Last year an inquiry into the timber and forest industry sought to investigate the long term sustainability and future of the industry. The inquiry follows immense pressure on the industry, where demand is high and supply is low, with the real threat of bushfires being a crucial vulnerability. 

With the report tabled this week, the inquiry suggested 24 recommendations that the NSW Government should implement, including the extension of timber plantations and encouragement of innovation in the industry through funding opportunities. 

In the Pilliga forest the Australian Conservation Foundation has been working to create a haven of rehabilitation of near extinct animals, however industry bodies fear that progress could be compromised by potentially harmful projects. 



According to the submission from the National Parks Association of NSW President Dr Grahame Douglas, the status of the local forest could be its greatest threat. 

“The declaration of parts of the Pilliga as State Forests has unexpected environmental impacts associated with the uses that are permissible under that tenure,” Dr Douglas said. 

“Both the Narrabri Gas Project and Inland Rail projects have used the fact that mining and vegetation clearance are permissible in State Forests to justify large-scale clearance of threatened ecological communities, destruction of threatened species habitat and disruption of nationally significant groundwater systems,” he said.

The submission also noted that - despite being the largest remaining remnant of western NSW’s woodlands - historic forestry practices have reduced the availability of target timber species. 

“The local industry has clearly concluded that Pilliga is no longer a viable forestry operation,” Dr Douglas said. 

The National Parks Association supported one of the key recommendations that came out of the tabling of the inquiry’s report, citing that timber plantations are the best way to guarantee timber supply while avoiding further extinctions of forest-dwelling wildlife. 

During the inquiry evidence heard from Timber NSW that timber supply from native forests - which is already low and contributing to house construction delays and expenses - “is decreasing and is expected to decline”.

Inquiry Committee Member Justin Field said that transition away from native forest logging and towards plantation based forestry is both essential and inevitable. 

“The report also recognises that a transition out of native forest logging will require significant public investment to support workers and communities in moving from native to plantation forestry and to support more sustainable use of our public native forests as a continued public economic, social and environmental resource,” Mr Field said. 

The NSW Government is expected to respond to the report by December 15.