Coastal IFOA discussion paper

The Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA) remake discussion paper (PDF 2MB), released in 2014, outlined the key elements of the proposed Coastal IFOA and legislative amendments. Some of these were tested during the trial of the Coastal IFOA.

Other information was released during the public consultation period about the proposals in the discussion paper:

  • Forestry Corporation of NSW’s costs of complying with the current coastal IFOAs
  • the proposed framework for forestry regeneration
  • Forestry Corporation of NSW's proposed trial of logging on steep slopes, which has not been approved by the government.

Public submissions on the discussion paper

The NSW Government received 877 submissions on the discussion paper. Of these, 782 were 'form letters' where most of the content was also covered in other submissions. Of the remaining submissions, three were confidential and have not been published.

The Government reviewed all submissions and published a Submissions Summary Report (637KB) explaining:

  • the key themes and issues raised
  • the ways in which the Government will use this information during the development of the draft Coastal IFOA.

Support

Overall, there was general support for a number of proposals presented in the discussion paper, including:

  • a single IFOA and consolidated structure
  • proposed legislative amendments
  • establishing a strategic monitoring framework.

Concerns

Key concerns raised in the submissions included:

  • the scope of the remake's objectives, particularly the perceived incompatibility of ‘no net change in wood supply’ and ‘no erosion of environmental controls’
  • moving the regulation of some elements of forestry operations from the IFOA to other frameworks
  • moving from prescribing silvicultural practices to specifying forestry outcomes
  • introducing multi-scale landscape-based protections for threatened species
  • removing pre-logging threatened species surveys
  • managing the impacts of Bell Miner Associated Dieback (BMAD)
  • Forestry Corporation of NSW's proposal for a steep slopes harvesting trial.

Community information sessions

Community information sessions were held at Batemans Bay, Eden, Lismore, Grafton, Wauchope and Sydney in 2014. The independent facilitator's report (PDF 132KB) summarises key themes and issues raised at each session. The report was independently drafted to provide feedback to the Government to inform the development of the draft Coastal IFOA.