ForestrySA, formerly the South Australian Forestry Corporation, is a business enterprise owned by the Government of South Australia that is responsible for management of publicly owned plantation forests in South Australia including the commercial production of timber and the management of forests for non-commercial purposes such as community use and as protected areas.
The South Australian Forestry Corporation was established on 1 January 2001 under the South Australian Forestry Corporation Act 2000 from the assets remaining from former government entities such as the former Department of Woods and Forests.
The plantations are reported in 2014 as covering an area greater than 95,000 hectares (230,000 acres) and as being planted principally with softwood timber.
[6] The Green Triangle region operation will be reduced from 17 October 2017 when responsibility for plantation management is transferred to OneFortyOne Plantations Pty Ltd.[10] ForestrySA is required by its charter to manage the following non-commercial activities:[11] As of 2014, ForestrySA was responsible for a total of thirteen forests in its three regions.
The Green Triangle Region consists of the following six forests located in the south east of South Australia within the region known as the Limestone Coast and covering an area from about 280 kilometres (170 miles) to about 390 kilometres (240 miles) to the south-east of the Adelaide central business district:[7] The Mount Lofty Ranges Forest Reserves consists of the three following forests located in the Mount Lofty Ranges and covering an approximate area of 19,500 hectares (48,000 acres)[8] The Northern Forests Region (also called the Mid North Region) consists of the four following forests:[9][12] Forestry SA as the statutory corporation established in 2001 by the South Australian Forestry Corporation Act 2000 operates as “a business enterprise with the principal responsibility of managing plantation forests for the benefit of the people and economy of the State.”[13] The operation is overseen by a board which is responsible to the South Australian Minister of Forests as per the “Act” and to both the minister and to the South Australian Treasurer as per a charter enacted in 2014 following the sale of three crops of timber (known as “three forward rotations”) from plantations in the Green Triangle region to OneFortyOne Plantations Pty Ltd in 2012.