The signed RFAs boost the process of continuous improvement in forest use and management in Australia.
They have identified better ways of managing forests.
The Comprehensive Regional Assessment process added considerably to knowledge of forest uses and values.
The 20-year agreements try to balance the full range of environmental, social, economic and heritage values that forests can provide for current and future generations.
The fight to reserve old-growth forest from logging gained widespread publicity in Western Australia as a result of Regional Forest Agreement signed with the federal government.
A comprehensive is adequate and representative system of nature reserves was an essential component of the Regional Forest Agreement .
The Regional Forest Agreements are 20 year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australia's native forests, and are intended to provide certainty to commercial forestry operations while protecting environmental values.[1] The 10 RFA's were progressively signed between 1997 and 2001. The RFA process grew out of the 1992 National Forest Policy Statement.
The Agreements relies on a mix of community and industry consultation combined with scientific research. While the Agreements are supported by forestry industry, they are widely criticized by environmentalist groups.
Whether or not Forest managers are able to return logged forest to its original state ,undisturbed forest remain the benchmark by environment values are measured and rallying point for conservationists.
Logging contractor name’s Greg Smeathers remembered having partly harvested an old-growth coupe when the directive came through he said “We were in there with all our gear and we had to pull out ”
The stories of Old-growth logging in Southwestern Australia illustrates how quickly forest management can be change if there is a strong support for doing so.