tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/forest-policy-2862/articlesforest policy – The Conversation2024-03-20T19:03:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2243352024-03-20T19:03:42Z2024-03-20T19:03:42ZTasmania’s tall eucalypt forests will be wiped out by heatwaves unless we step in to help them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582418/original/file-20240318-26-dug8wt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C4898%2C3253&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicolas Rakotopare</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests are globally significant. They <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037811270900872X">accumulate carbon faster</a> than any other natural forest ecosystem in the world. </p>
<p>But climate change is making it harder for these forests to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in wood. During heatwaves, they <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-06674-x">stop removing carbon</a> altogether and release it instead.</p>
<p>What will happen as <a href="https://climatefutures.org.au/extreme-events-technical-report/">heatwaves occur more frequently</a>? Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests will become carbon sources more and more of the time. As temperatures continue to rise, the forests will reach a “<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.aay1052">tipping point</a>”. When this happens the forests will no longer be able to store carbon and mass tree deaths will occur. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://bit.ly/Giants-Under-Threat_Report-2024">new report</a> released today makes recommendations about preparing for this. There are serious implications for greenhouse gas emissions, conservation and wood production. We cannot ignore the risks of a warming climate. There is a lot we can do now to prepare and make future forests more resilient. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-heatwave-conditions-tasmanias-tall-eucalypt-forests-no-longer-absorb-carbon-176979">In heatwave conditions, Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests no longer absorb carbon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Forests of immense value</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/181/">Tasmania Wilderness World Heritage Area</a> is <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2344">ranked number one</a> of all UNESCO sites globally for taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it. That’s because western Tasmania’s <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/geb.12171">high rainfall and cool temperatures are ideal for forest growth</a>.</p>
<p>These tall eucalypt forests contribute greatly to Tasmania’s claim to net-zero emissions in its <a href="https://recfit.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/440592/Tasmanian_Greenhouse_Gas_Emissions_Report_2023.pdf">greenhouse gas accounts</a>.</p>
<p>The forests have produced most of the high-quality sawlogs supplying Tasmania’s sawmilling industry for more than a century.</p>
<p>They also provide unique and long-lasting habitat for wildlife. Large logs support diverse communities of insects and fungi.</p>
<p>The forest supports unique <a href="https://tahuneadventures.com.au/">tourism experiences</a> and an emerging opportunity for “<a href="https://www.bigtreestate.com/">big tree tourism</a>”.</p>
<p>Tall eucalypt forests are dominated by one or two or three species of <em>Eucalyptus</em>: </p>
<ul>
<li><em>E. obliqua</em> (messmate or stringy bark)</li>
<li><em>E. regnans</em> (swamp gum or mountain ash) </li>
<li><em>E. delegatensis</em> (alpine ash or gum-top stringybark). </li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582466/original/file-20240318-24-2fq2cg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stringybark flowers <em>(Eucalyptus obliqua)</em></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Wardlaw</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Preparing for tipping points</h2>
<p>As temperatures continue to rise, many ecosystems are predicted to reach a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.aay1052">tipping point</a>. This is the point at which the ecosystem can no longer function and is eventually replaced by a different ecosystem.</p>
<p>Many plant-based ecosystems, mostly in the tropics, are expected to reach a tipping point within three decades. Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests may be among them because they share <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0084378">similarities with tropical rainforest</a>. </p>
<p>World Heritage values would be jeopardised, huge amounts of stored carbon would be released, and biodiversity dependent on the tall trees would be threatened. So there is an urgent need to begin preparing now for a future tipping point in these forests. </p>
<p>The main ambition of the measures outlined in my <a href="https://bit.ly/Giants-Under-Threat_Report-2024">report released today</a> is to restore forested areas after the original forest is lost – or damaged irreversibly. The new forests would be grown from the same species of eucalypts but the seed sown would regenerate forests better suited to the new climate than the original forest.</p>
<p>To achieve this ambition, we need to decide what features of tall eucalypt forests we want to retain in future forests. Capacity for rapid growth after disturbance would be high on the list of those features. </p>
<p>We also need to know what features need to change to make the forests better suited to a new climate. Increasing the optimum temperature for carbon uptake is the top priority. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Peering inside the forest, looking through ferns and sedges at ground level and trees of various heights beneath the canopy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582465/original/file-20240318-16-1k5k0h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beneath the canopy of the tallest trees there is a mid-layer of trees and a lower layer of ferns and sedges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Wardlaw</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Producing climate-ready seed for sowing</h2>
<p>In new research, soon to be published, I reviewed several studies that compared the features of Tasmanian tall eucalypt forests with other forests on the Australian mainland. </p>
<p>I wanted to understand why Tasmania’s forests were so sensitive to heatwaves and what, if anything, could be done to lessen their impact. I found the poor response to heatwaves had more to do with the local conditions than anything else. The forests are accustomed to high rainfall and a narrow temperature range. </p>
<p>Could we speed up natural selection to help Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests adapt to a new, warmer climate? </p>
<p>Previous research has shown forests can be managed to speed up natural selection and <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecm.1333">produce seed better suited to new climates</a>. But this is only feasible in forests managed for wood production. </p>
<p>We need to find out whether natural selection can increase the optimum temperature for carbon uptake by the forest, and if so, by how much. </p>
<p>We need to ensure the right policy settings are in place. A policy to end logging of native forests, for example, would rule out speeding up natural selection.</p>
<p>And we need to think and plan what to do if tall eucalypt forests in reserves are lost or irreparably damaged. Should we try to restore new generations of tall eucalypt forests, and if so, how?</p>
<p>Finally, community support is required. People need to understand what we are trying to achieve. They can also bring new ideas about how to make tall eucalypt forests more resilient. </p>
<p>Timely, accurate, trusted, and accessible information will be crucial. Ongoing <a href="https://www.tern.org.au/tern-ecosystem-processes/warra-tall-eucalypt-supersite/">monitoring</a> of the tall eucalypt forest in the upper reaches of Tasmania’s Huon Valley can provide much of this information.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view of the Warra landscape looking looking south from the Warra flux tower above the canopy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582464/original/file-20240318-18-dzlsif.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Warra Supersite in the upper reaches of the Huon Valley is one of 16 intensive ecosystem monitoring field stations in Australia’s Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown, ComStar Systems</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Future forests</h2>
<p>Clearly, humanity must cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. But some climate impacts are now unavoidable and we need to be prepared.</p>
<p>As heatwaves intensify, Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests will reach a tipping point. Trees will die. The forest we know today will be lost forever. </p>
<p>But if we are prepared, we can ensure another forest takes its place. With our help, future generations of tall eucalypt forests can still exist – forests better suited to Tasmania’s new climate.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-to-kill-heres-why-eucalypts-are-survival-experts-222743">Hard to kill: here's why eucalypts are survival experts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I receive funding from the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network.</span></em></p>Our tallest trees are world champions when it comes to capturing and storing carbon, but they don’t like the heat. Climate change will trigger mass tree deaths in Tasmania. Here’s what can be done.Tim Wardlaw, Research Associate, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1072402018-11-26T11:36:56Z2018-11-26T11:36:56ZClimate change is driving wildfires, and not just in California<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246565/original/file-20181120-161641-1cksigq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Smoke billows from the High Park wildfire west of Fort Collins, Colo., on June 11, 2012, a year of historic drought across much of the western United States.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Western-Wildfires/f243872c2c334f948de0abcb85729a01/9/0">AP Photo/Ed Andrieski</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rains in northern California have helped firefighters contain the <a href="http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/2277">Camp Fire</a>, which now ranks as the state’s most deadly wildfire. But unfortunately, all signs point to worsening events ahead in the North American West. Critically, the risk extends well beyond California, and better forest management alone won’t solve the problem.</p>
<p>There are multiple reasons why wildfires are getting more severe and destructive, but climate change tops the list, notwithstanding <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/416290-trump-california-battle-over-climate-and-cause-of-fires">claims to the contrary</a> by President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. According to the latest U.S. <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/">National Climate Assessment</a>, released on Nov. 23, higher temperatures and earlier snowmelt are <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/6/">extending the fire season in western states</a>. By 2050, according to the report, the area that burns yearly in the West could be two to six times larger than today.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247080/original/file-20181124-149320-qa9k3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cumulative forest area burned by wildfires has greatly increased between 1984 and 2015, with analyses estimating that the area burned by wildfire across the western United States over that period was twice what would have burned had climate change not occurred.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/25/">USGCRP, NCA4, Vol. 2</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=msI9uioAAAAJ&hl=en">climate scientists like me</a>, there’s <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/">no longer any serious doubt</a> that human activity – primarily burning fossil fuels – is causing the atmosphere to warm relentlessly. </p>
<p>Climate change is driving a rapid increase in wildfire risk that has become a national problem. At the same time, healthy forests have become essential for the many valuable benefits they provide the nation and its people. Neither more effective forest management, nor curbing climate change alone will solve the growing wildfire problem, but together they can.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246550/original/file-20181120-161612-z6hray.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dozens of wildfires in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana can be seen in this Terra satellite image taken on Aug. 27, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/tech/NASA-Satellite-Images-California-Wildfire-Brush-Fires-Images-Photos-433867203.html">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The threat of climate-driven wildfires</h2>
<p>Increasing wildfire risk is already the reality <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1802316115">for much of the western United States</a>, particularly in California, the Pacific Northwest, the mountains of the desert Southwest and the Southern Rockies, where warmer temperatures and drier conditions are major contributors. As the climate continues to warm, elevated risks of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1693">forest stress and die-off</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aan5360">vegetation transformation</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188486">wildfire</a> will spread across the United States. Moreover, the problem is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8537">global</a>.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that climate change increases the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2075-y">frequency, duration and severity</a> of drought. As the past several fire seasons in California make clear, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/503350a">hot drought</a> sets up wildfire risk like nothing else. And an unusually wet season <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1998)011%3C3128:MDAERT%3E2.0.CO;2">doesn’t always help</a>, since it can encourage excessive grass and other plants to grow, only to become highly flammable fire fuel when it dries out. </p>
<p>Climate change alters where snow and rain fall, and how long snow can persist and soak into the soil. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1693">Plants dry out rapidly under hotter temperatures</a> if rain and soil moisture can’t compensate. As the planet warms, trees are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/ES15-00203.1">weakening and dying</a> at increasing rates, a trend that is clearest in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.10.053">California</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0505734102">New Mexico</a>. As a result, climate-stressed vegetation is burning in unusually large, severe wildfires across the West.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246560/original/file-20181120-161618-1i4fitf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A massive die-off of pinyon pines in New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains, caused by drought in 2002-2003. By October 2002 pinyons, normally evergreen, had reddish-brown foliage (left). By May 2004 dead pinyons had lost all their needles, exposing gray trunks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/mmg_disp.jsp?med_id=55938&from=">USGS/C. Allen</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Climate change also alters the zones in which plants can live successfully. As Earth’s climate changes, climate zones will shift around the planet, resulting in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aan5360">large-scale landscape change</a>. And when vegetation is no longer growing in its preferred climate zone, the odds of disease, insect infestation, death and wildfire increase.</p>
<h2>Reducing risks and making forests healthier</h2>
<p>The most extreme way to reduce wildfire risk would be to remove all vegetation from the landscape. So why don’t we just clear-cut forests? The answer is that they provide us with all kinds of valuable benefits. </p>
<p>People live near forests because they value natural views and recreation opportunities. Forests also store large quantities of carbon, so we need them in order to meet the goals of the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris climate agreement</a> and to prevent the planet from warming even faster. </p>
<p>Healthy forests <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/managing-land/national-forests-grasslands/water-facts">capture and filter drinking water</a> for more than 68,000 communities across the United States. They also maintain biodiversity by providing habitat for numerous species of plants, animals, fish and birds. And of course, forests can provide wood products, tourism and other traditional services.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DXauJ_cCB5w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This video from the Salt River Project, one of Arizona’s largest water utilities, explains how wildfires threaten forests and the ecological services they provide.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The challenge is to optimize forest benefits through innovative management techniques that can also help reduce wildfire risks. Often, intentional “prescribed” burns can be used to restore forests to a more natural, healthy state by reducing buildups of dead vegetation and underbrush. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, climate change is making some prescribed fires <a href="https://wildfiretoday.com/2010/05/10/cerro-grande-fire-10-years-ago-today/">harder to conduct safely</a>. And increasingly people object to putting surrounding forests, buildings and communities at risk during prescribed burns, as well as the <a href="https://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/healthy-air/outdoor/emergencies-and-natural-disasters/wildfires.html">impacts of smoke</a>, particularly for those with respiratory issues.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/40902">Mechanical and hand thinning of forests</a> can also improve forest health in some circumstances. But thinning can be expensive, so forest managers need to find innovative ways to pay for it. </p>
<p>Some Southwest communities, including Albuquerque and Phoenix, help <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/coconino/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD590372">subsidize forest management</a> in order to protect their water supplies. Experts have proposed expanding carbon markets to reward those who manage forests in ways that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat1869">maximize the storage of carbon in vegetation and soils</a>. </p>
<h2>Benefits of climate and forest management action</h2>
<p>Ultimately, protecting forests and taking action to slow climate change are complementary. Innovative approaches to forest management will reduce wildfire risks in the near term and enhance many other services provided by forests and fire-prone landscapes. Over the longer term, curbing climate change – mainly by keeping fossil fuels in the ground – will ease the warming and drying trends that are making large parts of the United States so flammable. </p>
<p>And all of these actions will improve safety, economic well-being and quality of life for people who live and work in fire-prone landscapes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Overpeck receives funding from U.S. Government Science Funding Agencies including the National Science Foundation, NOAA and the USGS.</span></em></p>Some observers have blamed recent wildfires on poor forest management, while others point to climate change. In fact, a climate scientist explains, reducing fire risks means tackling both issues.Jonathan Overpeck, Samual A. Graham Dean, and William B. Stapp Collegiate Professor of Environmental Education, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/252672014-04-06T20:09:08Z2014-04-06T20:09:08ZBoycotts are a crucial weapon to fight environment-harming firms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45626/original/4bh9gv4k-1396592602.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C1976%2C1311&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Furniture retailer Harvey Norman has been targeted by activists, in a campaign described by the federal government as dishonest.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/The Last Stand/Matthew Newton</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In October 2000, I was driving through downtown Boise, Idaho, and nearly careered off the road. Just in front of me was a giant inflatable Godzilla-like dinosaur, well over 30m tall. It was towering over the headquarters of <a href="http://www.bc.com/index.html">Boise Cascade</a>, one of North America’s biggest wood products corporations. For years, the firm had been tangling with environmental groups who blamed the company’s logging practices for declines in the extent of old-growth forests across the globe.</p>
<p>The huge inflatable reptile was the inspired idea of the <a href="http://ran.org">Rainforest Action Network</a>, who used it to label Boise Cascade a dinosaur of the timber industry. The blow-up dinosaur was headline news across the United States and the label stuck. Although Boise Cascade tried to deny it was yielding to environmental pressure, it ultimately agreed to <a href="http://www.mapuche-nation.org/english/html/environmental/enviro-07.htm">phase out all of its old-growth wood products</a>.</p>
<p>Environmental campaigns such as this one have become an increasingly important arrow in the quiver of conservation groups, for a very good reason. The world has become hyper-corporatised and globalised, with the result that, <a href="http://bit.ly/1hb3men">as I reported in 2008</a>, deforestation is now substantially driven by major industries rather than by the exploits of poor people trying to make a living off the land. </p>
<p>Campaigns and boycotts get the attention of these large corporations, because they hit them where it hurts: their reputation and market share.</p>
<h2>Last-ditch tactics</h2>
<p>Boycotts are typically a last resort. The Rainforest Action Network tried for years to nudge, cajole and finally pressure Boise Cascade to phase out old-growth products, without success. Its gentler tactics worked fine with other big corporations such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, but it took a gigantic dinosaur to get Boise Cascade’s attention.</p>
<p>Globally, some of the most impressive environmental achievements have come via boycotts, or at least the threat of them. Just in the past year, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-global-forest-destroyers-are-turning-over-a-new-leaf-22943">four of the world’s biggest forest-destroying corporations have announced new “no deforestation” policies</a> in response to such environmental pressures.</p>
<p>Among the worst of these was <a href="http://www.asiapulppaper.com">Asia Pulp & Paper</a>, whose reputation had become so synonymous with rainforest destruction that the retailers selling its products began fleeing in droves. Today, the corporation has ostensibly turned over a new leaf and even <a href="http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2256084/exclusive-asia-pulp-paper-says-thank-you-to-greenpeace">thanked Greenpeace</a> – one of its most persistent critics – for helping it to see the light.</p>
<p>Across the globe, boycotts have helped to rein in predatory behaviour by timber, oil palm, soy, seafood and other corporations. They have led to impressive environmental benefits, such as a <a href="http://canadianborealforestagreement.com/index.php/en/why-its-important">landmark forestry peace deal in Canada</a> and a pledge by Australia’s major supermarkets to <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/news/oceans/All-big-fish-netted-as-Aldi-commits-to-end-destructive-tuna-fishing">stock sustainably-sourced tuna</a>.</p>
<h2>Banning boycotts?</h2>
<p>But now, the power of boycotts might be on the brink of being reined in, after the federal government floated the idea of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/02/coalition-review-of-consumer-laws-may-ban-environmental-boycotts">banning organised boycotts of companies on environmental grounds</a>.</p>
<p>The move has sparked <a href="http://pirateparty.org.au/2013/09/24/lnp-plans-to-assault-free-speech-by-banning-boycotts">apoplexy among free-speech advocates</a>, and came as a surprise even to observers whose expectations had already been lowered by the Commonwealth’s plan to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/09/19/3851636.htm">devolve environmental powers to the states and territories</a>.</p>
<p>Parliamentary agriculture secretary Richard Colbeck said the move would be aimed at “dishonest campaigns”, singling out the <a href="http://www.marketsforchange.org/no-harvey-no/">campaign</a> against furniture retailer Harvey Norman, which activists accuse of logging native forests.</p>
<p>“They can say what they like, they can campaign about what they like, they can have a point of view, but they should not be able to run a specific business-focused or market-focused campaign, and they should not be able to say things that are not true,” Colbeck told Guardian Australia.</p>
<h2>At odds with free speech</h2>
<p>Predictably, environmental groups are unimpressed. Reece Turner, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace-Australia, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This policy is at odds with the Liberal party’s professed commitment to uninhibited free speech. The Coalition is going to remarkable extremes to protect big industry from campaigns that are essentially focused on greater transparency of business practices. These campaigns are designed to inform consumer choices – something the Liberal party should be supporting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the more notable aspects of the proposed ban is that it could directly conflict with the Coalition’s stated environmental priorities – one of which is a desire to <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-protecting-global-rainforests-the-best-way-to-rapidly-tackle-climate-change-17656">slow global rainforest destruction as a means to combat global warming</a>. </p>
<p>Of all the environmental actions undertaken to date, boycotts have probably had the greatest direct benefit for rainforests.</p>
<p>As an aside, the Coalition government has recently struggled to find a consistent line on both environmentalism and <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolt-brandis-and-the-double-standard-on-free-speech-24423">free speech</a>. Straight after taking office it <a href="https://theconversation.com/axing-the-climate-commission-splits-australians-from-science-18425">scuttled the Climate Commission</a>, and is currently <a href="https://theconversation.com/senate-committee-draws-battle-lines-ahead-of-carbon-price-fight-24894">fighting to repeal a raft of other carbon policies</a>. Yet it has also announced that Australia will use this year’s Brisbane G20 summit as a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/23/greg-hunt-confident-of-helping-china-us-india-and-eu-cut-carbon-emissions">“catalyst” to help China, India, Europe and the United States to cut their carbon emissions</a>.</p>
<p>At this early stage, it’s difficult to say whether or not the proposed ban on environmental boycotts will solidify into firm Coalition policy or merely fade away, its proponents having realised this could be too polarising an idea. Let’s hope for the latter. This is a scheme that deserves to go the way of the dinosaurs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Laurance receives funding from the Australian Research Council and other scientific and philanthrophic organisations. In addition to being a Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate at James Cook University, he also holds the Prince Bernhard Chair in International Nature Conservation at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. This chair is co-funded by Utrecht University and WWF-Netherlands.</span></em></p>In October 2000, I was driving through downtown Boise, Idaho, and nearly careered off the road. Just in front of me was a giant inflatable Godzilla-like dinosaur, well over 30m tall. It was towering over…Bill Laurance, Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110372012-11-30T03:45:24Z2012-11-30T03:45:24ZTasmanian forestry peace deal only the beginning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18076/original/gfm6wb5r-1354058205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Tasmanian forestry deal was about finding a balance between business and conservation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">lizardstomp/flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, after nearly two years of negotiations, loggers and environmentalists shook hands on a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3638870.htm">Tasmanian forestry peace deal</a>. The deal represents a landmark in more than 30 years of animosity between the two groups, but it’s unlikely to be a conclusion to the conflict.</p>
<h2>The decline of an industry</h2>
<p>In the eight years since 2004 - when then Economic Development Minister Lara Giddings declared there were “clear benefits to Tasmania in developing a pulp mill” - a risky gamble has unravelled.</p>
<p>Forest policy was once dominated by the expectation that a very large pulp mill would underwrite plantation forestry, and support large scale clearfelling of public forests by providing an outlet for low-grade timber. </p>
<p>Taxpayers contributed in the form of managed investment schemes and low financial returns to Forestry Tasmania, while investors responded with large scale plantation development - almost all of which has been managed for pulpwood production rather than solid timber.</p>
<p>But since then, the economics of Tasmanian forestry has <a href="https://theconversation.com/scale-back-the-corporate-lessons-of-tasmanias-forestry-debacle-9215">fundamentally changed</a>. Employment in the industry is less than half what it was in 2008. Forestry Tasmania is forecast to continue to make losses of $25 million per annum, for the next few years. </p>
<p>Apart from the Norske Skog newsprint mill, which is largely based on softwood plantations, profitability of private sector industry is minimal.</p>
<h2>Accepting change</h2>
<p>In recognition of changed conditions, the Tasmanian and Commonwealth governments in
August 2011 signed the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/land/forests/tasmanian-forests-agreement.html">Intergovernmental Agreement</a> (IGA), providing a further $277 million to support exit from the industry, protect high conservation value forests and drive structural change.</p>
<p>Implementation of the agreement was supported by a “round table” reference group comprising representatives of the forest industry, unions, and conservation groups. Its primary role was to negotiate a trade-off between additions to reserves and guaranteed wood supply from state forests.</p>
<p>After nearly two years of negotiations, the round table has reached a peace deal which protects a further 500,000 hectares of native forest from logging, while guaranteeing about 137,000 cubic metres of sawlog supply. There are also provisions for access to speciality timbers, and for monitoring harvesting practices.</p>
<h2>Uncertain passage</h2>
<p>The deal has been ratified by the passage of legislation through the Tasmanian House of Assembly. It will be considered by the Legislative Council, dominated by independent councillors, in two weeks’ time. Its passage there is uncertain.</p>
<p>A legislated agreement would represent a necessary first step in restructuring the Tasmanian forest industry. Its significance rests on the possibility of reducing conflict between conservation groups and loggers.</p>
<p>But the importance of the agreement can be overstated. It has little to say about the root causes of low profitability, or whether taxpayers will be asked for adjustment assistance in addition to the $100 million of IGA money yet to be committed.</p>
<p>Resolving these issues will not be easy, and the locus of dispute is likely to change. Many stakeholders claim that their concerns were not represented in the closed-door negotiations of the round table. The Liberal opposition is supported by sections of industry in opposing the deal in its entirety.</p>
<h2>The immediate issues</h2>
<p>The Agreement provides for exit assistance for sawmillers and contractors who face cuts in contracted wood supply. If past practice is any guide, this will be given top priority.</p>
<p>More important in the longer run is the management of 200,000 hectares of private plantation timber. Almost all of this resource is on land leased to Gunns, who provided fire protection, pest control and pruning. Ownership of the trees is now uncertain.</p>
<p>The plantations require active management over a longer time to produce solid timber products, and many landowners don’t have the resources or incentives to manage them, or to replant them after harvest. In turn, potential investors in downstream processing face an uncertain supply beyond the next decade.</p>
<p>Similar considerations apply to plantation on public land. To what extent will market forces play out? Or will “picking winners”, as with the pulp mill saga, rule?</p>
<p>Finally, a fundamental restructure of Forestry Tasmania – separating management of production forests from its non-commercial functions – is under consideration. </p>
<p>Whatever the outcome, costs of forest management are likely to rise, and the URS consulting report on which these considerations are based forecasts that production forestry is likely to incur losses for the next five years.</p>
<p>The bottom line: the forests agreement is a beginning, not the end.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Wells has completed consulting reports for the Greens and Environment Tasmania. </span></em></p>Last week, after nearly two years of negotiations, loggers and environmentalists shook hands on a Tasmanian forestry peace deal. The deal represents a landmark in more than 30 years of animosity between…Graeme Wells, University Associate, School of Economics and Finance, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/64042012-04-25T20:42:46Z2012-04-25T20:42:46ZAustralia’s vast and dynamic forest cover: a bird’s-eye view<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9891/original/swqsypf8-1335234112.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Land of the snow gums: Australian forests are dynamic.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/SplaTT</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forests spark emotional debates in Australia. Much of the rhetoric is about saving “the last of <a href="http://weblog.greenpeace.org/tasmania/styx_background.html">Tasmania’s wild forests</a>” or how we must “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-21/protest-against-native-logging/3904326">stop logging in Australian native forests</a>”.</p>
<p>Australian forests, however, are highly diverse with a range of different drivers of forest loss and dynamics in different parts of the country. Understanding what is happening to forests in Australia and where they are being lost or gained is important for biodiversity conservation, carbon accounting and many other aspects of sustainable forest management.</p>
<h2>Defining forest</h2>
<p>In order to manage forests we first need to define them. The origins of the word had little to do with trees. It defined land retained by French royalty for game management and hunting. Trees provided the best habitat for deer, boar or other animals. The original foresters mentioned in the Magna Carta were primarily game and habitat managers. </p>
<p>These days forests are generally used to describe land dominated by trees and functioning as an ecosystem of interconnected plants, animals and micro-organisms. Most definitions used around the world now have three characteristics: a minimum tree crown cover, minimum height and a minimum area.</p>
<p>The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) undertakes a <a href="http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra/en/">Global Forest Resource Assessment</a> every five years. The definition used for this assessment requires at least 10% of the forest floor to be covered by the canopy (also known as crown) of trees, a minimum height of 5 metres and a minimum area of 0.5 hectares.</p>
<p>Australia’s official definition of forest has <a href="http://www.forestry.org.au/pdf/pdf-members/afj/AFJ%202003%20v66/AFJ%20Sept%202003%2066-3/Hnatiuk%20final.pdf">changed over the years</a> . For national reporting, such as the five yearly State of the Forests Report, we define forests as having a minimum crown cover of 20% and minimum height of two metres.</p>
<p>The 20% tree crown cover threshold is used because much of our forest is in remote areas and we need to use satellite-based sensors to determine forest cover. Below this level it is often difficult to detect whether the vegetation is trees or shorter shrubs or grasses in the satellite image. The shorter height includes mallee forms of eucalypt that sometimes only have a maximum height of two to three metres on some sites.</p>
<p>Another key difference between the FAO definition and our national definition relates to land use. FAO specify that land should not be under agricultural or urban use. Australia does not apply any specific use component, although urban forests have generally not been included in our statistics, even though many suburban areas would satisfy the minimum tree cover threshold.</p>
<h2>What is the current area of forest?</h2>
<p>The total forest area in Australia in the last national assessment (<a href="http://adl.brs.gov.au/forestsaustralia/publications/execsummary.html">State of the Forests Report, 2008</a>) was 149 million hectares (including 2 million hectares of forest plantations), or about 19% of the land area. The 147 million hectares of native forests are highly diverse with nearly 80% dominated by eucalypts and most of the remainder by Acacia, Callitris, Casuarina and Melaleuca species.</p>
<p>Two per cent of the forest area is classified as rainforest, which occurs in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. Of the eucalypt forests, over two-thirds have relatively low canopy cover (20-50%) and are ecologically described as woodlands where the main economic use is grazing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9738/original/9gr9zjkc-1334730121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9738/original/9gr9zjkc-1334730121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9738/original/9gr9zjkc-1334730121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9738/original/9gr9zjkc-1334730121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9738/original/9gr9zjkc-1334730121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9738/original/9gr9zjkc-1334730121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9738/original/9gr9zjkc-1334730121.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If a tree bends and no one hears it …</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/epidemiks</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Changing estimates of forest cover</h2>
<p>Given the remoteness of much of our forests, establishing the area of forest has been challenging. Estimates of forest cover <a href="http://www.forestry.org.au/pdf/pdf-members/afj/AFJ%202003%20v66/AFJ%20Sept%202003%2066-3/Hnatiuk%20final.pdf">have varied over the years</a>. Under the Australian constitution, land and forests are under the control of state governments, and each state has had different ways of describing and assessing forests. There has often been little motivation for undertaking forest assessment in remote parts of northern, central or Western Australia. The National Forest Inventory provided a basis for integrating these different state approaches and has funded improved mapping in many areas. The need to enforce land clearing regulations in Queensland led to <a href="http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/slats/">improved assessment</a> of forest cover and cover change there.</p>
<p>More recently, there has been major investment in the <a href="http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/national-carbon-accounting.aspx">National Carbon Accounting System</a> for assessing greenhouse gas emissions from land clearing and uptake in regrowth and forest expansion; this included national remote sensing of forest cover change. Using the same definition as the NFI, this system estimated a level of “woody vegetation cover” that was considerably lower than the state-based estimates (108 million compared to 149 million hectares). The differences are not easily explained. Open, drier forests of eucalypts, Acacia and Melaleuca across northern Australia were not mapped as forest in the NCAS, but large areas in southern Western Australia and southern Queensland not mapped as forest in the NFI were included (see 2008 State of the Forests Report, page 14).</p>
<h2>Drivers of forest cover change</h2>
<p>Forest cover can be lost or reduced as a result of human actions (clearance for agriculture, settlements and infrastructure) or natural events, such as large scale drought death and/or repeated severe wildfires where species lack the capacity to resprout and there is insufficient seed for natural regeneration. There has been significant human-induced loss of forest in Australia since European settlement. There have also been changes in species composition, for example due to the removal of indigenous people and changes to burning patterns.</p>
<p>Forests are dynamic and can also expand naturally given the right conditions, when pressures on forest regeneration (such as cropping, grazing or repeated fire) are relaxed. Forests can also be regenerated artificially through planting and seeding, either for wood production or environmental plantings.</p>
<p>It <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/1996/publications/report/index.html">has been estimated</a> that in 1788, forests (according to the current definition) covered about 30% of the country. This suggests we have lost about one third of the forest area (84 million hectares) since European settlement. There has also been a significant reduction in dense forest as trees have been felled to thin the landscape into woodlands to provide increased grazing capacity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9741/original/9gxmyg2b-1334732540.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9741/original/9gxmyg2b-1334732540.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9741/original/9gxmyg2b-1334732540.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9741/original/9gxmyg2b-1334732540.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9741/original/9gxmyg2b-1334732540.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9741/original/9gxmyg2b-1334732540.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9741/original/9gxmyg2b-1334732540.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There has been a significant reduction in dense forest in Australia, with cover thinned for grazing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Ngarkat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent estimates from the NCAS (Google the National Inventory Report 2007 volume 2 to find a downloadable PDF) indicate that 350,000 hectares per year of forest were deliberately cleared and converted to cropland and grazing land in the 10 years to 2006. This compared with about 430,000 hectares per year in the early 1990s. Most of this clearing is happening in lower density eucalypt woodland forests in northern Australia. </p>
<p>The latest national <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/index.html">State of the Environment Report</a> indicated that annual forest loss over the decade to 2010 averaged 1.1 million hectares (also based on NCAS figures). This suggests that about 750,000 hectares of forest were lost due to natural processes during this period, much of it due to the extensive drought during the 2000s. </p>
<p>This was offset by an annual expansion of the forest area of about 1 million hectares, leading to a small net gain of forest in Australia in 2007-10. This was mostly recovery after previous clearing.</p>
<p>There has been significant afforestation for commercial timber production, with about <a href="http://adl.brs.gov.au/data/warehouse/pe_abares99001800/Forests_at_a_glance_2011.pdf">60,000 hectares per year established</a> primarily on cleared land since 2000. One million hectares of new plantation has been added since 1990, doubling the total area. The planting rate has declined considerably in the last few years with the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2009/s2594827.htm">demise of Managed Investment Schemes</a> following the global financial crisis.</p>
<p>Forests used extensively for timber production include taller forests in wetter regions near the coast and some inland areas with valuable timber species such as red gum and cypress pine. Harvesting on public land is now restricted to 9.4 million hectares, or about 25% of the areas potentially suitable for timber production. Regional Forest Agreements and other state and federal policies have resulted in a large increase in the area of forest in conservation reserves. </p>
<p>Harvesting now largely occurs in areas that have previously been cut over. Native forests are managed under codes of practice and legal regulations that vary from state to state. Harvested areas are regenerated with native species and there is no loss of forest but there can be changes in forest structure or understorey species composition.</p>
<p>Australia has the <a href="http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra/fra2010/en/">sixth largest area</a> of forest of any country in the world. However, even with recent improvements in forest cover mapping and remote sensing technologies, there is still considerable uncertainty about the total forest area in Australia. The estimates of change in forest cover indicate that Australian forests are highly dynamic, responding to cycles of human-induced clearing and regrowth and to drought, fire and flooding rains. </p>
<p>There is a need for continued investment in forest assessment to improve our understanding of these dynamics and the way they influence different forest values and services.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/6404/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rod Keenan was Program Leader for Forest and Vegetation Sciences in the former Bureau of Rural Sciences, overseeing production of Australia's 2003 State of the Forests Report. He is a member of the Advisory Group for the UN FAO Global Forest Resource Assessment.</span></em></p>Forests spark emotional debates in Australia. Much of the rhetoric is about saving “the last of Tasmania’s wild forests” or how we must “stop logging in Australian native forests”. Australian forests…Rod Keenan, Professor of Forest and Ecosystem Science, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.