The public forests of Western Australia, as part of the conservation estate, are vested in the Conservation Commission. The forests are managed according to the principles of ecologically sustainable forest management and for a range of diverse values and industries, including nature conservation, tourism and recreation, water catchment protection and timber production.
In 1999 the Commonwealth and State Government of WA signed the Regional Forest Agreement for the South West Region of Western Australia. The agreement outlined a number of changes to the way forests in WA would be management into the future.
In February 2001, the incoming Labor State Government introduced the ‘Protecting our old-growth forests’ policy. This policy effectively ceased logging in old-growth forests and created 29 new National Parks.
The Conservation Commission, as the vesting body, is responsible for the preparation of a forest management plan through the agency of the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) acting jointly with the Forest Products Commission (FPC), and submitting the plan to the Minister of Environment.
Under State Legislation (the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984), the State forests and timber reserves are to be managed according to a 2004 management plan.
The Conservation Commission is responsible for assessing performance of DEC and FPC in implementing and complying with the management plan. The mid-term assessment of performance of the Forest Management Plan was undertaken in 2008 and submitted to the Environmental Protection Authority by 31 December 2008.
