110. Can’t see the forest for the trees?

Neither can we. If you’re wondering why, then it’s worth considering that aside from Antarctica, Australia is the least forested continent in the world.

Now of course that’s OK if you’re a seal or a penguin or just big on snowball fights, but it’s not so good if you’re a treefrog or koala or galah. With total forest coverage at less than 20% it’s hard for these guys to find a tree to call their own. Not surprisingly, a lot of this forest is classified as native forest. But what you may not know is how many more Acacias, Melaleucas, Callitris, Casuarinas, Eucalypts, Mangroves and Rainforest grow happily today.

A whopping 1.904 million hectares of hard and softwood plantations are grown especially for pulpwood and sawlog production, leaving those lovely native forests for someone else to turn into their home sweet treehouse home.

The dominate forest type within Australia is eucalypt which represents 78% of all forested area followed by acacia which accounts for 7% and melaleuca which covers 5%4. The final six forest types combined account for only 10% of native forest area.

Since 2001 the area of plantations within Australia has increased from 1.59 million hectares to 1.90 million hectares with the majority of growth being seen in hardwood plantations. Between 2001 and 2007 the area of hardwood plantations increased from 587,900 hectares to 883,500 hectares with the largest percentage area increase occurring in the Northern Territory. Although hardwood plantations have increased significantly over the past seven years, softwood plantations still represent 53% of all plantations in Australia.

The increased number of hardwood plantations is mostly being used for pulpwood. In comparison, softwood plantations generally now supply sawlogs.

By state the largest plantation area in Australia is in Victoria (22%) followed closely by Western Australia (21%) and New South Wales (19%).

Two thirds of Australia's log supply is now produced by plantations.

Sources:	2008, Australia's State of the Forests Report 2008, Australian Government - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, viewed 28 November 2008
	Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, 'Australian Forest Profile', 2005
	ABARE 2008, Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics - March and June Quarter, Australian Government - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, viewed 28 November 2008
	2008, Australia's Forest Industries, Australian Government - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, vieewed 28 Novemver 2008

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