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The RFA region stretches across 4.25 million hectares from near Gingin in the north-west to near Denmark in the south-east, and has an estimated population of 155,000 people. The 40,000 families and 70,000 full and part-time employees who live there rely on a wide range of industries including agriculture, mining, mineral processing, manufacturing, hardwood and plantation timber milling, wood processing, recreation and tourism. These major industries contributed $8,896 million to Western Australia's Gross State Product for 1995-96. The forests also support a range of smaller businesses such as beekeeping, floriculture, biotechnology and basic raw materials such as sand, limestone and gravel.
The RFA involved a thorough social assessment of the importance of forests to local people, and how change may affect not just their personal livelihoods but the future of their towns and community services. The assessment involved widespread consultation with local government, community and business groups and individuals, with numerous surveys, workshops and personal interviews.
Case studies of eight towns in the region identified Nannup, Pemberton and Manjimup, with their long tradition of reliance on the timber industry, as needing particular attention when developing the RFA.
For the people and communities of the South-West, the RFA delivers:
- A balance between the many different and complex uses of the forests.
- Certainty for the next 20 years so that individuals can plan for the future, businesses can attract investment in long-term ventures and communities can plan to secure and develop services like health and education.
- Incentives for business to take advantage of new opportunities in value-adding and local manufacturing and financial assistance for workers in the timber industry. This will be of particular benefit to smaller towns like Nannup.
- Opportunities for expansion of local tourism industries with new reserves in areas like the Wellington Dam near Collie, forest blocks near Margaret River, Bridgetown, Walpole and Denmark, Hawke Block adjoining Warren National Park, and Dombakup and Northcliffe adjoining D'Entrecasteaux National Park.
- $17.5 million for the development of tourism attractions and facilities, including tourist and access roads.
- Certainty of access and confidence for the mining industry, through the identification of defined land tenures. In 1995-96 the industry directly employed more than 8,000 people.
- Other forest-based industries have also been taken into consideration. For example, wildflower pickers who may be affected by the creation of large reserves in native forest between Walpole and Denmark will be able to continue their picking, under strict conditions, until the reserves are established.
- Beekeepers will benefit from the reservation of an additional 45,700 hectares of old growth forest. Access to existing apiary sites will be permitted until reserves are established, and ongoing management issues will be addressed in the next Forest Management Plan.
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