island, while three others were based in Central and North East Victoria and Gippsland.

The Role of PFDCs in the Plantations 2020 Vision

In relation to the Plantations 2020 Vision, PFDCs worked with local and regional stakeholders, including landholders, Local and State/Territory Governments and industry to:

• Address planning, infrastructure and coordination issues related to plantations;
• Undertake feasibility studies into plantation investment potential;
• Develop regional plantation and farm forestry strategies to encourage commercial forest-based industries in the region;
• Formulate related marketing, investment and wood flow plans;
• Facilitate communication between stakeholders; and
• Improve information flows on marketing and management of plantations.

PFDCs were often integrated with regional bodies responsible for land and water planning, economic development planning, and infrastructure development.

Green Triangle Regional Plantation Committee 2004-2009

In July 2004, the GTRPC appointed me as Executive Officer.

The Committee was composed of representatives from ForestrySA, various plantation companies including Green Triangle Forest Products, HVP Plantations, Timbercorp, Great Southern Plantations, Auspine, Plantation Timbers Group, GPFL, Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority, Glenelg Shire, ITC, private growers, Greening Australia, etc., and was chaired by Mrs Jean McCallum, formerly a councillor with Glenelg Shire. The Committee met approximately monthly to discuss progress, project proposals and results.

Annual funding was provided by the Australian Government ($75,000), and the Governments of Victoria ($37,500) and South Australia ($37,500). Funding ceased in 2008.

It was ironic that the Green Triangle region was selected for a PFDC, considering that about 20% of Australia’s plantation estate was located in the region, and farm forestry was well established following government initiatives in SA and programs like the Potter Farmland Plan in the Hamilton region.

My approach to the task was to focus on environment, economics and education, and engage consultants to assess and compare the fauna in forests, plantations and agriculture, to assist in the introduction of the Southern Cross University Forestry degree program to the region, to encourage TAFE style forestry units into secondary schools, to evaluate the socio-economic impact of the expansion of plantations in the Green Triangle and to complete the South East Resources Information Centre (SERIC) forest woodflow and transport database.

Prior to 2004, in conjunction with growers and SERIC, a comprehensive geographic information system was established and jointly funded by the GTRPC. This project was a major collaboration between plantation growers, regional municipalities and State-based information databases.

SERIC created a large GIS database of the Green Triangle region into which was added land use, land ownership, transport routes, etc. The database required significant data confidentiality as growers were asked to provide property data, plantation plans and ultimately harvest schedules and production outturns.

The database allowed the production of comprehensive regional maps, which were also able to be utilized for fire protection planning with agencies such as the Country Fire Service and the Country Fire Authority.

By 2007 there were about 340,000 ha of plantations in the region; approximately 50-50 radiata pine and blue gum. While the pine estate was long established and its roading infrastructure in place, local government agencies, the community and roading agencies became concerned about the impending blue gum harvest with a predicted annual production of 3 million tonnes to be exported through the Port of Portland. In more recent times, some wood has been exported from the Port of Geelong.

The SERIC database was used to predict wood flows from plantation to port. Local government agencies, through the GTRPC and SERIC, were able to make applications for additional State and Federal road funding based on predicted future wood flows along all likely routes from plantation to port, or to the chipping facility at Myamyn. Considerable financial resources for roading were bought to the region on the back of the wood flow predictions.

In 2009, the GTRPC published a brochure, “Future wood flows across the Green Triangle: Towards 2020”, which provided the region and its planners and managers with tools to assist planning for future transport requirements. The information allowed the analysis of various transport scenarios for timber and the potential inclusion of other industries, so that planners could better understand the total transport requirements of the region.

A review of existing and future forest industry employment was undertaken by a number of parties, including the GTRPC, and published in 2008, titled “Forestry green print: Forest industry workforce requirements Green Triangle region 2006-2011”. While the report identified the existing workforce consisted of 830 employed directly in the plantation sector, and another 3350 employed in the wood processing and paper processing, the predicted expansion in harvesting indicated that potentially 891 to 1007 new employment positions would be directly needed in the forest industry in the subsequent years in addition to an undefined number of indirect jobs created as a consequence. This predicted expansion would require an increase in the region’s capacity to train the additional workforce. The GTRPC, in conjunction with other parties, had previous previously promoted career options within the sector. “A cut above: Forestry Industry careers” was aimed at attracting school leavers to consider employment in the sector. The brochure described the sector, the range of employment opportunities, and presented case studies of seven people working across the sector. The success of “A cut above” saw it adopted and modified to a national level by ForestWorks.

A committee chaired the GTRPC developed, in conjunction with local industry, schools, and the Logging Investigation and Training Association (LITA), a Vocational Education and Training in Schools program for secondary students at Certificate 1 level. The committee also sponsored and supported industry awareness for secondary school students. A VET in Schools program for year 9-12 students was offered to Mount Gambier schools which included industry tours for prospective students, teachers and career counsellors.

The initiative was recognised with second place in the South Australia VET in Schools Excellence Awards in 2007. Several students who had undertaken the program were offered employment or began traineeships or apprenticeships.

The rapid expansion of the blue gum plantation estate in the 1990s and 2000s, financed mainly using Managed Investment Schemes, created some vocal opposition to the expansion. While some landowners took advantage to exit agriculture, often because of no obvious family succession, others objected to the potential disruption and breakdown of community, potential school closures, possible increased pest and fire threats, etc. As a response the GTRPC contracted a team from the CRC for Forestry, led by Prof Jackie Schirmer (ANU) and Dr Kath Williams (University of Melbourne) to assess the socio-economic impacts of the changes in land use.

A published summary of their work follows.

This study investigated socio-economic impacts of land use change, giving explicit attention to the relationships between independently observed land use change and associated socio-economic changes, perceived land use change and socio-economic change, attributed cause of change, and experienced impacts of change. Using a case study region in south-east Australia, we examined the impacts of growth in use of land for dairy farming, cropping, blue gum plantations and rural residential development on (i) rural population trends, and (ii) the amount and nature of employment available in the study region. Perceptions and impacts of change were assessed using multiple qualitative and quantitative methods. Results demonstrate that local residents were not always aware of the extent and nature of land use change, and had difficulty attributing social changes and their impacts to the land use changes that underlie them. Furthermore, the felt impacts of land use change appeared dependent on a person's awareness of that change, and on their beliefs about the causes of social change. These findings highlight avenues for theoretical development to better specify the processes by which social change processes are experienced as human impacts. The findings also have implications for land use policy and social impact assessment, illustrating the importance of understanding both perceived and actual social change.

(Source: Kathryn J H Williams, Jacki Schirmer (2012), Journal of Rural Studies, 28:538-548.).

From an environmental perspective the GTRPC, in conjunction with Green Australia, published in 2006 a series of case studies of biodiversity enhancement undertaken by plantation managers across the Green Triangle. These case studies demonstrated the value of enhancement works and their contribution to regional conservation targets. They also offered an opportunity to re-establishing corridors and networks between native vegetation and adjoining areas of native habitat on private and public land. Examples included planting of wetlands to protect waterways, encouraging and protecting native fish species in streams and providing additional habitat for wildlife etc. Other examples of environmental works included the retention of standing hollow bearing dead trees, and the erection of nesting boxes for the endangered Red-tailed Black Cockatoo.

In 2008 the GTRPC, in conjunction with Green Australia, produced a comprehensive report “Identifying the biodiversity attributes of the plantation estate and it contribution to biodiversity conservation in the Green Triangle Region”. Using GIS, ground surveys and “neighbourhood and proximity analysis”. The report identified individual zones where protection and enhancement would be of greatest benefit to the regional corridors and networks, with these zones being able to connect or expand the region’s large (>2000 ha) Core Remnants of native vegetation. Thirty eight Core Connectivity Zones were identified within plantations that could act as “ecological stepping stones” between large native vegetation Core Remnants outside the gross plantation estate. These zones showed significant vegetation remnants that could be consolidated with neighbouring native vegetation Core Remnants to create potential linkages between disparate parts of the same Remnant.

The Arthur Rylah Institute was also contracted to undertake seasonal comparisons of bird and wildlife populations in remnant native vegetation, within plantations and on adjoining agricultural land. The ARI survey results indicated that native fauna levels within plantations was about 50% of that observed in neighbouring native vegetation, and of course, significantly greater than observed in an agricultural setting, showing plantations were not “biological deserts”.

Report Summary

Studies of vertebrate fauna were conducted at 92 sites in the Green Triangle region of south-eastern South Australia and south-western Victoria in 2006 and 2007. Thirteen sites were in cleared farmland, 27 in pine plantations, 22 in blue gum plantations and 30 in native forest. Totals of 105 bird species (100 native and 5 introduced), 11 bat species (all native) and 16 other wild mammal species (11 native and 5 introduced) were recorded. Reptiles (2 species) and frogs (5 species) were recorded incidentally.

Total birds and forest or woodland birds (assessed by timed area-searches) were more abundant in native forest than the other three habitats, somewhat more abundant in blue gum plantations than pine plantations, and substantially more abundant in any plantations than in cleared farmland.

Open-country birds were most common in farmland, and least common in blue gum plantations.

Canopy-foraging insectivores were as common in blue gum plantations as in native forest, but scarce in pine plantations. Nectarivores were more common in native forest than blue gum plantations and rare in pines or farmland. Two seed-eating species (yellow-tailed black-cockatoo, Calyptorhunchus funereus, and the introduced European goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis) were more common in pines than the other habitats. Bark-foraging insectivores were not recorded from blue gum plantations. They were scarce in pine plantations (observed only in an older stand) and common in native forest. Insectivores that feed from shrubs, damp ground or open ground among trees were represented in varying numbers in plantations and native forest. Introduced birds constituted 20-25% of the bird community in farmland and pine plantations and 1-2% in blue gum plantations and native forest.

Bat activity levels (recorded by ultrasonic detection) were similar in farmland, pines and blue gums and generally higher in native forest. The greatest bat activity at a single site was in a blue gum plantation where the detector was placed next to a large retained eucalypt. Four species of arboreal mammal were recorded in native forest and just one of them (common ringtail possum, Pseudocheirus peregrinus) was recorded occasionally in pine plantations. Several other species of native mammal were recorded in native forest but appeared scarce in plantations.

This study shows that plantations provide more habitat for native birds than cleared farmland, but less than native forest. Blue gum plantations provide habitat for more species than pine plantations (notably canopy-feeding insectivores and nectarivores), but pines offer an important food resource for yellow-tailed black-cockatoos and habitat for some locally notable species such as Bassian thrush, Zoothera lunulata, and olive whistler, Pachycephala olivacea. Other notable species in plantations included painted button-quail, Turnix varius (in blue gums), and forest raven, Corvus tasmanicus, (in blue gums and pines). Plantations are also used by a range of native mammals (especially macropods and bats) but their value to these species was not as marked as in previous studies in smaller plantations.

(Source: Loyn, Richard H., McNabb, E.G. Macak, P.V, and Cheers, G.C. (2009). Fauna in eucalypt and pine plantations in the green triangle of south-eastern South Australia and south-western Victoria. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Technical Report Series 186, Dept. of Sustainability and Environment, 35pp.)

The GTRPC, in its original form, was essentially wound up in July 2009 with the cessation of government funding by 2 of the 3 providers.