Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

has many forests of importance due to significant features, despite being one of the driest continents. , Australia has approximately 147 million

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of native forest, which represents about 19% of Australia's land area. The majority of Australia's trees are hardwoods, typically eucalypts, rather than softwoods like pine. While softwoods dominate some native forests, their total area is judged insufficient to constitute a major forest type i
Australia's National Forest Inventory
Th
Forests Australia
website provides up-to-date information on Australia's forests. Detailed information on Australia's forests is available fro
Australia's State of the Forests Reports
that are published every five years.

Forest types

There are 458 forest communities distributed across Australia. These have been grouped into the following seven native forest types, which are characterised by dominant species and the structure of the forest: *

Rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s *

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

forests * Eucalypt forests *

Casuarina ''Casuarina'' is a genus of 17 tree species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa. It was once treated as the sole genus in the fami ...

forests *

Callitris ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

forests *

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

forests * Mangrove forests ''Plantation forests'' (softwood and hardwood) have been defined as an eighth group that covers trees planted for commercial use.

Government

Policies

In Australia the states and territories are responsible for managing forests. Guidance is primarily provided by the 1992 National Forest Policy Statement (NFPS). The NFPS allows for the inclusion of

Regional Forest Agreement The Regional Forest Agreements (RFA) are 20 year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australia's native forests, and are intended to provide certainty to commercial forestry operations while protecting environmental values. The ...

s, which are 20-year plans for the management of native forests.

Departments

* Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries in the Northern Territory *

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry may refer to: * Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia) ** Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Queensland) * Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Is ...

* Department of Primary Industries and its child agency Forests NSW * South Australian Forestry Corporation (trading as Forestry SA) *

Forestry Tasmania Sustainable Timber Tasmania (formerly Forestry Tasmania) is a government business enterprise wholly owned by the Government of Tasmania, Australia. It is responsible for the management of public production forest in Tasmania, which is about 80 ...

* Department of Environment and Primary Industries * Department of Environment and Conservation

List of significant forests

Bushfires

Main article

Bushfires in Australia Bushfires in Australia are a widespread and regular occurrence that have contributed significantly to shaping the nature of the continent over millions of years. Eastern Australia is one of the most fire-prone regions of the world, and its pr ...

Over the years, Bushfires have destroyed a lot of trees and this in turn destroyed the habitat of many animals.

Gallery

References

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