HOW our State Forests are managed has perhaps surprisingly become one of the key issues in the Nambucca district in the wake of promised funding for redevelopment of Macksville Hospital.
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Claim and counter-claim (see report, page 29) have been made in the run to the State Election, yet the complexity of the issue defies simplistic strategies.
The true value of a State Forest should not and cannot be measured alone in dollar terms for logging.
State Forests have in many instances become tourist attractions in themselves and a place of recreation for local residents.
They are also not shackled by some of the rules which apply to National Parks forbidding all manner of activities.
Our State Forests are a community owned asset so it’s only appropriate that the management of these lands is subject to the highest public scrutiny.
That said, we should approach with caution any management policy that would fall into either extreme - from open slather unsustainable logging to a total ban on harvesting and public lockouts.
The wise path would be to manage our State Forests in such a way that recognises their aesthetic, recreational and environmental worth; and that timber is a natural and renewable resource.
