Legislation to establish Private Timber Reserves (PTRs) was approved by the Tasmanian Parliament in 1985 to enable landowners to have their land dedicated for long-term forest management.
The legislation provides that forestry activities on the land are subject to a single, consistent, state-wide system of planning and regulation through the Forest Practices Act 1985, rather than to variable systems that may be applied under different planning schemes through the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993. Details on PTR applications during 2007 – 08 are summarised below.
| Period | 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 |
Progressive Total to: 30 June 2008 * |
| Applications advertised | 78 | 1,941 |
| Applications approved by Forest Practices Authority | 70 | 1,864 |
| Private Timber Reserves revoked | 9 | 142 |
| Total Area Gazetted (hectares) | 12,709 | 441,734 |
Progressive total contains adjustments to figures in previous periods.
The area gazetted during 2007 – 2008 (12,709 hectares) is an increase of 3,448 hectares compared with 9,261 hectares gazetted in 2006-2007.
The average processing time of 63 days from receipt of an application until forwarding to the Forest Practices Authority is similar to the average processing period for the previous year.
| Year | Applications Received | Average Processing
Time (Days) |
| 2007 - 2008 |
78 |
66 |
|
2006 - 2007 |
64 | 63 |
| 2005 – 2006 | 70 | 61 |
| 2004 – 2005 | 157 | 65 |
| 2003 – 2004 | 25 | 72 |
| 2002 – 2003 | 65 | 92 |
| 2001 – 2002 | 117 | 81 |
N.B. The average processing time is net of one application where the applicant requested a cessation of the consideration of the application.
