ALCOA — JARRAH
FOREST REHABILITATION
138. Hon DIANE EVERS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to jarrah forests
rehabilitated by Alcoa after bauxite extraction, and the stipulation in Alcoa's
bauxite mine rehabilitation program 2016 that the state does not inherit
liability requiring input of extraordinary resources.
(1) Over the last 10 years, how much rehabilitated
forest has been returned to the state government to manage?
(2) Will the minister please table
any maps showing this area?
(3) Given that
the rehabilitated juvenile jarrah forests returned to the government have high
stem densities and therefore require thinning for their ecological health —
(a) does Alcoa perform thinning at
any time, either prior to or after return to the state;
(b) does the state undertake thinning
after resuming management of the forest;
(c) if yes to (b), what is the cost
of this; and
(d) if no to (b), why not?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) No rehabilitated
state forest has been returned to the state over the last 10 years.
(3) (a) Alcoa is
required to meet agreed rehabilitation completion criteria, which may include
thinning. These criteria are reviewed every five years. Alcoa, in conjunction
with the state, has undertaken thinning trials and trials planting at lower
stem densities.
(b)–(d) The
state may undertake thinning of forest after resuming management; however, as
no forest has been returned to the state in the last 10 years, it is not
possible to provide contemporary costs in relation to thinning in areas mined
for bauxite by Alcoa.