Farmers with land adjoining native bush are facing increasing problems managing native forest regeneration on their land, because of the expanded reach of Tasmania’s Forest Practices System.

“If a farmer now wants to clear more than one hectare of natural seedling regeneration on what has been paddock, he now needs to ensure that he has official clearance first, or risk a significant fine”, said Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association President, Roger Swain, this week.

“If a farmer on King Island wants to slash regrowth in a drain, to help the flow of water, he now needs official approval under the Forest Practices System.”

Mr Swain said that amendments to the Forest Practices Act in 2003 brought what till now have been routine farming practices, under the oversight of the Forest Practices Authority, in a way which risks bringing a basically good piece of legislation into disrepute.

“The Forest Practices Act was designed and introduced in the 1980s to regulate commercial, broad scale forestry operations.  It was never designed to manage bits and pieces of paddock maintenance, drain maintenance, fire break maintenance and the like.”

“The Act has done very good service for the forestry sector, including private forest owners, for twenty years, but it is a very blunt object for dealing with issues like paddock maintenance on farms.”

Mr Swain said that the TFGA has raised these problems on a number of occasions in discussions with the State Government and as recently as last week with the Minister for Primary Industries and Water.

“People we have spoken to acknowledge the problem, but we now need to see active investigation of how the Forest Practices System can be refined so that we get common sense outcomes for farmers.”

“What the TFGA wants is a systematic review of the problems that farmers are facing, with farmer representatives at the table, and how forest practices regulation can be adjusted to resolve these.”

“We are not about bringing down the Forest Practices System.  It is by and large a good system.  But we do want a fairer go for farmers.”

Ends

Contact: Roger Swain, TFGA President - 0429 321 813