Tasmanian company Forico became the first forest manager in Australia to achieve FSC Ecosystem Services certification. The FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure enables organisations already certified to the globally recognised FSC Forest Management Standard to demonstrate the positive outcomes of their forest management activities on one or more ecosystem services.
Forico successfully demonstrated positive outcomes in the category of Biodiversity Conservation, specifically the conservation of natural forest characteristics, and conservation of species diversity.
The certification is an important third-party endorsement of Forico’s approach in protecting the biodiversity values across its managed estate. This is a key element of reporting in the company’s award-winning Natural Capital Report, of which the third will be published in early 2023.
Forico manages some 88,000 hectares of productive plantation forest alongside 77,000 hectares of natural forest vegetation, including 6,800 hectares threatened forest communities. The estate’s natural forest is managed for conservation and biodiversity, while the company’s plantation operations are managed for wood fibre production.
Through surveys conducted across the estate as a whole, Forico has determined the presence of thirty-eight threatened flora species such as the Crowded-Leek orchid, and twenty-five threatened fauna species including thriving populations of healthy Tasmanian devils, quolls and wedge-tailed eagles.
Highland Poa grassland, a listed threatened vegetation community in Tasmania, is proactively managed by the company through ecological burning, as it was by Aboriginal people. The Ptunarra Brown Butterfly, also a listed threatened species, occurs only in Tasmania and favours native tussock grassland habitat, specifically the highland Poa sites. Maintaining and enhancing the natural grassland ecosystem is a high priority for Forico to ensure the rare butterfly populations continue to thrive.
In the coming years Forico plans to incorporate additional ecosystem services elements to the certification, specifically Carbon Sequestration and Storage.
