The loss of native forest and woodland area on farms is increasingly seen as a problem and programs such as Save the Bush, One Billion Trees and Corridors of Green have been established to halt such loss and replace the native vegetation.
Native vegetation provides a number of ecological, economic, cultural and social benefits.
The large-scale clearance of native vegetation leads to a number of problems such as dryland salinity, rising water tables, decline of biodiversity leading to extinctions, habitat loss and fragmentation. It also contributes to an increase in greenhouse emissions and reduction of regional rainfall. The significant historical clearing of native vegetation for pastoral and agricultural purposes on Australian farms is still occurring, primarily in two States, NSW and Queensland. It should be noted that not all areas permitted to be cleared will actually be cleared. The reasons that a significant number of farms have no area of trees or woodland include clearing but also the fact that some farms were established on native grasslands.