Every forest has some environmental and social value. The values it contains may include rare species, recreational sites or resources harvested by local residents. Where these values are considered to be of outstanding significance or critical importance, the forest can be defined as a High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF). The Proforest HCVF Toolkit was used as a guide to determine high conservation values.

Values which are of outstanding significance and critical importance will already have been recognised in some way in Victoria due to the extensive assessment and reporting over the last 30 years of the State Government’s Land Conservation Council (LCC) now operating as the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC).

The role of the Council is to conduct investigations that are requested by the Victorian Government relating to the protection and ecologically sustainable management of the environment and natural resources of public land. As a result of their extensive investigations HCVF’s such as areas of global regional or national significance and other values considered of outstanding significance or critical importance, have been placed in reserves.

HVP estate is mostly land under a perpetual licence from the State Government. This licence was issued after all of the state had been assessed for its conservation values, in some cases for a second time.

See the High Conservation Value Forests document below for more information.