Timber and koalas – can we have both?

SPECIAL REPORT: As the NSW government announced its proposed Great Koala National Park to protect the iconic native marsupial, the timber industry raised the spectre of major job losses and economic decline for small communities in Northeastern NSW. However, there’s bigger picture issues at play too, such as what Australia’s needs for timber for, how we obtain it and the role of forests in protecting the wellbeing of all.

In February this year, the timber workers’ union claimed that more than 9000 jobs would be lost in the NSW hardwood industry if the New South Wales government goes ahead with a proposal for a new Great Koala National Park in northern NSW.

The reserve aims to link remnant native forests that are known koala feeding, breeding and migration hubs in one connected national park. It would include some existing reserves and national park area,s plus areas of state forests currently designated as loggable native forest.

The North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) contested the job loss claims, with analysis by co-founder Dailan Pugh reporting job losses in direct forestry jobs could range between 209 to 218 jobs, based on data from EY and the Natural Resources Commission.

By contrast, a 2021 study by University of Newcastle, cited by Pugh, found the GKNP could stimulate the creation of 9810 new jobs in park management, forest rehabilitation and tourism within 15 years.

Public purse cash drain

An analysis by Frontier Economics in 2023 on behalf of the Nature Conservation Council showed that NSW State Forests are a drain on the taxpayer, with a history of financial losses. This is also true for public native forest logging in Victoria and Tasmania.

It said:

“…this unprofitable business also comes at a significant opportunity cost to the community. This is in terms of the loss of alternative higher valued uses of the standing forest, and the loss of environmental services. 

“The poor financial position and budgetary burden posed by the publicly-owned (native forest logging) business is intensifying. Factors include the reduced log supply, increasing costs of production, and the increasing competition from alternative wood products that have dramatically reduced demand, including for structural timber from native forests.  

“It is time to stem the cost to the community posed by the industry and to plan for an orderly exit from NFL.” 

In a further study for WWF released in February 2025, Frontier Economics found that an “orderly transition” out of native forest logging could involve increased reliance on plantations and agroforestry for native timber resource, increased innovation in manufacturing to utilise lower grade timbers for value-added wood-based products, and increasing employment in native forest restoration and rehabilitation.

The conservation viewpoint

According to Pugh some of the job losses in the timber industry can be attributed to changes in how the sector operates.

It is now centralised and more mechanised. Practices such as selective logging of mature trees that were then pulled out of a compartment one by one have been replaced with mechanised harvesting that is far more destructive and closer to small patch clear felling. The species range of regrowth is also reducing, compared to less intensively logged forest areas, Pugh says.

But it’s also an industry that appears to be nearing collapse.

“The industry is losing money, and it doesn’t provide the regional employment it used to,.”

There are solutions. For example, extending the rotation period for hardwood plantations from 15 years to 25 years and owners receiving carbon credits during the growth phase would boost the viability of the plantation sector and deliver a larger volume of sawn products as well as pulp and chip products.

Forests aren’t just logs

One thing to keep in mind is that growing native species on private land requires a source of appropriate seedstock, and this is one of the benefits of protecting public native forests. They are in many regions, one of the last significant remaining pools of genetic material for forest species adapted to the bioregion.

Regenerating native forest on either public or private land requires us to protect that seedbank. From an ecological perspective, restoration is needed to reverse damage to the species composition and the structure of many public forests.

“Many areas are not multi-age forest like it used to be on the north coast (of NSW),” Pugh says.

“Huge areas are now dominated by lantana understorey, which increases flammability.”

Lantana invasion and the open canopy or overstorey of logged forest also provides preferred habitat for the Bell Miner bird species, which in an unbalanced forest ecosystem can trigger “Bell Miner dieback” of canopy species, because the birds farm psyllids, which are parasitic on trees and retard their growth.

The result is an unhealthy forest with reduced vegetation diversity and a community structure vastly different from the original native forest.

Another key issue is the need to retain mature trees to support the ongoing lives of endangered fauna species.

This is where the GKNP can be seen as an ecological safety net for multiple species.

What koalas need

Koalas prefer mature trees for browsing and breeding, and are quite selective in which species. By protecting areas of forest with those trees, the next generation of hollow-bearing old growth trees is also protected, Pugh explains.

These are the trees that species, including gliders, bats, possums and birds rely on for habitat and breeding, and it can take upwards of 80 years before a eucalypt begins to create the hollows.

Pugh points out that these forest areas also have benefits for human communities beyond the creation of jobs.

Forests play a key role in the rainfall cycle, and also in the slow release of rainfall into creeks, rivers and urban water storages. They help modulate land temperatures, creating zones of cool and reducing surrounding land temperatures. The forest ecosystem also creates soil, stores carbon, and cleans the air.

“In a time of increasing climate catastrophes, our forests are essential,” Pugh says.

But what about timber buildings?

While native timber flooring and cabinetry features are currently bang-on trend in Australian architecture, the sad reality is that most native forest logs – up to 80 per cent of them – are used for pulp or woodchip.

The balance may be used for exterior applications where durability is a factor, such as decking, power poles, wharves and power poles, or for aesthetic feature timbers.

Most structural timber used in construction, for example trusses and house framing, is softwood from pine plantations, according to Dr Gregory Nolan, director of the Centre for Sustainable Architecture with Wood at the University of Tasmania.

Hardwood timbers for infrastructure applications and high-value joinery timbers, by comparison, mainly come from native forests.

“A significant proportion of built environment activity needs timber for structural applications,” Nolan tells The Fifth Estate.

However, the availability of native forest timber has declined in almost a “straight line” from the 1960s.

There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, the rotation period between logging for native timber to grow from sapling to maturity is around 70-80 years, whereas pine is around 30-35 years.

There was significant logging of native timbers in the 1940s to meet demand associated with the Second World War, and then in the post-war construction boom of the 1950s. Even if trees logged in the 1940s were replanted, it is only now, 80-odd years later, that they have reached mature millable age.

Quick returns more attractive than quality hardwood harvests

Meanwhile, planting native forest on private land for timber growing has mainly resulted in plantations of short rotation pulp timbers that are harvested within 10-15 years of planting.

“These plantations are fibre-managed,” Nolan says. The strategy is to achieve maximum biomass with minimal inputs in a relatively short period of time.

Nolan says there have been attempts to encourage private native hardwood plantations, however, the timeframe involved between planting and harvesting for mature sawlog timbers is simply too long for most investors.

If we want to have hardwoods for built environment applications, these need to come from either managed native forests or from offshore, Nolas says.

Protecting our own forests, therefore means someone else in places like Asia, the Solomon Islands or the Amazon, logs theirs to meet our industry’s demand.

 Protecting our own forests, therefore, means someone else in places like Asia, the Solomon Islands or the Amazon logs theirs to meet our industry’s demand.

Currently, the balance of trade in timber products shows that the value of imports outstrips our forest product exports to the tune of around $5 billion a year or more.

One area where the use of public native forests can be improved is in the end use for harvested timber. All timber should be high value “appearance products” or in “exterior applications where durability is a factor”.

Sending the timber offshore as pulpwood or woodchip is not high value

Another way to get more value is to grow the market for species currently regarded as non-commercial. Nolan is leading a research project for the Forest and Wood Products Association, which is looking at species in Tasmania and Western Australia that currently have minimal market share.

Creating a reputation for species such as Tasmanian silver wattle that have fallen off the customer radar could be a way to support ongoing industry viability.

Nolan points out that timber does have a climate dividend, as the alternative to wood in many applications is increasing our dependence on fossil-fuel intensive materials.

How to know if timber is sustainable

If someone is going to use timber in a project, looking for appropriate certification is essential. Principal of Stephen Mitchell Associates, Stephen Mitchell, says that for timber from managed native forests in Australia, the main certification is via Responsible Wood, a PEFC endorsed forest certification scheme.

“There is a very small area of private forestry certified to the FSC forest management certification standard. Growth hasn’t been strong as certification costs are prohibitive for smaller private forests harvested,” he says.

Some domestic timber producers also source a mix of public and private forest logs and can sell a Responsible Wood/PEFC certified mix of timber products.

There is growing awareness of the importance of certification, including Environmental Product Declarations, Mitchell says.

“When it comes to certification to Responsible Wood/PEFC and FSC Chain of Custody (COC) standards – growth is very strong. Particularly with producers supplying projects seeking NABERs, Green Star or IS Ratings.

“Growth is also very strong due to the recent changes to the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition legislation. The legislative changes favour the import of PEFC or FSC certified products and domestic processing of PEFC or FSC certified logs.”