Question Without Notice No. 654 asked in the Legislative Council on 10 October 2017 by Hon Diane Evers
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
OLD-GROWTH FORESTS — ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
654. Hon DIANE EVERS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the ''Procedures for the assessment, identification and demarcation of old-growth forest'', published in March, and the Conservation Commission's ''Assessment criteria and process for the Conservation Commission review of old-growth amendments'', published in 2005.
(1) Is the minister aware that the new procedures for assessing old-growth western jarrah forest as ''minimally disturbed'' require no more than six stumps per two hectares, whereas the Conservation Commission's criteria allowed up to five or 10 stumps per single hectare, depending on canopy cover?
(2) Does the minister agree that the new procedures make it harder for areas of mature forest to be classed as old growth, as they must now have fewer stumps per hectare; and, if not, why not?
(3) Will the minister list all government agencies and commissions, scientific organisations and other groups consulted in the development of the procedures?
(4) Was the minister aware of the details in these procedures prior to them being given final approval by the director of forest and ecosystem management?
(5) If yes to (4), why did the minister accept them, given that they will reduce the amount of mature forest that can qualify for protection as old growth?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) In recent years, the Conservation and Parks Commission has applied a range in the number of stumps in western jarrah forest of between 2.8 and 4.0 stumps per hectare. The current procedures do not rely on a single determining factor, such as stumps, to identify and classify old-growth forest. A range of factors are used to determine the presence of old-growth forest, including the presence or absence of phytophthora dieback, the number of stumps and their distribution, the extent of regrowth forest, and canopy coverage.
In respect of identifying stumps, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions uses a two-step verification process to identify minimally disturbed forest which involves ground truthing—walking—the forest area in question. In the first step, it uses a threshold value of six stumps or fewer per two hectares and in the second step it is two or fewer stumps per hectare. A comparison of the method previously used by the Conservation and Parks Commission with the present method applied by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions shows that DBCA's procedures identify similar or more old-growth forest than those identified by the Conservation and Parks Commission.
(3)–(4) No, I was not made aware of the details as it is not standard practice for the Minister for Environment to be informed of changes to operational guidelines or procedures. I am advised that the department took over responsibility for this process in March this year due to lengthy assessment periods in the practice when undertaken by the Conservation and Parks Commission. The procedures are a requirement of the ''Forest Management Plan 2014–2023'' and DBCA worked with the Conservation and Parks Commission to ensure that the process to assess and demarcate unmapped old-growth forest, finalised in March 2017, provides similar results to the procedures used by the Conservation and Parks Commission.
I would be happy to arrange a briefing for the member from DBCA to outline the detail of the former and current assessment approaches and consultation processes involved in the development of the FMP and the procedures that underlie it.
(5) Not applicable.