Conservation Gains In The RFA
One of the requirements for the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA), signed in late 1997 by the Prime Minister and Tasmanian Premier, was the establishment of a Comprehensive, Adequate, and Representative reserve system using nationally agreed selection criteria devised by independent scientific experts - the “JANIS” criteria.
All forests were assessed against these guidelines with benchmark area targets to be achieved where socially and economically feasible.
The Tasmanian RFA produced major enhancements to the State’s reserve system. The RFA added 450,000 hectares of public land and 293,00ha of forest to the reserve system. Under the RFA, twenty-nine new areas of National Parks and State Reserves were created, including Savage River, Friendly Beaches and Tasman Peninsula. New areas were added to the eastern boundary of the World Heritage Area, including Beech Creek Valley of the Giants, and Blake’s Opening.
The Private Forest Reserves Program was established under RFA in 1998 to complement the extensive public land reserve system. By 2004 nearly 30,000 hectares of valuable private native forests was secured in reserves.