Tenure of Australia's Forests (2023)

Abstract Tenure of Australia’s forests (2023) is a continental spatial dataset of national land tenure types, assembled for the 2023 update of Indicator 1.1a for Australia's State of the Forests Report. It was developed from land tenure information from multiple sources, including contributions from Australian, state and territory government agencies and external sources. The tenure dataset is then combined with forest cover information sourced from the [Forests of Australia (2023)] dataset. The dataset was compiled by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) for the National Forest Inventory (NFI), a collaborative partnership between the Australian and state and territory governments. The role of the NFI is to collate, integrate and communicate information on Australia’s forests. The NFI applies a national classification to state and territory data to allow seamless integration of these datasets. Multiple independent sources of external data are used to fill data gaps and improve the quality of the final dataset. The NFI classifies land tenure into six national tenure classes suitable for application to forest: Leasehold forest, Multiple-use public forest, Nature conservation reserve, Other Crown land, Private forest and Unresolved tenure. The corresponding tenure classes in the dataset are labelled: LEASE, MUF, NCR, OCL, PRIV, and NR, respectively. The Tenure of Australia’s forests (2023) dataset is produced to fulfil requirements of Australia's National Forest Policy Statement and the Regional Forests Agreement Act 2002 (Cwth), and is used by the Australian Government for domestic and international reporting. Previous versions of this dataset are available on the Forests Australia website [spatial data page] and the Australian Government open government data portal [data.gov.au]. [Tenure of Australia's Forests 2023] Currency Date modified: 2022 Publication Date: 15 December 2023 Modification frequency: Every 5 years Data extent Coordinate reference: GDA94 / Australian Albers Spatial extent North: -8.2° South: -44.4° East: 157.2° West: 109.5° Source information Data, Metadata, Maps and Interactive views are available from [Tenure of Australia's Forests (2023)], [Descriptive Metadata PDF]. The data was obtained from Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). Lineage statement Tenure of Australia’s forests (2023) is a continental spatial dataset of national land tenure types, assembled for the Australia's State of the Forests Report – 2023 update. It was developed from land tenure information from multiple sources, including contributions from Australian, state and territory government agencies and external sources. The tenure dataset is then combined with forest cover information sourced from the [Forests of Australia (2023)] dataset. [Jacobsen et al. (2019)] describes the process for assembling and reporting the tenure of Australia’s forests. This method recognises state and territory land title registers as the formal legal sources of tenure information, specifies the sourcing of data from the most accurate spatial representations of these land registers, and provides transparent translation of the range of jurisdictional tenure classes into the six national tenure classes. For each jurisdiction the input datasets were layered (ordered) based on the overall evaluation of accuracy/fitness for reporting tenure of forest land. Where data coverage was incomplete, gaps were filled first using the PSMA Land Tenure dataset, then using land tenure data from the NFI Tenure of Australia’s forests (2018) dataset. The dataset layering priority, from highest to lowest: 1. State and territory land tenure data 2. PSMA Land Tenure data 3. NFI Tenure of Australia’s forests (2018) Table 1: List of input datasets used to develop the Tenure of Australia’s forests (2023). ────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────── Jurisdiction │Dataset │Data custodian │Dataset date ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── Australian Capital Territory│Territory Plan Overlay Zones │ACT Office of the Surveyor-General and Land Information │May 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Multiple Use Forests │ACT Government │2008 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── New South Wales │National Parks and Wildlife Reserves Digital Cadastre Database│NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation – Spatial Services│June 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │State Forests Digital Cadastre Database │NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation – Spatial Services│June 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Lot Digital Cadastral Database │NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation – Spatial Services│May 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Crown Reserve Tenure │NSW Department of Planning and Environment │2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── Northern Territory │Digital Cadastral Database of the Northern Territory │NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics │December 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Parks and reserves │NT Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security │April 2022 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── Queensland │Digital Cadastral Database │Queensland Department of Resources │April 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Stock routes – Queensland │Queensland Department of Resources │June 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── South Australia │Parcel Cadastre │SA Department for Infrastructure and Transport │May 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Conservation Reserve Parcels │SA Department for Environment and Water │June 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── Tasmania │LIST Land Tenure │Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania │July 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │LIST Crown Leases │Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania │July 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │LIST Authority Land │Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania │July 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── Victoria │Public Land Management (PLM25) │Victoria Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action │July 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Vicmap Crown Land Tenure │Victoria Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action │May 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Victorian Land Use Information System │Victoria Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions │May 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Vicmap Property – Parcel Map Polygons │Victoria Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action │February 2020 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── Western Australia │DBCA - Lands of Interest (DBCA-012) │WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions │April 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │DBCA - Legislated Lands and Waters (DBCA-011) │WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions │April 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Client Property Event System - Properties (DPIRD-018) │WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development │April 2021 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── National │CadLite and Land Tenure │PSMA Australia │August 2019 ────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────── │Tenure of Australia’s forests (2018) │ABARES for the National Forest Inventory │June 2016 ────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────── The output national tenure dataset was then combined (intersected) with the forest cover information identified by the Multiple Lines of Evidence (MLE) approach used to develop the Forests of Australia (2023) dataset. This enabled the forest cover status of tenure areas to be identified. Data dictionary ──────────┬──────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Field │Field type│Description ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── VALUE │Numeric │Unique identifier for each unique combination of attribute field values ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── COUNT │Numeric │Number of cells that occur for a particular VALUE. For this dataset the cell size/resolution is 100 by 100 metres. The COUNT value is equivalent to the area in hectares. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── STATE │Text │State or territory in which the cell occurs. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TEN_TYPE │Text │National Forest Inventory (NFI) national tenure class. Shows tenure for both forest and non-forest land. The TEN_TYPE.LUT table below describes each tenure class. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FOR_TEN │Text │NFI national tenure class, and combined (intersected) with the forest cover extent from the NFI Forests of Australia (2023) dataset. Shows tenure of forest land only. The TEN_TYPE.LUT table below describes each tenure class. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FOR_CODE │Number │Code linking the NFI forest type name (FOR_TYPE) to a COVER class and HEIGHT class. Each unique combination of the three attributes gives a forest formation value. The FOR_CODE.LUT below documents each code. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FOR_TYPE │Text │NFI forest type name. Forest types are documented in the FOR_CODE.LUT below. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FOR_CATEGO│Text │NFI forest category name. Valid values are: Non-forest; Native forest; Commercial plantation and Other forest. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── COVER_CODE│Numeric │Code linking the NFI forest type to a crown cover class. The COVER.LUT table below describes each code and value. ──────────┼──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── HT_CODE │Numeric │Code linking the NFI forest type to a forest height class. The HEIGHT.LUT table below describes each code and value. ──────────┴──────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TEN_TYPE.LUT(Tenure type lookup table) ────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────── Tenure type/class (TEN_TYPE)│National land tenure class ────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── LEASE │Leasehold forest ────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── MUF │Multiple-use public forest ────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── NCR │Nature conservation reserve ────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── OCL │Other Crown land ────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── PRIV │Private forest ────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── ND │Unresolved tenure ────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────── [Tenure of Australia's Forests 2023 - Lookup Tables] Contact Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry – Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), [info.ABARES@aff.gov.au].