Many proposals to create so-called ‘healthy forests’ through thinning and repeated burning risk further damaging Australian ecosystems already degraded by logging, clearing and over-management.

There has been increasing discussion about what constitutes a so-called ‘healthy forest’. There is even a foundation that aims, in part, to make forests healthy, typically by using industrial forestry methods like mechanical thinning and/or regular burning. But what actually is a healthy forest? What are the characteristics of a healthy forest? And what kinds of management can produce a healthy forest? These are important questions to answer because it affects decisions about how best to manage Australia’s forests as well as the nation’s woodlands.

What constitutes a healthy forest will vary with the type of forest in question such as tall open forest versus an open grassy box-gum woodland. It will also vary with the natural stage of forest development for a given forest type; such as whether we are examining a patch of long undisturbed old growth forest or a young forest regenerating after a wildfire.

These are not just subtle nuances; they are fundamentally important to thinking about good management.

Large old trees are a critical component of many types of healthy forest and woodland. These trees play a wide range of key roles, including supporting an array of tree-related microhabitats (termed TReMS) such as hollows and bark fissures. They also store........

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