The Price of an Irreplaceable Forest

Documented facts

• South-west Western Australia's rainfall declined markedly after the mid-1970s; the post-2000 average is roughly 730 mm against about 860 mm before 1975 (Bureau of Meteorology analyses, rounded).

  Documented evidence

• The jarrah forest supports species found nowhere else, including threatened black cockatoos (DBCA species records).

  Documented evidence

• Dieback caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi is a documented threat across south-west forests (DBCA).

  Documented evidence

• Bauxite rehabilitation requirements are enforced through conditions attached to state and federal approvals (EPA WA).

  Documented evidence

Timeline

1. July 16, 1999
   Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act commences.
   Documented evidence
2. January 1, 2024
   Forest Management Plan 2024–2033 takes effect for south-west public forests.
   Documented evidence
3. June 1, 2024
   Periodic environmental review of approved mining projects reports on rehabilitation performance.
   Documented evidence

Geographical context

The Northern Jarrah Forest runs along the Darling Range east of Perth. Jarrah and marri dominate a forest that also supplies much of the city's catchment water and supports species found nowhere else. Mining occurs in patches across a large estate, moving through the forest over years. Because the patches are dispersed, the cumulative effect is a landscape of clearings and rehabilitation rather than a single scar.

Scientific context

Rehabilitation reconstructs a forest, not necessarily the same forest. Soil structure, seed banks and the fungal and invertebrate communities that drive regeneration are disturbed by clearing and cannot simply be replaced by planting. South-west Western Australia's rainfall has also stepped down since the mid-1970s, with the post-2000 average roughly 130 mm lower than the pre-1975 average. In a drying climate, the completion criteria written for rehabilitation become harder to meet, and streamflow into Perth's dams declines further.

Applicable environmental law

• · Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 — federal assessment of matters of national environmental significance
• · Environmental Protection Act, 1986 (WA) — state assessment and approval with conditions
• · Forest Management Plan 2024–2033 (WA) — conservation and use of south-west public forests
• · Mining rehabilitation conditions — completion criteria attached to project approvals

Community response

Residents of the hills towns and Perth water users have pressed for stronger rehabilitation standards and for scrutiny of cumulative clearing. Environmental groups have focused on dieback and on connectivity for threatened cockatoos. Traditional Owners assert cultural obligations to country that predate the mining tenure and argue that consultation does not amount to shared authority over outcomes.

Institutional response

The state environmental authority assesses proposals and sets conditions; the federal government assesses matters of national significance; the biodiversity department manages public forest and monitoring. The institutional gap is cumulative impact: approvals are assessed project by project, while the forest dries and fragments as a whole.

Current documented status

Mining and progressive rehabilitation continue under existing approvals. Completion criteria and the adequacy of offsets remain contested, and the drying trend continues to outpace assumptions built into older rehabilitation targets.