State-owned Forestry Corporation says last summer’s record bushfires scorched half of the native forest estate and a quarter of its softwood plantations, setting the agency on track for a sharp drop in revenue in coming years. The corporation’s latest annual report for 2019-20 showed revenue from hard and softwood operations was slightly higher than previous years but mostly because of urgent operations to salvage timber from burnt forests. …Such operations ensured it could meet contracts but coming years will see both output and revenue drop. While fiscal years 2020 and 2021 still had “fire-salvage volumes, revenue is set to decline by $100 million or 25 per cent [from about $425.2 million] from fiscal year 2022 onwards,” it said. …The widespread blazes have revived the long-standing issue of how much native logging is subsidised and whether it should even continue in state forests where habitat for koalas, greater gliders, owls and other wildlife was suddenly significantly reduced.