Forest produce licences

Anyone who wants to take or use forest produce from state forests, like plants, stone, or parts of trees, needs to seek permission from the Conservation Regulator. The Conservation Regulator issues licences under the Forests Act 1958, to access forest produce in state forests to ensure the health and integrity of our forests are maintained.

In April 2026, the Victorian government released the Forest Produce Licence Policy. The policy sets out the circumstances in which the removal of forest produce can be permitted, in line with legislation and the Victorian Government’s forest management policies and objectives.

• Forest Produce Licence Policy (PDF, 886.1 KB)
• Forest Produce Licence Policy – accessible (DOCX, 60.3 KB)

Examples of activities that may be authorised through a forest produce licence include:

• the cut, dig and removal of non-timber forest produce, such as seed collection, stone, bushfoods, and parts of trees and plants
• the removal of timber by-products in certain circumstances as outlined in Victoria's State Forests By-Products Framework
• for research purposes, including regeneration trials
• small-scale cutting and removal of timber to support niche industry organisations which recently held a VicForests-issued FPL (see further details below)
• small-scale eucalyptus oil production for existing licence holders
• harvesting plantations in state forests, and
• to enable Traditional Owner activities.

Forest produce licences for niche timber industries

Commercial native timber harvesting in Victoria’s state forests ended on 1 January 2024.

Under the previous native timber harvesting regime, VicForests issued FPLs through its Community Forestry Program. Among these licensees were some small businesses in niche industries which harvested small volumes of specialist timber for high value outcomes, such as bespoke furniture and musical instruments. The decision to end commercial native timber harvesting was not directed at closing these businesses.

The government’s forest produce licence policy allows the consideration of a licence application to authorise limited and small-scale harvesting to support niche industries.

To be eligible for an FPL that authorises the cutting and removal of timber for a commercial purpose, an applicant must have been operating under VicForests’ community forestry program with an agreement in place on 31 December 2023 for the same niche industry purpose.

Niche industry purposes include:

• musical instruments
• bespoke furniture
• historical tourism
• community or sporting events, such as woodchopping.

Niche industry purposes do not include pulpwood, firewood or fence posts.

Each person or business can only be issued one licence at a time with a maximum volume of 100 m3 per year.

To minimise environmental impact, licensees are limited to single tree selection and there are restrictions on using heavy machinery. Compliance with the relevant provisions of the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 (as amended 2022) is mandatory.

More information can be found in the Forest Produce Licence Policy. (PDF, 886.1 KB)

Forest produce licences for other (non-niche) purposes

The eligibility criteria for niche industry FPL applications do not apply to applications for FPLs for other purposes, such as plantation harvesting, research, removal of by-products and Traditional Owner activities.

More information on forest produce licences can be found on the Conservation Regulator website.

Apply for a forest produce licence

The Conservation Regulator will assess licence applications and issue FPLs.

To apply for a Forest Produce Licence, visit the Conservation Regulator website.