In April 1987, the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) released proposals for the management of the State forest and conservation areas within the Northern, Central and Southern Forest Regions. These administrative regions include almost all of the State forest within the South West Region and contain a large number of other areas under the management responsibility of CALM, such as nature reserves and national parks. The preparation of these plans is required under the Conservation and Land Management Act.
The management proposals for the three regions were contained in a set of five documents:
- Northern Forest Region Draft Management Plan;
- Central Forest Region Draft Management Plan;
- Southern Forest Region Draft Management Plan;
- Northern, Central, Southern Forest Regions Draft Management Plans Supporting Papers, and
- Timber Production in Western Australia (Draft) - A Strategy to take W.A.'s Forests into the 21st Century.
As required under the Conservation and Land Management Act, the Draft Management Plans and other documents were released for public review and comment by CALM for a period of two months, closing on 17 June 1987. This was later extended for a further month.
During this review period, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) decided to assess the management plans formally under the provisions of Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act.