Environment &
Conservation
HVP’s commitment to environmental responsibility is underpinned by the company’s stewardship policy and forest management system.
Around 70 per cent of HVP’s total landholdings are sustainably-managed plantations. The company maintains the remaining 30 per cent of its holdings for plantation protection, conservation and other community values. As a matter of policy and practice HVP does not harvest native forest.
HVP is committed to adhere to both the Forest Stewardship Council’s® (FSC®, FSC-C014387) certification standards and the Responsible Wood forest certification making it the first forest company in Australia to have achieved dual certification. Responsible Wood is endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). These systems’ underlying ethos of accountability and continual improvement aligns with our company values of innovation; we will do things better tomorrow than we did today and being responsible and accountable; we take ownership of our decisions.
Environment
At the same time as HVP set our own high standard, our operations are monitored by local councils who are the regulator for Victoria’s Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014. We also interact regularly with catchment management authorities, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and state and federal government departments.
The company is also subject to regular audits to maintain our Responsible Wood and FSC® certifications. This involves independent, third party assessment of HVP’s practices, environmental management and continuous improvement program against internationally recognised standards.
Conservation
Around 70 per cent of HVP’s total landholdings are sustainably-managed plantations. As a matter of policy and practice HVP does not harvest native forest. The company maintains the remaining 30 per cent of our holdings for conservation and other community values.
HVP also conducted a series of fauna surveys at locations across the estate to add further to our knowledge and understanding of biodiversity on company land.
The fauna surveys are linked to native vegetation mapping which HVP has undertaken across our entire estate. This mapping identifies Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs), dominant species, age structure and disturbance history.
Data gathered from the mapping helps to ensure that the we have the most complete knowledge of, and best protection plans for native vegetation. In the Strzelecki Ranges, HVP has set aside almost half of the estate for conservation.
Cores & Links
An agreement to protect the area known as the “Cores and Links” has resulted in an important and historic outcome for the environment and industry. Over 23,000 hectares of native vegetation will be permanently protected in the Strzelecki Ranges.
The Cores and Links comprise approximately 8,000 hectares of both Eucalyptus regnans (Mountain Ash) plantation and native forest in the eastern Strzelecki Ranges located in Gippsland.
The area includes four areas of key native vegetation and plantation (the Cores) joined by corridors of land (the Links), which are also a mixture of plantation and native vegetation. Taken together, the Cores and Links area provides a contiguous vegetated land area stretching from Tarra-Bulga National Park in the east to Gunyah-Gunyah Rainforest Reserve in the west.
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