Forestry in the Community

PIRSA Forestry helps the community obtain value from forestry in South Australia including for economic outcomes and recreational purposes where appropriate.  We actively promote the benefits of community involvement in the forest industry.

Some current major programs include:

  • The management of arrangements with ForestrySA to ensure the effective management of community forestry activities within the State’s forest reserves including recreation
  • Forestry education and awareness initiatives
  • The development and implementation of strategies aimed at increasing the connectivity of native forests

Forest Values

South Australia’s forests provide a range of benefits to the community. Through sustainable management, they will continue to be of benefit to future generations. Forest management varies across the different parts of the forest estate to deliver a broad range of benefits.

For the people and communities living and working in forested regions, forests have significant social values. They provide the basis for employment, services and recreation, and can have cultural importance to Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

Communities benefit significantly from the income from wood production from plantations, and subsequent processing of wood into sawn timber, wood panels and paper products. Plantations are managed primarily for wood production. However, they can also contribute a range of other commercial, environmental and aesthetic benefits to the community, such as salinity control and carbon sinks.

Conservation reserves are managed primarily to conserve biological diversity and ecosystem processes, but also provide valuable tourism and recreational resources. Multiple-use forests are managed to produce timber and other products, and complement conservation reserves by contributing to the maintenance of biological diversity, protecting soil and water resources, and providing recreational and tourism resources.