Forest Practices Regulations 2007 (TAS)

Forest Practices Regulations 2007

I, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council and on the recommendation of the Forest Practices Authority, make the following regulations under the Forest Practices Act 1985 .23 April 2007

W. J. E. COX

Governor

By His Excellency’s Command,

P. A. LENNON

Minister for Economic Development and Resources

1Short titleThese regulations may be cited as the Forest Practices Regulations 2007 . 2CommencementThese regulations take effect on 30 April 2007. 3InterpretationIn these regulations – Act means the Forest Practices Act 1985 ; applicable land means – (a) in relation to Crown land, any Crown land that is not within 100 metres of – (i) any other Crown land that is subject to forest practices; or (ii) State forest that is subject to forest practices; and (b) in relation to State forest, any State forest that is not within 100 metres of – (i) any other State forest that is subject to forest practices; or (ii) Crown land that is subject to forest practices; and (c) in relation to any other land, any land set forth as one valuation of land on the valuation roll under section 24(1) of the Valuation of Land Act 2001 ; conservation covenant means a conservation covenant within the meaning of Part 5 of the Nature Conservation Act 2002 ; Crown land means Crown land within the meaning of the Crown Lands Act 1976 ; electricity infrastructure has the same meaning as in the Electricity Supply Industry Act 1995 ; existing infrastructure means  – (a) infrastructure existing when these regulations take effect; or (b) infrastructure built, after these regulations take effect, in accordance with a certified forest practices plan; or (c) infrastructure built, after these regulations take effect, for which no certified forest practices plan is required; fire management work means burning off vegetation and constructing firebreaks and access tracks where – (a) the sole purpose of the work is to reduce fire hazards or control wildfires; and (b) trees affected by the work are not harvested or cleared for any other purpose; and (c) reasonable precautions are taken to avoid harming natural and cultural forest values, including forest cover and regeneration; GST has the same meaning as in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 of the Commonwealth; infrastructure includes but is not limited to roads, fences, buildings and drainage channels; native vegetation regrowth means native vegetation not containing, in any 0.5 hectare area, more than 20 eucalypt plants, of any species, more than 2 metres in height; previously cleared and converted land means land – (a) whose owner can demonstrate a history of agricultural or other non-forest land use over a consecutive period of at least 5 years, since 1985, during which the land did not contain trees or threatened native vegetation communities; or (b) that has been cleared and converted in the immediately preceding 5-year period in accordance with a certified forest practices plan; public road means – (a) a State highway within the meaning of section 3 of the Roads and Jetties Act 1935 ; and (b) a subsidiary road within the meaning of section 3 of the Roads and Jetties Act 1935 ; and (c) a country road within the meaning of section 3 of the Roads and Jetties Act 1935 ; and (d) a highway under local management within the meaning of section 4(6) of the Local Government (Highways) Act 1982 ; reasonable buffer, in relation to infrastructure, means – (a) a buffer of land of such area as is necessary to provide safe vehicular access to the infrastructure; or (b) a buffer of land of such width as is necessary to protect the infrastructure from being damaged by falling timber; State forest means State forest within the meaning of the Forestry Act 1920 ; vegetation management agreement means an agreement that an owner of land enters into with an instrumentality or agency of the Crown for the purposes of managing native vegetation on that land; vulnerable land means land that – (a) is within a streamside reserve or a machinery exclusion zone within the meaning of the Forest Practices Code; or (b) has a slope of more than the landslide threshold slope angles within the meaning of the Forest Practices Code; or (c) is within the High or Very High Soil Erodibility Class within the meaning of the Forest Practices Code; or (d) consists of, or contains, a threatened native vegetation community; or (e) is inhabited by a threatened species within the meaning of the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 ; or (f) contains vulnerable karst soil within the meaning of the Forest Practices Code; or (g) contains an area of trees reserved from the harvesting of timber or the clearing of trees under a forest practices plan where the period specified in the plan has expired. 4Circumstances in which forest practices plan, &c., not requiredFor the purpose of section 17(6) of the Act, the following circumstances are prescribed: (a) the harvesting of timber or the clearing of trees with the consent of the owner of the land, if the land is not vulnerable land and – (i) the volume of timber harvested or trees cleared is less than 100 tonnes for each area of applicable land for each year; or (ii) the total area of land on which the harvesting or clearing occurs is less than one hectare for each area of applicable land for each year – whichever is the lesser; (b) the clearing of native vegetation to provide a reasonable buffer for existing infrastructure if the clearing is necessary to maintain the infrastructure or for public safety; (c) the clearing of native vegetation regrowth from an area of previously cleared and converted land; (d) the harvesting of timber or the clearing of trees on any land, or the clearance and conversion of a threatened native vegetation community on any land, for one or more of the following purposes: (i) dam works authorised by a dam permit granted under the Water Management Act 1999 ; (ii) easements for the construction and maintenance of electricity infrastructure and associated access tracks, where the clearance and conversion is undertaken in accordance with an environmental management system endorsed by the Forest Practices Authority; (iii) the construction and maintenance of gas pipelines; (iv) the construction and maintenance of public roads; (e) the establishment of trees on land that has not contained trees or a threatened native vegetation community in the immediately preceding 5-year period where – (i) establishing the trees does not involve the construction of a road or the operation of a quarry; and (ii) the relevant area of land is less than 10 hectares for each area of applicable land for each year; (f) the harvesting of tree ferns – (i) with the consent of the owner of the applicable land; and (ii) if no more than 6 tree ferns are harvested on each area of applicable land during one year; (g) the harvesting of timber or the clearing of trees, or the clearance and conversion of a threatened native vegetation community, carried out in accordance with – (i) a conservation covenant of a kind that the Authority has approved in writing for the purposes of this paragraph; or (ii) a vegetation management agreement of a kind that the Authority has approved in writing for the purposes of this paragraph; (h) the clearing of trees, or the clearance and conversion of a threatened native vegetation community, in the course of fire management work carried out under a fire management program of a kind that the Authority has approved in writing for the purposes of this paragraph. 5Prescribed fees (1) For the purposes of section 18(4A) of the Act, the prescribed application fee is a fee determined in accordance with Table A in Part 1 of Schedule 1 . (2)  The fees specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1 are prescribed as the fees payable in respect of the matters to which they respectively relate. (3)  The fees specified in Schedule 1 are GST inclusive. 6Legislation rescindedThe legislation specified in Schedule 2 is rescinded. Schedule 1Fees

Regulation 5

PART 1Fee for application for certification of forest practices plan Table A - Determination of prescribed fee

FPP ranking	Prescribed fee
0	52 fee units
1	The higher of the following amounts:
(a) 52 fee units
(b) 6 fee units for each hectare (or part hectare) of land covered by the plan
2	The higher of the following amounts:
(a) 77 fee units
(b) 16 fee units for each hectare (or part hectare) of land covered by the plan
3	The higher of the following amounts:
(a) 129 fee units
(b) 25 fee units for each hectare (or part hectare) of land covered by the plan
4	The higher of the following amounts:
(a) 513 fee units
(b) 30 fee units for each hectare (or part hectare) of land covered by the plan
In Table A –
"FPP ranking" means a forest practices plan’s ranking on a scale of complexity ranging from 0 to 4 (with 0 being the least complex and 4 being the most complex), as determined under Table B.

Table B - Determination of FPP ranking for Table A

Type (operational code) of FPP (as assessed by forest practices officer)
LIGHT SELECTIVE LOGGING OR LOW-LEVEL OPERATION	RETENTION SYSTEM	CLEARFELL SYSTEM	CONVERSION TO NON-FOREST	CONVERSION TO PLANTATION OR CLEARANCE& CONVERSION OF TNVC	ROAD, QUARRY
(eg, collecting timber for firewood)	(eg, thinning operation leaving forest substantially intact)	(eg, felling all trees and allowing land to regenerate)	(eg, felling all trees and converting land to agricultural use)	(eg, converting native forest to pine plantation, converting threatened native grassland to cropping)	(eg, constructing vehicular access to facilitate timber harvesting)
Type of land covered by FPP	C	0	0	0	0	4 for an FPP involving the clearance & conversion of a TNVC	3
2 for another kind of FPP
P	1	1	2	2	2	3
NF	1	2	3	4	4	3

In Table B –

"C" signifies treeless land or land containing scattered or degraded forest that the Authority has determined comprises –

(a) trees that –

(i) are mostly dead or show signs of severe dieback; and

(ii) show no signs of healthy regeneration; or

(b) trees that –

(i) are mostly in poor health; and

(ii) have an extensively disturbed or modified understorey dominated by introduced species of grass or other vegetation (such as broom, gorse or blackberry); and

(iii) have a low potential to regenerate naturally or regain long-term health; or

(c) mature trees that –

(i) have, collectively, a canopy cover of less than 5% of the canopy cover that would be expected in a healthy forest; and

(ii) occur only as solitary specimens, or in small stands of fewer than 10 trees, within a largely cleared landscape; or

(d) native vegetation regrowth on previously cleared and converted land;

"FPP" means forest practices plan;

"NF" signifies a forest established by the natural or assisted regeneration of trees from seed or other natural propagules;

"P" signifies a forest established by planting trees;

"TNVC" means threatened native vegetation community.

PART 2Other fees

1.	Application under section 5(2)(d) of the Act to have land declared as private timber reserve	350 fee units
2.	Issue of tree fern tag under section 18A(b) of the Act	2 fee units

Schedule 2Legislation rescinded

Regulation 6

Forest Practices Regulations 1997 (No. 50 of 1997)

Forest Practices Amendment Regulations 1999 (No. 188 of 1999)

Forest Practices Amendment Regulations 2001 (No. 198 of 2001)

Forest Practices Amendment (Tree Ferns) Regulations 2001 (No. 200 of 2001)

Forest Practices Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 86 of 2005)

Displayed and numbered in accordance with the Rules Publication Act 1953.

Notified in the Gazette on 27 April 2007

These regulations are administered by the Forest Practices Authority.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the regulation) These regulations –

(a) prescribe the circumstances in which forest practices may be carried out without a forest practices plan; and (b) prescribe the fees payable under the Forest Practices Act 1985 ; and (c) rescind spent regulations.