Forest Practices Authority Annual Report 2021-22

The FPA annual report 2021–22 (PDF 11.2 MB) was tabled in the Tasmanian Parliament today by the Minister for Resources, the Hon Felix Ellis.

The annual report outlines the key functions, performance and achievements of the FPA, and includes information on:

• forest practices plans (FPPs)
• FPA activities – including advice, training, research and compliance
• administration – including governance, Forest Practices Officers and finances.

We encourage you to read the report and reflect on the year. The FPA continues to administer the forest practice system and foster a cooperative approach to forest practices matters in 2022–23.

In summary, during the 2021–22 year:

• Forest Practices Authority (FPA) specialists provided advice on natural and cultural values in response to 402 notifications for advice lodged by Forest Practices Officers.
• FPA’s specialists collaborated with other experts from government agencies and universities to develop advice and carry out research, monitoring and other activities.
• There were 163 authorised Forest Practices Officers.
• The FPA continued to monitor loss to the Permanent Native Forest Estate and reported a decrease of approximately 630 ha.
• 441 FPPs were certified, totalling 24 697 ha on public and private land.
• This included FPPs for harvesting and reforestation, plantation operations, clearing of trees to remain cleared, afforestation of cleared land, quarries and roads.
• The net effect of FPPs for clearing of trees and FPPs for new plantings of forest in Tasmania was an overall decrease in the total area of all forest types (native and plantation) by 2724 ha.
• The annual audit program conducted by the FPA evaluated 57 FPPs and found that the overall performance rating was 92% and overall observation that standards are being maintained.
• The FPA progressed 29 investigations, of which most were on independent private land.
• The FPA conducted 12 training courses for the forestry sector and non-forestry participants.
• The FPA lead or contributed to a number of projects on topics such as karst, soil carbon, threatened species and development of socio-economic tools.

2021-22 FPA annual report cover