RETURNING PLANTATION CORES AND LINKS CORES AND LINKS TO NATIVE FOREST

The Cores and Links comprise approximately 8,000 hectares Within the Cores and Links area is The Cores & Links agreement, signed In consultation with the Victorian Government, harvested plantation of both (Mountain Ash) plantation and native the College Creek catchment which by the Victorian Government and HVP within the Cores and Links will be returned to native forest reserve. was planted by Australian Paper (AP) Plantations, is the outcome of many years forest in the eastern Strzelecki Ranges located in . specifically for timber production. It was of work by company staff, consultants, HVP has agreed to meet measurable standards of revegetation that The area includes four areas of key native vegetation and plantation (the Cores) sold by AP to HVP Plantations in 2001 and local government, community groups and will be assessed by the Government. joined by corridors of land (the Links), which are also a mixture of plantation and was not part of the 1998 VPC transaction. the State Government and offers both long-term protection of the Cores and native vegetation. Taken together, the Cores and Links area provides a contiguous The plantations in the Strzelecki Ranges The standard of revegetation for each To meet the standard, HVP collect Links as well as meeting the needs of vegetated land area stretching from Tarra-Bulga National Park in the east to provide fibre for many industries in site is determined by the Ecological seed from native forest within the Australian Paper. Gunyah-Gunyah Rainforest Reserve in the west. the local Gippsland region, including Vegetation Class (EVC) endemic to Strzelecki Ranges. Natural regeneration Australian Paper’s Maryvale mill which the site. The EVC is specified by the of understorey species has been provides over 1,000 jobs in the Latrobe Rainforest protection Department of Sustainability and very successful. HVP supplement Valley. The Maryvale mill is ’s Environment, and indicates which regeneration by planting the required largest paper making complex and is The Cores and Links contains areas native plant species were likely to over-storey species. Since signing the an industry leader in environmentally of Cool (CTR). be present on the site prior to agreement, HVP have returned on “HVP has a long-term contractual sustainable manufacturing. HVP does not harvest rainforest and in previous land clearing and settlement. average, about 100 ha of plantation The regeneration standard specifies to native forest each year. obligation to supply plantation Equally, these plantations, together with addition leaves a buffer of vegetation the type and minimum number of trees the adjacent native vegetation, provide for CTR protection. Much of the eucalypt fibre to Australian and shrubs required to be present at biodiversity to the region. They include rainforest has regenerated following Paper’s Maryvale mill in the the two year assessment. small patches of rainforest and large areas past disturbances and fire regimes where ” of native vegetation that provide habitat little or no buffers were in place for its for native flora and fauna, such as the koala. protection. To further enhance CTR, HVP has devoted significant time and For the past decade, HVP Plantations has effort to determine appropriate buffer RAINFOREST PROTECTED EUCALYPT PLANTATION been committed to finding a solution which widths in consultation with a range of balances these competing needs - fibre for parties. Most of the CTR is embedded ABOUT HVP the Maryvale mill and the conservation value within large areas of native vegetation, of the Strzelecki Ranges. HVP Plantations has well away from plantations. History the legal right to harvest the area as well as a “…these plantations, long term obligation to supply the Maryvale HVP Plantations manage around 245,000ha of land across , The Strzelecki Ranges were known Mill. However, the company has voluntarily supplying softwood and hardwood plantation timber to Australian as the “Heartbreak Hills” 50 years ago. together with the adjacent worked for many years with conservation and overseas manufactures. HVP does not harvest native forest. Excessive clearing for agriculture in native vegetation, provide groups, and more recently the Victorian the late 1800’s and early 1900’s was biodiversity to the region” Government, to find a solution to balance the beginning of a period characterised these needs. HVP is dedicated to providing a HVP Plantations was the first company by small family farming enterprises. safe workplace for its employees to be certified by two separate Due to the difficult terrain, isolation, An extensive library of old and is committed to respecting accreditation standards (FSC and AFS). climate, weeds and the invasion of aerial photographs captures the the environment. Our forest practices are independently rabbits, the land was largely abandoned transformation of the barren slopes audited to ensure that high quality by the middle of the 20th century. HVP work with a wide variety to a commercial forest crop. These forest practices are achieved. of community members. Sound In the early 1930’s a major replanting photographs define the plantation stewardship of our land is a cornerstone program was undertaken by the boundaries and often depict the of our business. Stewardship is an Victorian Government and APM Forest road network as well as mountain integral part of the role of all field staff. (now Australian Paper) in the eastern communities of the past. Strzelecki Ranges. However, the main In 1993 the Victorian Government replanting program didn’t commence established the Victorian Plantation until the 1950’s and continued through Corporation (VPC) and vested a large EARLY LAND CLEARING IN THE STREZELECKI RANGES PINE REPLACEMENT CUSTODIAL FORESTS PROTECTED to the 1980’s. By 1986 approximately 400 tract of publicly owned plantation, “…we are proud to have been a part of a properties had been purchased by the together with adjacent native process which has added over 20,000 ha Victorian Government totalling 28,000 vegetation, into the VPC’s control. of protected area in the Strzelecki Ranges…” hectares. This is one of the earliest These assets were subsequently sold

HVP CORES AND LINKS HVP CORES examples of the use of commercial to Hancock Victorian Plantations in permanent forestry to re-vegetate landscapes. 1998 (known as HVP Plantations today). restoration reserve reforestation LAND PRESERVATION STATUS POST CORES AND LINKS AGREEMENT Cores and Links THE AGREEMENT

HOW TO CONTACT US Summary of the Agreement Melbourne 3rd Floor, 517 Flinders Lane WHAT HAS BEEN AGREED Melbourne, Vic. 3000 T +61 3 9289 1400 8,000 ha (Cores and Links) returned to public ownership

A further 15,000 ha plus of native forest in the Strzelecki Range permanently protected Gippsland 50 Northways Rd, PO Box 385, Within the Cores and Links, HVP retains the rights to a once-off harvest of 1,500 ha  Churchill, Vic. 3842 of plantations over 20 years T +61 3 5122 0600

Regeneration of indigenous eucalypts following the harvest of 1,500 ha of plantations within the Cores and Links

Protection of the rainforest

Cost to Government $5.5 million

HVP retains the rights to future carbon and bio diversity credits generated by the protection of native forest

THIS LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT AND HVP PLANTATIONS DELIVERS MUCH GREATER PROTECTION FOR NATIVE FOREST THAN THE NON-BINDING HEADS OF AGREEMENT SIGNED BY STAKEHOLDERS IN OCTOBER 2006. “An agreement to protect the area known as the “Cores and Links” has resulted in an important and historic outcome for The Cores and Links area comprises an In addition to the return of the land area of 8,000ha which has returned to to public ownership, HVP Plantations the environment and industry. Over 23,000 hectares of native public ownership under the terms of has agreed to permanently protect vegetation will be permanently protected in the Strzelecki  the Agreement between the Victorian a further 15,000 hectares of native Ranges, most is protected immediately. This brochure provides Government and HVP Plantations. forest within the Strzelecki Ranges. HVP Plantations had the legal right to details and a map of the area.” Included in the area is 2,200 hectares harvest this native forest but gives up of plantation of which 700 hectares this right under the terms of the Cores will be permanently protected and Links Agreement. This, together EUCALYPT PLANTINGS from harvesting. The balance of the with the 8,000 hectares comprising the plantation will be harvested by HVP Cores and Links, results in over 20,000 Plantations under licence from the hectares of land in the Strzelecki Victorian Government. Once harvested Ranges being permanently protected the area will be returned to native as a result of this historic agreement vegetation for perpetuity. Due to the between the Victorian Government age distribution of these plantations, and HVP Plantations. the process will take 20 years.

PEFC/21-23-14 AFS/01-21-13541 long-term

www.hvp.com.au conservation