Farm Forestry

Learn how sustainable management of your private native forests can benefit you. Improve the biodiversity, productivity, health and profitability of your farm.

a pathway through a sunlit forest of skinny native trees

Apply for a PNF Plan 

You need an approved Private Native Forestry Plan from Local Land Services to harvest timber on your land. 

Learn about Forest Management Plans

Find out how to apply for a Forest Management plan before you begin a forestry operation.

Forest management resources and guides

Guides and best-practice advice from Local Land Services to help landowners to manage their forest. 

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Private Native Forestry as part of a sustainable and diverse farm enterprise

Sharon Bettler is dedicated to managing her forest sustainably and ensuring the long-term future of the land. To achieve this, she has a Private Native Forestry Plan and...

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Video transcript

Private Native Forestry as part of a sustainable and diverse farm enterprise

My name’s Sharon Bettler and we’re here out at Bucca.
We’re about 18 minutes north of Coffs Harbour.
I unexpectedly inherited this property back in 2005.
My partner and I decided in the move from Brisbane to come back down to Coffs
because this is where we wanted to raise our family.
So, I now have 230 acres.
So the Forest Stewardship through the Local Land Services
is a pilot program that they’re running at the moment to help land owners like myself,
to educate us and to assist us in further improving the health our forests.
For the standing timber, infrastructure,
pest and weed management.
The opportunities that this grant is going to
create is for long-term future
is having a healthy, sustainable forest
'cause at the moment where we do have a lot of invasive weeds like the camphors,
there isn’t a lot of natives, it’s very dense in some areas
so you're not having the natives come up, so it's just barren.
This is now my full-time job and I've had to learn along the way
'cause there is a lot of overheads to running a property.
Unfortunately the previous owner, it got away on him
so we had a lot of problem with every sort of noxious weed
that you can imagine and it was very overgrown.
We had a 12-foot-high groundsel bush forest
and that covered a lot of these open paddocks here.
Camphor laurels were introduced
to Australia as a shade tree but like any introduced species,
they have just gotten into our waterways
and they've just taken over.
All the camphors are coming up and they grow very prolifically as well,
so what that does to our native forest,
our natural bush, we're losing our natural bush.
The Local Land Service,
they offer a lot of advice and resources,
so what we will be doing, is we will be getting contractors in
and a professional consultant to come in
and help us to start thinning the bush,
getting rid of all the timber that isn't viable.
What we'll also do is fire breaks, doing a bit of infrastructure
which means putting a new road through as well.
What we wanna do is to try and produce
a forest that can be harvested sustainably
and before the 2019 bushfires, I did very big hazard reduction burn.
I burnt off 100 acres. There was a lot of logging that had happened
on the property probably for about the last 50 years so there was a lot of fuel on the ground
and I still have another 100 acres to go, but you're continually chipping away at it.
We’re always looking at ways to improve the properties.
Ideally you’d like to make an income off your farm as well
because, you know, we want this to be a legacy for our children
so if they choose to, they have the opportunity.
Back in 2014,
the property was host to the off-road World Rally and
I had somebody approach me
and wanted to know whether I was interested in
if they could come and camp on the property.
So that's how the camping evolved.
That was the birth of Coffs Harbour Camping and Four-Wheel Drive
and now we’re actually one of the biggest Hipcamps in Australia over the busy period.
So we have 30 acres here, if not more, of campground
with lots of different sites and we generate
most of the income now through agritourism.
I'm very passionate about this land. You only have to look at my hands
to see how hard I’ve been working on the land.
I get a lot of satisfaction knowing what this property, how it was,
because it was very overgrown. Probably more so
people that come to the property can see how it’s changed over the years
but when people come back and they say ‘wow you’ve done this’
and they can see the effect — yeah, I love it.

What is Farm Forestry?

Farm Forestry supports the long-term productivity of native forests on private property. Good Farm Forestry follows principles of ecologically sustainable forest management. 

This includes ongoing, long-term silvicultural practices to manage your forest for a range of values such as:

  • timber production
  • sustainable harvesting
  • biodiversity conservation
  • pest and weed management
  • fire management
  • Aboriginal cultural values.

Sustainable management of private native forests makes a positive contribution to the overall health, productivity and profitability of farm enterprises and rural and regional communities. 

Get started

LLS farm forestry staff inspecting forest area

Do you need a PNF Plan?

You need an approved PNF Plan from Local Land Services to harvest timber from native forests on your land. Learn more about PNF Plans and how to apply for one.

an upward facing shot of the sky and canopy of a native forest from the ground

Considering a forestry operation?

Find out how to get started and the steps to take before planning a forestry operation.

Principles of sustainable forest management

Sustainability ensures future generations have the same opportunities to meet their needs as our present generation.

The ecologically sustainable management of NSW’s native forests for timber, biodiversity, culture, climate change and ecosystem services is key to ensuring future generations remain productive and sustainable.

Economic sustainability

Secures the productivity of NSW’s farm forests in the long term. 

Ecological sustainability

Ensures the effective management of biodiversity, climate change and ecosystem services such as clean water and healthy soils. 

Cultural sustainability

Encompasses the collective knowledge and practice that we attribute to multiple-use forests and the thousands of years of active forest management and stewardship by Aboriginal peoples. 

Social sustainability

Means that farmers continue to have access to the economic and environmental benefits we all derive from multiple-use forests

Legislation and compliance

You need an approved Private Native Forestry Plan to harvest timber from native forests on your land.

Local Land Services is responsible for Farm Forestry advice and PNF Plan approvals under Part 5B, Private Native Forestry, Local Land Services Act 2013

The NSW Environment Protection Authority is responsible for compliance and enforcement under the Private Native Forestry Codes of Practice. 

The NSW Forest Management Framework establishes a comprehensive system for delivering ecologically sustainable forest management in NSW. 

Local Land Services Farm Forestry Officers are in Coffs Harbour, Deniliquin, Dubbo, Forbes, Grafton, Moruya, Port Macquarie, Singleton, Wollongbar and Yass.

For all enquiries, please call us on 1300 795 299 or email pnf.info@lls.nsw.gov.au

Contact Local Land Services NSW

Our team welcome your enquiries, feedback and comments. 

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Phone:1300 795 299
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