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Regional Forest Agreement
Victoria
Victoria has five RFAs, covering more than 13 million hectares of the State.
The Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system covers about 2.86 million hectares, representing more than half the total public land across the five regions. Overall, the RFAs increased reserves by more than one third.
Victoria's timber industry had already undergone significant restructuring when the RFA process began.
The Commonwealth and Victorian governments provided a package of $42.6 million under the Commonwealth-Victorian Hardwood Timber Industry Development and Restructuring Program (VicFISAP) to help businesses take advantage of RFA certainty and adjust to changes in resource availability.
East Gippsland region
The East Gippsland RFA was Australia's first RFA. The Commonwealth and Victorian governments signed the agreement on 3 February 1997.
Under the RFA, nearly half the region's 1.2 million hectares is set aside from logging in a CAR reserve system. The RFA met or exceeded the CAR criteria.
Among the agreement's industry proposals was the creation of new jobs using low-grade wood, previously left on the forest floor, in new industries, such as veneer and particle board manufacture.
Land Tenure and Zoning Map
GIF [74kb]![GIF [74kb]](http://www.daff.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/49815/map1-rfa-eastgipps-vic.gif){kind=link}
PDF [72kb]
