Annexure A Assessment of High Conservation Values within VicForests’ eastern Forest Management Unit 16 August 2019 Preface VicForests presents this assessment of High Conservation Values (HCVs) within its Forest Management Unit (FMU) in eastern Victoria, based on a review of the presence and extent of HCVs identified at the FMU level, using the current FSC® National Forest Stewardship Standard for Australia, in mid-2019. The purpose of this assessment is two-fold: 1. To inform stakeholders of VicForests’ assessment of HCVs within its eastern FMU; and 2. To inform VicForests’ planning functions and guide more detailed assessments at the operational level, to confirm the presence and extent of HCVs and determine appropriate prescriptions to ensure these HCVs are retained and protected. It is important to highlight that this assessment is subject to ongoing changes and updates. Valid changes and updates to this HCV assessment may be required to incorporate: • New data on conservation values, e.g. classifications and detections for threatened species, new mapping for forest types and forest structures derived from ongoing Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) based assessments, or changes to land tenure or land use allocations; • Further changes in the applicable FSC® standards and interpretations for assessing HCVs – noting that in July 2019, FSC® Australia released an updated version of its HCV Evaluation Framework; for use in the context of conforming to Controlled Wood standards (Version 1-0, June 2019); • Further changes in the regulatory framework, e.g. the anticipated review of the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 within the next 12 months; and • Further inputs from stakeholders on HCV assessments and VicForests’ management systems – recognising the FSC® national standard and HCV evaluation framework require consultation with relevant stakeholders where applicable on the presence and threats to HCVs with respect to the evaluated supply areas. VicForests also notes the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) modernisation process in Victoria incorporates an ongoing Forest Values Assessment that is seeking to capture and incorporate the latest robust science, to ensure Victoria’s forests are resilient and current management practices are adaptive to a changing climate. As part of this assessment, the Victorian Government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is undertaking: • a landscape scale survey program for: threatened species; updated habitat distribution models; and conducting population viability analysis; • an update of mapping of old growth forests and rainforests; including a major new acquisition of LiDAR data for East Gippsland and areas of the Central Highlands not captured in 2015; • updated assessments of a range of other ecosystem service, economic, social and community forest values. Delivery of the DELWP research program is underway and will continue through 2020. Therefore, this HCV assessment should be viewed as guidance to the identification of HCVs at the FMU level; which will be complemented by more detailed assessments at the local landscape level and coupe level, and additional information as it becomes available over time. 1 Annexure A Table of Contents Preface ....................................................................................................................................... 1 VicForests’ Forest Management Unit .......................................................................................... 3 FMU level assessment of High Conservation Values ................................................................. 4 1 HCV 1 Species diversity ...................................................................................................... 6 1.1 HCV 1 values ............................................................................................................... 6 1.2 HCV 1 definitions ......................................................................................................... 6 1.3 VicForests’ HCV 1 assessment .................................................................................... 6 1.4 VicForests’ HCV 1 management controls ................................................................... 15 2 HCV 2 Landscape level ecosystems and mosaics............................................................. 18 2.1 HCV 2 definitions ....................................................................................................... 18 2.2 VicForests’ HCV 2 assessment .................................................................................. 19 2.3 VicForests’ HCV 2 management controls ................................................................... 23 3 HCV 3 Ecosystems and habitats ....................................................................................... 25 3.1 HCV 3 definitions ....................................................................................................... 25 3.2 VicForests’ HCV 3 assessment .................................................................................. 26 3.3 VicForests’ HCV 3 management controls ................................................................... 33 4 HCV 4 Critical ecosystem services .................................................................................... 36 4.1 HCV 4 definitions ....................................................................................................... 36 4.2 VicForests’ HCV 4 assessment .................................................................................. 36 4.3 VicForests’ HCV 4 management controls ................................................................... 43 5 HCV 5 Community needs .................................................................................................. 46 5.1 HCV 5 definitions ....................................................................................................... 46 5.2 VicForests’ HCV 5 assessment .................................................................................. 46 5.3 VicForests’ HCV 5 management controls ................................................................... 47 6 HCV 6 Cultural values ....................................................................................................... 48 6.1 HCV 6 definitions ....................................................................................................... 48 6.2 VicForests’ HCV 6 assessment .................................................................................. 49 6.3 VicForests’ HCV 6 management controls ................................................................... 56 Appendix 1 – Threatened flora and fauna species within VicForests’ eastern FMU .................. 59 Appendix 2 - HCV management plans ...................................................................................... 69 Example of proposed management plan - Threatened species ............................................. 69 Example of proposed management plan - Special Management Area .................................. 71 2 Annexure A VicForests’ Forest Management Unit The Forest Management Unit (FMU) to conform to FSC® Controlled Wood standard encompasses the Allocation Area made available to VicForests under the Allocation Order 2013, as amended in 20141 and in 20192, as well as other forest management zones that permit timber harvesting. Outside of the Allocation Area VicForests may operate in accordance with a duly authorised forest produce licence issued under section 52 of the Forests Act 1958 by the responsible minister or delegate. VicForests is seeking conformance to FSC® Controlled Wood standard for its operations in eastern Victoria, and the broad extent of its FMU east of the Hume Highway encompasses around 1.82 million hectares (ha) of State forest; with key timber species groupings comprising Ash species, High elevation mixed species, Low elevation mixed species and Coastal mixed species. The timber resources vested to VicForests in the Allocation Area (working forest area), for the purpose of sustainable harvest, regrowing, tending and commercial sale of timber on behalf of the Victorian Government, comprises approximately 228,000 ha of Ash forest and 1,587,000 ha of Mixed Species forest. This area excludes protected areas including national parks and conservation reserves, and Special Protection Zones (SPZs), as defined by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) in the Forest Management Zoning (FMZ) scheme (Plate 1). Plate 1: VicForests’ FMU in eastern Victoria Source: VicForests 1 Victoria Government Gazette (2014) Allocation (Amendment) Order 2014. No. S 405 Thursday 30 October 2014. 2 Agriculture Victoria (2019) Timber Allocation Order. Accessed online 1/6/19: http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/forestry/timber-allocation-order 3 Annexure A FMU level assessment of High Conservation Values VicForests has assessed the extent of High Conservation Values (HCVs) at the FMU level, for its eastern FMU, through a desktop assessment. The results of this assessment are presented below. This assessment of values at the FMU level will be complemented by field verification and local stakeholder feedback as part of systematic coupe planning processes that include pre-harvest surveys and targeted species surveys. This assessment utilised the FSC® National Forest Stewardship Standard of Australia (FSC®- STD-AUS-01-2018 EN)3 and the data types listed in FSC® Australia’s Data Directory of Information Sources4. These