You are here: Home > Native vegetation > Forest assessments, agreements and approvals > NSW forest agreements and IFOAs > Lower north east region

Lower North East Region

The Lower North East (LNE) Forest Agreement region extends from approximately Sawtell to Newcastle, and west to the Wollemi National Park and New England Tablelands.

Comprehensive assessments were undertaken in the Upper North East Region from 1996 to 1999. Detailed studies of the forests were completed. Fauna habitat was mapped, local heritage identified, and the economic status and social make-up of local communities examined. The assessments took into account the impact of forest industry changes on the environment, the townships, their economies and their people.

The Lower North East Forest Agreement of New South Wales has balanced the environmental qualities of forests with the social and economic needs of the community.

• Read the Lower North East Forest Agreement and the Integrated Forestry Operations Approval.
• Read further background to the comprehensive regional assessments.
• See other pages at the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website , including general information on the joint state and commonwealth comprehensive regional assessment, and for access to project reports.

Key conservation announcements for the Upper and Lower North East Regions (combined)

The total area of formal reserves (such as national parks) in the Upper North East and the Lower North East regions is now over 2 million hectares. This includes:

• 171 000 hectares reserved under the Forestry Revocation and National Park Reservation Act 1996
• 412 500 hectares reserved under the Forestry and National Park Estate Act 1998
• 144 500 hectares reserved under the National Park Estate (Reservations) Act 2002
• And an additional 29 000 hectares of high conservation value areas reserved under the National Park Estate (Reservations) Act 2003
• 17 000 hectares reserved under the National Park Estate (Lower Hunter Region reservations) Act 2006

The Upper and Lower North East Regions forest agreements established an environment in which the forest industries and the communities that depend on them could plan their future with an improved sense of certainty and security. They included 20-year wood supply commitments, based on demonstrated value adding and subject to future resource inventory.