❓ A WA parliamentary question seeks detailed cost breakdowns for DEC's activities related to sustainable forest management and data related to wood inventory, vegetation mapping, and field measurements. The Minister provides some financial information and website links, but declines to provide specific data due to resource constraints and ongoing work on the Forest Management Plan.
AnsweredQoN 5322Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the information provided in the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) 2010-11 Annual Report page 20 regarding
Service 2: Sustainable Forest Management
, and I ask -
(1) Regarding 'inventory, assessment and modelling of natural resources' will the Minister provide a detailed breakdown of the costs to DEC of -
(a) acquiring and analysing wood inventory data to assist the Forest Products Commission, DEC and the Conservation Commission to plan, manage and monitor wood production in State forest and timber reserves;
(b) mapping vegetation to inform silvicultural decisions, old-growth forest assessments, disease impact predictions and the protection of poorly represented vegetation complexes;
(c) carrying out field measurement programs to monitor the yields and silvicultural standards realised in timber harvest operations; and
(d) providing specialist services, including aerial photography, photo-interpretation, photogrammetry, vegetation and disease-mapping surveys and database design and development, to the Forest Products Commission?
(2) Are any of these costs recovered from the Forest Products Commission or any other agency, organisation or entity?
(3) If yes to (2), which ones and what percentage of the costs are recovered?
(4) If no to (2), from which DEC program does the funding come?
(5) In relation to (1)(a), please provide a copy of the wood inventory data.
(6) In relation to (1)(b), please provide maps of vegetation relating to old growth forest assessments, disease impact predictions and the protection of poorly represented vegetation complexes.
(7) In relation to (1)(c), please provide the field measurements used to monitor yields realised in timber harvest operations, and disease maps for the three forest regions.
Service 2: Sustainable Forest Management
, and I ask -
(1) Regarding 'inventory, assessment and modelling of natural resources' will the Minister provide a detailed breakdown of the costs to DEC of -
(a) acquiring and analysing wood inventory data to assist the Forest Products Commission, DEC and the Conservation Commission to plan, manage and monitor wood production in State forest and timber reserves;
(b) mapping vegetation to inform silvicultural decisions, old-growth forest assessments, disease impact predictions and the protection of poorly represented vegetation complexes;
(c) carrying out field measurement programs to monitor the yields and silvicultural standards realised in timber harvest operations; and
(d) providing specialist services, including aerial photography, photo-interpretation, photogrammetry, vegetation and disease-mapping surveys and database design and development, to the Forest Products Commission?
(2) Are any of these costs recovered from the Forest Products Commission or any other agency, organisation or entity?
(3) If yes to (2), which ones and what percentage of the costs are recovered?
(4) If no to (2), from which DEC program does the funding come?
(5) In relation to (1)(a), please provide a copy of the wood inventory data.
(6) In relation to (1)(b), please provide maps of vegetation relating to old growth forest assessments, disease impact predictions and the protection of poorly represented vegetation complexes.
(7) In relation to (1)(c), please provide the field measurements used to monitor yields realised in timber harvest operations, and disease maps for the three forest regions.
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
15 May 2012
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health representing the Minister for Environment
Response time
56 days
(1)(a)-(d) Providing the costs attributed to the activities identified in question (1)(a) to (d) is not feasible as the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) does not comprehensively record expenditure against these activities. DEC manages State forest and timber reserves for a range of values, not just timber production. Therefore, financial reporting reflects expenditure to manage these values across the whole of State forest and timber reserves.
(2) Yes
(3) A component of the costs of the work is included in the total annual appropriation of $7 068 432 DEC receives to undertake work for the Forest Products Commission.
Funds recouped from the Water Corporation in relation to the Wungong Catchment Trial are included in the $3 993 678 for grants and recoupable projects undertaken for external parties.
(4) Not applicable
(5) The wood inventory data would need to be extracted from databases or collated by specialist staff who are fully engaged on the technical work underpinning the development of the next forest management plan. I am not prepared at this time to divert personnel from the priority of preparing the next plan.
(6) Hard copy versions of the various vegetation maps used to determine the protection of less well reserved vegetation complexes are available for viewing at DEC's Conservation Library in Kensington. Prior to some disturbance operations, the vegetation complex may be ground validated. The data may then be updated to reflect the ground validation. These revised data are incorporated into the planning systems and would require significant resources to extract and present in a meaningful format.
Vegetation mapping relating to the assessment of old-growth forest is available to the public from the Conservation Commission of Western Australia's website:
http://www.conservation.wa.gov.au
.
An updated map of old-growth forest is being prepared as part of the draft
Forest Management Plan 2014-2023
, and will form part of the supporting information that will be released for public comment.
Predicted disease impact is undertaken on a case-by-case basis as part of the process to manage disturbance activities in native forest and would require significant resources to extract and present in a meaningful format.
(7) The field measurements used to monitor yields realised in timber harvest operations would require significant resources to extract and present in a meaningful format.
Analysis of these data is used to inform the reporting against
Forest Management Plan
2004-2013
(FMP) Key Performance Indicators 5 and 7. Reporting against these KPIs was undertaken in the mid-term audit of performance of the FMP (December 2008) and for the end-of-term audit of performance of the FMP. The end-of-term audit has been submitted to the Environmental Protection Authority by the Conservation Commission of WA. The mid-term audit report is publicly available on the Commission's website:
http://www.conservation.wa.gov.au/media/7582/fmp_mid_term_audit_report_200308.pdf
Phytophthora
dieback distribution mapping for DEC's three forest regions is available to the public on the DEC website:
http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/content/view/213/548/1/3/
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
(2) Yes
(3) A component of the costs of the work is included in the total annual appropriation of $7 068 432 DEC receives to undertake work for the Forest Products Commission.
Funds recouped from the Water Corporation in relation to the Wungong Catchment Trial are included in the $3 993 678 for grants and recoupable projects undertaken for external parties.
(4) Not applicable
(5) The wood inventory data would need to be extracted from databases or collated by specialist staff who are fully engaged on the technical work underpinning the development of the next forest management plan. I am not prepared at this time to divert personnel from the priority of preparing the next plan.
(6) Hard copy versions of the various vegetation maps used to determine the protection of less well reserved vegetation complexes are available for viewing at DEC's Conservation Library in Kensington. Prior to some disturbance operations, the vegetation complex may be ground validated. The data may then be updated to reflect the ground validation. These revised data are incorporated into the planning systems and would require significant resources to extract and present in a meaningful format.
Vegetation mapping relating to the assessment of old-growth forest is available to the public from the Conservation Commission of Western Australia's website:
http://www.conservation.wa.gov.au
.
An updated map of old-growth forest is being prepared as part of the draft
Forest Management Plan 2014-2023
, and will form part of the supporting information that will be released for public comment.
Predicted disease impact is undertaken on a case-by-case basis as part of the process to manage disturbance activities in native forest and would require significant resources to extract and present in a meaningful format.
(7) The field measurements used to monitor yields realised in timber harvest operations would require significant resources to extract and present in a meaningful format.
Analysis of these data is used to inform the reporting against
Forest Management Plan
2004-2013
(FMP) Key Performance Indicators 5 and 7. Reporting against these KPIs was undertaken in the mid-term audit of performance of the FMP (December 2008) and for the end-of-term audit of performance of the FMP. The end-of-term audit has been submitted to the Environmental Protection Authority by the Conservation Commission of WA. The mid-term audit report is publicly available on the Commission's website:
http://www.conservation.wa.gov.au/media/7582/fmp_mid_term_audit_report_200308.pdf
Phytophthora
dieback distribution mapping for DEC's three forest regions is available to the public on the DEC website:
http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/content/view/213/548/1/3/
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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