The on-going disputes over logging native forests and ever-increasing restrictions on logging have generated a high level of uncertainty over the future of logging native forest. All of the owners interviewed felt that the main problem facing the industry was lack of security due to the environmental movement.
I guess the whole aspect of logging contracting, in particular now, is the insecurity of it. The large outlay that you have to make, to be able to compete and then the absolute insecurity of your position when you sign yourself up for all these repayments, and you 're not sure whether you
have the work to carry through. That's probably the hardest part of it, the total insecurity. The industry suffers for not having a resource security base, you don't know how many tonnes or metres to be shifted annually. That's probably the hardest part of it (Firm 30:Male).
Insecurity! You've got the environmentalists on your back all the time. You don't know where you 're going from one day to the next. You don't know whether you've got a job or bloody what the taker is (Firm
2:Male).
Owners of logging firms, whose families may have been involved in logging for up to three generations, are now questioning the long-term future of their livelihood.
/ think it's a short-term future the way the greenies are these days. I don't think it's... unless the legislation changes I can't see it as a long- term proposition (Firm 4:Male).
The reason they question the long-term viability of their businesses is the continual opposition to logging native hardwood forests and the reduction of timber resources available for logging activities.
We are going to run out of resources, they 're just closing up too much timber on us. I can't see more than, what, about eight to ten years. It's just going, there's plenty here, but they [environmentalists] just won't
let us have it, Jacquie. All they want to do is just close it up. There's no future in it any more (Firm 5.Male).
A major impact of the increased restrictions placed on logging operations, as a result of changes to legislation, is a reduction in the net yield of timber obtained from many forest areas. An accurate estimate of the reduction in the region is unknown at present. However, some indicative estimates are available. In the Casino District, for example, they have estimated that future net forest yield will be reduced by 23 per cent due to impacts of legislative changes and forest practices (Meade, G. 1995,
pers comm., 20 Apr.). Regardless of amount, there is widespread agreement that restrictions on logging have reduced the amount of timber available for logging. Many contractors claim they are already feeling the impact of reduced timber supply. It has reduced the flexibility of the Forestry Commission to move contractors around depending on weather and the mill's timber demands.
We 've have lost about 40,000 cube a year during the last ten years, as a total resource. Our resource base has dropped dramatically in the last two years because of the, especially since the Endangered Species Legislation has come in its restricted the Forestry with flexibility, to be able to work in different areas so they can move you around, in your different species of timber. For instance if you are logging spotted gum and sometimes they might need moist hardwoods, like blackbutt or
tallowwood, they now have lost their flexibility which is making it very hard on us and the mills alike (Firm 30:Male).
Others feel that there has been an increase in competition between contractors as many are moved from old-growth or environmentally sensitive areas to regrowth areas.
So, they [environmentalists] affect you because they are putting a major pressure on the industry, which is something that is very obvious to
everybody. And the one thing they have is the restrictions placing on old-growth, they are pushing a lot more people into the wood that I want, the re-cut, regrowth. A lot more competition. Quota crews [logging crews who log for a mill which has a yearly quota of sawlogs and in this area normally log old-growth] can't work in the first cut, they are forced into the re-cut, and that's where I make my bread and butter out of. So I'm being forced into WORSE blocks of regrowth (Firm I.Male).
The most common complaint from the contractors interviewed was that restrictions on logging have forced them to log more difficult sites, those with steep slopes, rough terrain, and lower density and quality of timber. This has increased the cost of production. For example, the estimated cost of an integrated sawlog
operation increased by 29 per cent from an average site which was defined as one with good ground conditions, high tree density and good quality timber ($19.65 m^), to a difficult site, one with a high incidence of rock, highly erodible soils, lower tree density and poorer quality of timber ($25.41 m^) (NSW Logging Association
with slope. Since contract rates paid by mills to contractors are usually averaged over a certain time period rather than by forest area (Chapter 6), owners of logging firms are experiencing decreasing profitability as the costs of production and
compliance with environmental controls rise.