Environment

At the same time as HVP set our own high standard, our operations are monitored by local shires. We also interact regularly with water catchment management authorities, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and the Victorian state government departments.

The company is also subject to regular audits to maintain its (AFS) 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 its holdings for plantation protection, 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 a significant native vegetation mapping project which HVP has undertaken across its entire estate. The project identifies Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs), dominant species, age structure and disturbance history.

Data gathered from the mapping will help to ensure that the we have the most complete knowledge of, and best protection plans for our custodial native vegetation. In the Strzelecki Ranges, HVP has set aside almost half of its land from timber production, managing this native forest 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.