Social impacts of a forest policy on a dependent rural community: bombshell or blessing?

Summary

The small rural community of Grevillia, in northern New South Wales, was studied to measure the social effects of a Government policy that resulted in closure of the local sawmill. The policy (called the ‘Rainforest Policy’ or ‘Rainforest Decision’) that led to closure of the Munro & Lever sawmill, involved converting forest held under state forest tenure and used for multiple purposes, including timber harvesting, to national park where logging is prohibited. This reduced the amount of timber available to the sawmill and effectively shortened the life expectancy of the mill at the level it was operating.

The study examines the impacts of the Rainforest Policy on fifteen social variables to determine whether the community of Grevillia and mill employees did experience significant and negative social effects. Seven of the fifteen variables indicated that detrimental effects did occur. The other variables showed either an insignificant impact or were not conclusive mainly due to inadequate data. Contractions in the timber industry on the north coast of NSW were expected prior to the Rainforest Policy and the sawmill at Grevillia faced substantial reductions in timber supplies. Therefore, social impacts due to structural adjustments at the Grevillia sawmill would have occurred irrespective of the Rainforest Policy. The Rainforest Policy, however, brought about immediate impacts on the community and workers and exacerbated uncertainty in the timber industry.

Government responsibility to mitigate the negative social consequences of intervention is discussed. The study concludes that both Commonwealth and State Governments are obligated, by international agreements and the national forest policy, to assist affected businesses and individuals where intervention withdraws substantial areas of commercial forest as a result of the creation of new conservation reserves.