What are the major forest types?

The term ‘forest type’ describes the dominant tree type present (e.g. genus Eucalyptus) in an area, which itself is determined by a variety of factors, such as soil properties, climate and fire regimes.

Eucalypts dominate Australian forests (79%), while other forest types dominated by acacia (wattles), melaleuca (tea tree), casuarinas (she-oaks), callitris (cypress pine), mangrove and rainforest make up the other 21%.

Forest types and their dominant species have evolved to cope with their specific environments; for example, acacias are legumes with root bacteria that enable them to colonise nutrient poor soils, and salt tolerant species such as white mangrove (Avicennia)  are able to survive and grow in highly saline estuarine conditions.

Plantations are intensively managed stands of trees that have been artificially planted with native or exotic species, laid out in rows. Plantation species are described as either hardwood (mostly eucalypts) or softwood (e.g. pines). There are currently roughly 1 million hectares of each type in Australia, supplying just over two-thirds of the logs harvested for wood products each year from just over 1% of the total forest estate.

Although plantations are primarily managed for wood production, they play an important role in carbon capture and storage, biodiversity, salinity mitigation, and water catchment protection, and so are managed with these issues in mind. 

Over the last 10 years, plantation areas have increased across Australia, with most new plantations established on farms on previously cleared pasture-land. Most of our earliest plantations were established on public land sites cleared of native forest, but converting native forest to plantation is no longer practiced.