Private Native Forestry Monitoring Program

Private native forestry (PNF) means managing native forests on private land in a sustainable way to produce timber. Private native forests are the largest component of NSW’s native forest estate. They make up 37% of all native forests. PNF is a key resource for the NSW forestry industry and a practical land management option for landholders.

PNF codes of practice outline the rules for PNF.

Natural Resources Commission oversees the monitoring program with the NSW Forest Monitoring Steering Committee.
Local Land Services (LLS) funds implementation of the PNF Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) Framework as part of a larger $28 million farm forestry package. LLS is responsible for approving PNF Plans.
Landholders must have a PNF Plan before they are allowed to undertake private native forestry. The public register shows the number and area of PNF Plan approvals and Forest Management Plan approvals.
Environment Protection Authority (EPA) monitors compliance with approved plans and the relevant PNF code(s).

Monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework

The PNF codes task the NSW Forest Monitoring Steering Committee, independently chaired by the Commission, to:

propose and oversee a monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework
check the evidence base annually
identify new monitoring and research opportunities to improve the settings
assess data every five years to decide if a code review is needed
oversee updates to the PNF koala prescription map.

Local Land Services is responsible for preparing the implementation plan and reporting monitoring results to the Commission.

Key publications

PNF Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) Framework
See Projects and findings below for work on threatened species, koala prescription mapping and remote sensing.

Reporting and adaptive management

Each year, we check the PNF evidence base to keep it current. This supports adaptive management of the PNF MER Framework. See the following Reporting page for our annual check process and annual progress reports. Every five years, we will report to the NSW Government about whether there is enough evidence to review the PNF codes.

See Reporting of PNF Monitoring Program