STT 2019 FSC Audit Report
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Forest Management & Stump-to-Forest Gate Chain-of-Custody Certification Evaluation Report | PUBLIC Foreword SCS Global Services (SCS) is a certification body accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council to conduct forest management and chain of custody evaluations. Under the FSC / SCS certification system, forest management enterprises (FMEs) meeting international standards of forest stewardship can be certified as “well managed,” thereby permitting the FME’s use of the FSC endorsement and logo in the marketplace subject to regular FSC / SCS oversight. SCS deploys interdisciplinary teams of natural resource specialists and other experts in forested regions all over the world to conduct evaluations of forest management. SCS evaluation teams collect and analyze written materials, conduct interviews with FME staff and key stakeholders, and complete field and office audits of subject forest management units (FMUs) as part of certification evaluations. Upon completion of the fact-finding phase of all evaluations, SCS teams determine conformance to the FSC Principles and Criteria. Organization of the Report This report of the results of our evaluation is divided into two sections. Section A provides the public summary and background information that is required by the Forest Stewardship Council. This section is made available to the general public and is intended to provide an overview of the evaluation process, the management programs and policies applied to the forest, and the results of the evaluation. Section A will be posted on the FSC Certificate Database (http://info.fsc.org/) no less than 30 days after issue of the certificate. Section B contains more detailed results and information for the use of by the FME. Version 9-0 (February 2019) | © SCS Global Services Page 2 of 164 Forest Management & Stump-to-Forest Gate Chain-of-Custody Certification Evaluation Report | PUBLIC Table of Contents SECTION A – PUBLIC SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 4 1. GENERAL INFORMATION .......................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Certificate Registration Information ................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Standards Used ................................................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Conversion Table English Units to Metric Units .................................................................................. 9 2. DESCRIPTION OF FOREST MANAGEMENT .............................................................................................. 11 2.1 Management Context ....................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Forest Management Plan .................................................................................................................. 16 2.3 Monitoring System ............................................................................................................................ 19 3. CERTIFICATION EVALUATION PROCESS .................................................................................................. 21 3.1 Evaluation Schedule and Team ......................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Evaluation of Management System .................................................................................................. 33 3.3 Stakeholder Consultation Process .................................................................................................... 34 4. RESULTS OF EVALUATION ....................................................................................................................... 45 4.1 Notable Strengths and Weaknesses of the FME Relative to the FSC P&C ........................................ 45 4.2 Process of Determining Conformance .............................................................................................. 46 4.3. Existing Corrective Action Requests and Observations ................................................................... 47 4.4. New Corrective Action Requests and Observations ........................................................................ 48 4.5 Major Nonconformances .................................................................................................................. 66 5. CERTIFICATION DECISION ....................................................................................................................... 66 SECTION B – APPENDICES (CONFIDENTIAL) ................................................................................................ 68 Appendix 1 – Current and Projected Annual Harvest ............................................................................. 68 Appendix 2 – List of FMUs Selected for Evaluation ................................................................................ 69 Appendix 3 – Additional Evaluation Techniques Employed ................................................................... 69 Appendix 4 - Staff and Stakeholders Consulted ...................................................................................... 69 Appendix 5 – Required Tracking ............................................................................................................. 70 Appendix 6 – Forest Management Standard Conformance Table ......................................................... 70 Appendix 7 – Chain of Custody Indicators for FMEs Conformance Table ............................................ 145 Appendix 8 – Trademark Standard Conformance Table ....................................................................... 149 Appendix 9 – Peer Review and SCS Evaluation Team Response to Peer Review ................................. 153 Version 9-0 (February 2019) | © SCS Global Services Page 3 of 164 Forest Management & Stump-to-Forest Gate Chain-of-Custody Certification Evaluation Report | PUBLIC Sustainable Timber Tasmania manages an estate of around 800,000 ha of native forest and plantations for the prime purpose of timber production as a Government Business Enterprise, https://www.sttas.com.au/. These forests encompass a wide range of additional products and services and forest uses that are valued by a range of stakeholders. Forestry makes an important contribution to the Tasmanian economy, despite recent changes that have reduced that contribution by about two thirds. The forest sectors’ annual contribution to Tasmania’s Gross State Product is estimated to be $400-450 million AUD, and it employs more than 2700 people. STT and its products support approximately half of that total economic activity of the state. Indirect effects on other sectors of the economy providing inputs or using outputs from the sector increase that contribution, by about a factor of two. The forestry sector continues to be particularly important in a number of regional communities where employment remains relatively high. Dramatic structural changes in the industry in recent years yielded some small instability amongst the businesses and employees in the forestry sector. In addition to industry and customer stakeholders, other significant stakeholder groups include the Indigenous community, local regional communities and local governments, environmental groups, rural neighbours and forest users such as those using the forests for recreational pursuits, apiary, woodcrafts and firewood collection. While the Native Title Act 1993 provides a mechanism by which native title rights can be negotiated and recognised under Australian law, there are presently no native title rights holders in Tasmania. In 1803, estimates are there were somewhere between 4000-6000 Tasman natives, or Palawa, prior to European settlement. There were 200 Palawa documented to have survived the period of European settlement who were relocated to Flinders Island, 50 kilometers from Tasmania in 1830. By 1869, there were only 3 remaining survivors on Flinders Island. In 1876, Truganini, the last full-blooded speaker of the Tasmanian language on Flinders Island, died and a brief summary for her may be found here, https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/australia/the-last-indigenous-tasmanian.aspx. Following invasion and oppression, Tasmanian aboriginal identity survived through escapees and survivors within Tasmania, and in the Furneaux Group of islands through the descendants of Aboriginal women and European sealers. The focus for the Furneaux community became Cape Barren Island where a reserve was established in 1881. With the adoption of the Aboriginal Lands Act of 1995, the Tasmanian government began returning control of significant places (including most of Cape Barren Island in 2005) to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. As of 2016, there were 23 751 described as “Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples”, (www.quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au). However, there are disputes within the Aboriginal community over the authenticity of some of those claims of indigenous ancestry. Since 1992, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has undertaken the retrieval and revival of palawa kani, the indigenous Tasmanian Aboriginal language, throughout Tasmania, tacinc.com.au. 2.1.4 Land use, Ownership, and Land Tenure Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) is a statutory authority established under the Government Business