Forest owner intent: Harvesting Tasmania’s non-industrial private forests

Tasmania’s forests are an important economic and environmental resource for all Tasmanians, providing vital employment, recreation and conservation values. The importance of the Tasmanian private forest resource to the forest industry is increasing, with 44% of harvested timber sourced from private forests in 2011-2012. The proportion of wood production from private forest highlights the importance of private forest owners for the long term management of the Tasmanian forest estate, and the viability of the Tasmanian forest industry. It is therefore important to develop a comprehensive understanding of the range of private forest owners’ forest management objectives, including their intent to harvest their forests. A better understanding of the private forest owners’ harvest intent and forest management objectives will help guide the development of forest policy and programs to assist private growers best manage Tasmanian forests to achieve a range of forest management objectives.