Old Growth Forests

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Oldgrowth Forest

% of Tasmania’s Oldgrowth Forest per Reserve Type

Reserve (Public & Private) Non-Reserve (Public) Non-Reserve (Private)

Total Hectares of Tasmania’s Oldgrowth Forest per Forest Type

25,000

50,000

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

Forests are living ecosystems that • Regenerating forests Where does oldgrowth fit? It’s Where Are They? About half of Australia’s This includes large areas of flourish, mature, die or burn, then – less than 20 years old not solely a growth stage – it’s a oldgrowth forests are in New oldgrowth wet eucalypt forests grow again. As they change, they descriptive term that combines South Wales. Tasmania has the in the Murchison and Weld • Regrowth forests go through four stages of growth: information about the age of nation’s highest proportion of Valleys; oldgrowth cool temperate – from 20 to 110 years old the forest and its history of oldgrowth forests – almost 40% rainforest in the Tarkine region • Mature forests disturbance – either by natural of our forests are oldgrowth. of North West Tasmania; and – over 110 years old impacts like fire or storm; or by Most of them are on public land oldgrowth dry eucalypt forest • Senescent (ageing or over- human activity such as logging. and around 80% of the total area in East Coast reserves like the of Tasmania’s oldgrowth forests Douglas-Apsley National Park. mature) forests Oldgrowth is defined as are protected within our extensive – trees begin to die, foliage ‘ecologically-mature forest system of reserves. becomes patchy and gaps where the effects of disturbance appear in the forest crown are now negligible.’