Sustainable Timber Tasmania (formerly Forestry Tasmania) is a

government business enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

wholly owned by the

Government of Tasmania The Tasmanian Government is the democratic administrative authority of the state of Tasmania, Australia. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invit ...

, Australia. It is responsible for the management of public production forest in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, which is about 800,000 hectares of crown land (public land) that is classified as 'permanent timber production zone'. The company was first established in 1994, although it has earlier historical origins from operations undertaken by the state government. Sustainable Timber Tasmania is overseen by a

Board of Management A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

who are responsible to the

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

and the Minister for Forests.

History

The passing of the ''State Forests Act 1885'' marked the beginning of regular reporting of forest management activities in Tasmania, conducted by Lands and Surveys Department until the formation of the Forestry Department in 1921. Research activities in the 1920s were mainly directed at assessing and mapping the State's commercial timber resources. Ground mapping was eventually replaced in the 1930s and 1940s by vastly more efficient aerial mapping. As forestry resource modelling become increasingly sophisticated, the Forestry Department was replaced by the Forestry Commission in 1947 and the research effort in all subject areas accelerated. The advent of the woodchip export industry in the 1970s gave rise to broad scale pulpwood harvesting. With a strengthened commercial focus, Forestry Tasmania was created in 1994, becoming a

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

under the ''Government Business Enterprises Act 1995''.

Rebranding and downsizing

Following the release of the 2015/16 annual report and a loss of $67.4 million, the state government announced plans for the rebranding and restructuring of Forestry Tasmania. Changes include a downsizing and rebranding of the company to Sustainable Timber Tasmania, charging more for harvested timber, logging areas earmarked for reserves and for the government to pay more for forestry roads which have multiple uses. Sustainable Timber Tasmania commenced on 1 July 2017. A few months later it was announced that 29,000 hectares of hardwood forest plantations were to be sold for $60.7 million to Reliance Forest Fibre with a 99-year lease on the land.

Permanent timber production zone land

'Permanent timber production zone land' (PTPZ or PTPZL) is crown land managed by Sustainable Timber Tasmania as defined in the ''Forest Management Act 2013''. Crown land may be classified as PTPZ (or have PTPZ classification revoked) pursuant of approval by both Houses of Parliament. PTPZ land is primarily for the purposes of wood production; specifically, activities undertaken include native forest harvesting/reforestation,

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

harvesting, road and

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

construction.

Access

'Permanent timber production zone land' is accessible to the public and normal road rules apply on the Forestry Tasmania managed roads. Roads may be closed for safety or forest operations. Camping is generally allowed except when signed 'no camping'.

Protected areas

A portion of the land managed by Sustainable Timber Tasmania has informal reserve status to protect habitat for threatened species, provide streamside protection, public recreation, etc.

References

External links

Sustainable Timber Tasmania website
{{Authority control Government-owned companies of Tasmania Tasmanian forests Forestry agencies of country subdivisions Forestry agencies in Australia