The sections below are key background information to reporting in Australia's State of the Forests Report and related information on the Forests Australia website. See Australia's State of the Forests Report for detailed information on Australia's forests.
Data on this page are from Australia's State of the Forests Report 2018 (SOFR), with data up to or as at 2016. ABARES is in the process of updating indicators for SOFR with data up to or as at 2021, with the intention of publishing the updated indicators from mid to late 2023. The data on this page will also be updated at that time.
Forest definition
The definition of forest used by Australia's National Forest Inventory is:
An area, incorporating all living and non-living components, that is dominated by trees having usually a single stem and a mature or potentially mature stand height exceeding 2 metres and with existing or potential crown cover of overstorey strata about equal to or greater than 20 per cent. This includes Australia’s diverse native forests and plantations, regardless of age. It is also sufficiently broad to encompass areas of trees that are sometimes described as woodlands.
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Forest area
Australia has a total of 134 million hectares of forest, which is equivalent to 17% of Australia's land area. Of this total forest area, determined as at 2016, 132 million hectares (98%) are 'Native forests', 1.95 million hectares are 'Commercial plantations' and 0.47 million hectares are 'Other forest'. Australia has about 3% of the world's forest area, and globally is the country with the seventh largest forest area.
Queensland has the largest area of Australia’s forest (51.8 million hectares—39% of Australia’s forest), with the Northern Territory (23.7 million hectares—18%), Western Australia (21.0 million hectares—16%), and New South Wales (20.4 million hectares—15%), making up much of the balance.
Maps of Australia's forests are available on the Forest maps page.
Forest types and distribution
The forests of Australia are diverse and highly valued, and are among the country's most important natural resources.
Australia's native forests occur in a broad range of geographic landscapes and climatic environments, and contain a wide array of mostly endemic species (that is, species found nowhere else) combining to form unique and complex ecosystems. Australia's native forests provide a range of wood and non-wood products that are used by Australians in their everyday lives. They also provide clean water; protect soil; provide opportunities for recreation and tourism, and scientific and educational pursuits; and support cultural, heritage and aesthetic values.
Native forests are categorised in Australia's National Forest Inventory into eight national forest types named after their key genus or structural form: Acacia, Callitris, Casuarina, Eucalypt, Mangrove, Melaleuca, Rainforest, and Other native forest (which includes a range of minor native forest types that are named after their dominant genera, including Agonis, Atalaya, Banksia, Hakea, Grevillea, Heterodendron, Leptospermum, Lophostemon and Syncarpia). Across the wide range of rainfall and soil conditions that support forest, most of Australia's 'Native forest' category of forest is dominated by eucalypts (77%) and acacias (8%).
Note: The names of the national native forest types have capitalised initial letters (e.g. Acacia forest). The related common names do not have capitalised initial letters (e.g. acacias). The related formal genus names are italicised and have capitalised initial letters (e.g. Acacia).
In addition to native forests, Australia's National Forest Inventory recognises two other categories of forest. 'Commercial plantations' are plantations grown on a commercial scale for wood production, while 'Other forest' includes small areas of mostly non-industrial plantations and planted forests of various types including sandalwood plantations, small farm forestry and agroforestry plantations, plantations within the reserve system, and plantations regarded as non-commercial. Non-planted forest dominated by introduced species is also included in the Other forest category.
Australia's Commercial plantations are a major source of commercial wood products. About half of Australia's Commercial plantations are exotic softwood (predominantly Pinus radiata), while the other half are hardwood (predominantly eucalypt species).
Forests are generally confined to regions where average rainfall exceeds 500 millimetres per year. Forests extend across Australia's northern tropical regions, and down the east coast through sub-tropical regions to temperate cool-season wet and cold–wet zones in the south-east; they are also found in Mediterranean climate zones in the south-east and south-west. In some regions, forests extend from these wetter, coastal and sub-coastal areas into central, drier parts of the continent. Through these regions, forests grow on soils that vary from ancient, fragile and infertile soils, to recent, fertile soils of volcanic origin.
Forest tenure and ownership
The ownership of a forest, especially native forest, has a major bearing on its management intent. The six tenure classes used for forests in the National Forest Inventory are amalgamations of the wide range of classes used by various state and territory jurisdictions. The classes can be grouped on the basis of ownership as public or private, with a small area of unresolved tenure. Publicly owned forests include ‘nature conservation reserve’, ‘multiple-use public forest’ and ‘other Crown land’. ‘Leasehold forest’ is forest on Crown land (land that belongs to a national, state or territory government) that is typically privately managed. Some forests on private land are publicly managed as conservation reserves. For industrial plantations, the ownership of the land can be different from the ownership of the trees, and management arrangements can be complex.
Of the 132 million hectares of native forest in Australia, 47.2 million hectares (36%) are native forest on leasehold land, and 41.0 million hectares (31%) are native forest on land held under private freehold title. Consequently, a total of 88.2 million hectares (67%) of Australia’s native forest is under some form of private management. A further 21.7 million hectares of native forest (17%) are in formal nature conservation reserves, and 9.8 million hectares of native forest (7.4%) are in multiple-use public native forests.
Indigenous forest management
More than half of Australia’s forests (69.5 million hectares, 52% of Australia's forest area) is identified as part of the Indigenous forest estate as one of four broad Indigenous land tenure and management categories: Indigenous owned and managed; Indigenous managed; Indigenous co-managed; and Other special rights. About 69% of this forest area is in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Other sources of information:
- Australia's native forest - data visualisation is a tool for users to display data for Australia's native forest types by state or territory, tenure, crown cover, height and Indigenous ownership and management category.
- Regional profiles for forestry - data visualisation is a tool for users to select regions from around Australia to display data and a map of forest extent, forest tenure, forest and plantation types, employment in forestry, and the number of sawmills in the region selected.
- Australia's forests and forestry glossary is a stand-alone publication, developed from the glossary published in Australia's State of the Forests Report 2018 and contains definitions of terms related to forests and forestry at the national level in Australia.