Domestic timber harvesting affects wood quantities in Tasmanian dry eucalypt forests

Summary

Domestic fuelwood harvesters illegally reduced coarse (≥10-cm diameter) downed woody debris stocks in Tasmanian mature dry eucalypt forests, 27–34 m tall, by 96.9 m³ ha⁻¹ or 22.7 t ha⁻¹. There was no effect of domestic harvesting on quantities of dead trees or live trees. Few dead trees were encountered in natural (unharvested) sites. Domestic harvesters preferentially removed debris <70 cm in diameter, leaving domestically harvested sites with 40% less volume and biomass of downed woody debris than natural sites. Assuming domestic harvesting, at the measured intensity, extends 25 m into forests either side of the state forest road system that passes through the studied forest type, dead wood stocks in that forest type and tenure throughout the state have been reduced by 688 000 m³ or 161 000 t. Domestic harvesting potentially damages biodiversity values, diminishes habitat available for species dependent on fallen logs and reduces forest carbon stocks. Domestic harvesters are advised to obtain licences to collect fuelwood from areas with an appropriate forest practices plan.

Keywords:

• forest
• sclerophyllous forests
• harvesting
• dead wood
• coarse woody debris
• snags
• fuelwood
• eucalypt

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the CRC for Forestry for funding, to Mark Neyland, David McElwee, Leigh Edwards, Sean Boucher and Ian Riley for help with site selection and measurement, to Daniel Hodge for providing site data from inventory and to Penny Douglas for making map figures and examining sites using GIS.