Brigalow and Nandewar Integrated Forestry Operations Approval

The Government's Brigalow and Nandewar resource and conservation decision committed around 350,000 hectares of land in Western NSW to extensive new conservation reserves and provided certainty for timber operations and timber dependent communities across the region to 2025.

Integrated Forestry Operations Approval

• To give effect to the Government's decision, the EPA and the Department of Industry and Investment (FCNSW and Fisheries) jointly developed an Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA)(BrigalowNandewarIFOA.pdf, 1605kb) for the Brigalow Nandewar region. The IFOA commenced on 23 October 2010 and has effect up to and including 31 December 2025.
• An amendment to the IFOA (BrigIFOAamend1.pdf, 21KB) commenced on 1 March 2013. The amendment introduced pollution incident reporting and management requirements consistent with the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

More about the Brigalow and Nandewar IFOA

• The IFOA balances protection of the environment with the Government's commitment to specified volumes of saw log, fencing and firewood and the operational restrictions that exist in the Brigalow and Nandewar Region.
• It provides a framework for forestry operations, including regulatory regimes for environmental planning and assessment, for the protection of the environment and for threatened species conservation.
• The IFOA forms part of the Community Conservation Area Agreement which was approved on 11 June 2009.
• The IFOA applies to Zone 4 lands (Forestry, Recreation and Mineral Extraction) and other Crown-timber lands within the Community Conservation Area.
• IFOAs are established under the Forestry Act 2012.