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Tasmanian forests: some facts
- Native forest covers about 3.2 million hectares of Tasmania - about half its total land area.
- Tasmania has 234 reserves under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 14 National Parks and 78 Crown reserves.
- Forests cover nearly a third of the 1.38 million hectares of Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage areas.
- About 400,000 people visit Tasmanian forests each year. Visitor numbers are growing by up to 10 per cent each year and are expected to double over the next 20 years.
- Nearly two-thirds of the 1200 Tasmanians surveyed during the RFA process had visited native forests in the past 12 months.
- About 30 per cent of Tasmania's total forested area is available for wood production.
- In 1994-95 the hardwood based industries directly contributed almost 8 per cent of Tasmania's Gross State Product.
- The forest industry directly employs 6580 people - about 3 per cent of the Tasmanian workforce.
- Tasmania exported $232m worth of forest products in 1995-96 - about 27 per cent of Australia's total earnings from forest product exports. Some $180 million of this came from woodchips.
- Tasmania's exports in printing and writing papers represent more than half of the nation's total export earnings in this category.
Last reviewed: 19 Jan 2007
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