Forests do a lot of environmentally friendly things.

They absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon, and help protect soil from erosion. They help clean our drinking water by filtering water before it enters creeks, streams and underground water supplies. They are the home (habitat) for many plants, animals and other living things. They also provide us with a natural and renewable material - wood - that we use in our everyday lives.

Wood is renewable, recyclable and biodegradable. It is a product of solar energy (energy from the sun). It is also one of the most energy efficient materials we use.

National Parks (preserved forests)

Because of increasing interest in and concern about the environment, in recent years society has demanded that large areas of forest be set aside so that trees, plants and animals can be allowed to live and grow without human disturbance. These areas are national parks and conservation reserves (preserved forests).

We try to find a balance between preserved forests and working native forests (State forests). Our working forests are looked after by specially trained State foresters. Our preserved forests are looked after by national park rangers.

National Parks include most of our oldest forests. Areas which contain lots of older trees are known as 'old growth' forests. Old growth forest consists of old trees growing in an area where there has been no logging, road building or land clearing. The oldest trees in an old growth forest can be more than two hundred years old. Many of the trees will have numerous hollows in them, which animals use to build their nests. The canopy (the top leaves and branches of the trees) will take up about 30 per cent of the forest area.

Old growth forest trees can't live forever. Eventually they will die, and be replaced by new young trees.

(Harvesting our Forests)

(Greenhouse Effect)