New South Wales Consolidated Acts

FORESTRY ACT 1916 - SECT 17

17 Classification of forest lands

(1) The commission shall take all reasonable and practicable steps to ensure that there shall be maintained in New South Wales an area of not less than 3 250 000 hectares of land dedicated as State forests and that, of that land, there shall be not less than 600 000 hectares of land kept for the purposes of afforestation with trees of the exotic coniferous species.

(2) The commission shall carry on a continuing classification of the lands of the State for the purpose of determining which lands are suitable and desirable in the public interest to be permanently dedicated as State forests.

(3) In classifying lands of the State for the purpose of determining which lands should be dedicated as State forests the commission shall endeavour to ensure to such intent as to the commission seems proper that the selection of lands to be so dedicated will result in:

(a) the promotion of effective and economic control, utilisation and management of the forests for timber production and the facilitation of the economic marketing of the timber and other products of the forests,

(b) the establishment, maintenance or expansion of industry for the processing and treatment of the timber and other products of the forests,

(c) the growth and harvesting of trees for timber and products of economic value, and

(d) the continuing protection of necessary tree cover in the public interest,

and shall take into account:

(e) the potentiality for economic timber production of any lands which are of an inferior character for the purposes of agriculture or grazing but which, by appropriate treatment of the soils, would be capable of sustaining the growth of suitable commercial species of trees in plantations, and

(f) such other factors as the commission considers relevant to the establishment and proper management of State forests.