Biodiversity

For investors seeking to clearly demonstrate positive environmental outcomes, the establishment of a commercial planted forest for timber and carbon can be supplemented by a range of non-commercial benefits. Plantings of this kind on Kyoto-compatible sites will generate carbon rights but may be reserved from harvesting. Some examples are:

riparian (stream/river) corridors planted with native species such as rainforest trees and shrubs
forest borders planted with trees and shrubs for enhanced visual amenity and biodiversity conservation
specific zones (particularly areas less suited to commercial tree growing) planted with local trees and shrubs for visual amenity, enhancement of biodiversity, water management and catchment protection.

Some forests are planted with no expectation of a commercial harvest. Salinity credits and carbon rights, combined with enhanced biodiversity, may be sufficient to underpin the investment.

Forests NSW is exploring various options to assign a market value to forests planted and managed primarily for biodiversity conservation. "Biodiversity credits" are a new and as yet untested concept that nonetheless may provide opportunities for additional returns from new planted forests and at a minimum will earn public goodwill.

With funding from the NSW Salinity Strategy, Forests NSW has been working with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to establish the biodiversity value of a range of ecological communities. This work will provide the basis for trading in this environmental service. As part of this study, Forests NSW has been assessing the biodiversity value of plantations.

Forests NSW has also been working with the Rice Growers' Association of Australia to develop a proposal for a large-scale habitat reconstruction project in the central Riverina. The proposal emphasises the conservation requirements of woodland birds, including the Superb Parrot. It involves strengthening the vegetation linkages between the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers by coordinating the management of both existing remnants and new plantings.

The Forests NSW' Land Repair Unit has carried out two compensatory habitat plantings for the Roads and Traffic Authority, one at Wootton on the NSW Central Coast and the other north of Brunswick Heads.

Forests NSW has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Western Plains Zoo to plant an area of the zoo with eucalypt species suitable as feed trees for the resident koala population. Additional plantings in buffer areas and along drainage lines will provide habitat resources for a wide range of local wildlife.

Forests NSW is involved in a joint initiative with Integral Energy and PlanningNSW to restore five hectares of Cumberland Plain Woodland (an endangered ecological community) on a parcel of abandoned grazing land at Cecil Hills in Sydney's west. The land is part of a regional reserve known as the Hoxton Park Corridor.