Forests of Biological Significance
The Queensland Forest Agreement helped secure protection for areas including the Conondales, Bellthorpe, Kroombit Tops, Bulburin and the Blackdown Tablelands. These regions contain diverse ecosystems ranging from open eucalypt forests to subtropical rainforest and deep gorges. The forests support wildlife including regent bowerbirds, long-nosed potoroos and the Kroombit tinkerfrog, a species found only in Kroombit Tops.
The Campaign
Environmental organisations played a major role in community education and mobilisation leading up to the agreement. Groups including the Wilderness Action Group worked alongside conservation organisations and local communities to build public support for stronger forest protections. In 1999, the Queensland Forest Agreement was signed by the Queensland Government, Timber Queensland, the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society, the Queensland Conservation Council and the Wilderness Society. The agreement immediately added approximately 425,000 hectares of native forest to the conservation estate, with a further 575,000 hectares proposed for future protection. The Wilderness Society’s Virginia Young played a key role in negotiations. Having previously worked on the Western Australian forest campaign, she brought experience from earlier forest agreements to help shape the Queensland process and avoid shortcomings seen in previous forest negotiations. Campaigners also worked alongside regional organisations including the Conondale Range Committee and the Sunshine Coast Environment Centre.
Continuing Forest Threats
Despite the agreement, large-scale land clearing and deforestation continued across Queensland. Between 2018 and 2022, approximately one million hectares of forest and bushland were bulldozed in the state. The Wilderness Society has continued campaigning for stronger protection of Queensland’s remaining forests and ecosystems. In 2025, the Queensland Future Timber Plan was released, proposing expanded native forest logging and effectively overturning major parts of the Queensland Forest Agreement.
Legacy
The Queensland Forest Agreement represented one of the largest forest conservation negotiations in the state’s history. It secured major additions to Queensland’s protected areas while also shaping future debates about logging, land clearing and forest management across the state.