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The volume drop in sawlogs and fire-related expenses mean "the earnings drop to a deficit position", it said. An accompanying chart put projected losses before interest and tax at about $15 million in each of the three years from 2022 to 2024.

As the Herald reported this week, email exchanges between Forestry Corp and the Environment Protection Agency show the logger was concerned many jobs in the industry were at risk at the end of 2020 because looming supply shortages in the wake of the fires.

The annual report said bushfires affected 831,439 hectares of native forest. They also hit 5252 hectares of hardwood plantations, or about 15 per cent of the total. For softwood plantations, the loss was about 52,000 hectares, or a quarter of the total plantations.

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.

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Documents show direct jobs in native logging may be as few as 850 across the state although Forestry Corp put the total at 4360 people "heavily reliant on the timber industry for a significant proportion of their employment".

Pinning down the amount of subsidies to keep the sector operating was difficult because some funds involve reimbursement for fire operations conducted by Forestry Corp staff.

In the most recent year, that reimbursement totalled $22 million while the sector also received $46 million as part of the regions' economic stimulus package.

Independent NSW MP Justin Field estimates the total support over the next decade will be almost $800 million based on information in the annual report and corporate statement.

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This tally includes as much as $200 million to repair bridges and other facilities damaged by fires, a $346 million write-down in the value of softwood and the estimated $45 million losses in the coming three years that will be borne by Forestry Corp. The budget will also miss out an estimated $100 million in a dividend that was previously earmarked.

“It is madness that taxpayers would pay hundreds of millions of dollars to prop up the unnecessary destruction of our native forests and wildlife from logging," Mr Field said.

“[Forestry Minister] John Barilaro, [Environment Minister] Matt Kean and [Treasurer] Dominic Perrottet need to put their heads together and come up with a plan to exit native forest logging and support the timber industry to restructure and refocus towards plantations," he said.

“Our public native forests are worth so much more standing as recreational reserves for nature-based tourism and for biodiversity protection than they are as wood chips or decking.”

Mr Barilaro was approached for comment.

Forestry Corp disputed the size of the subsidies, saying the majority of the $800 million reflected a writedown in the value of assets and was not a reflection of the loss of future earnings.

"The 2019-20 fires were the worst fires NSW has experienced in living memory, and the public assets managed by Forestry Corporation on behalf of the NSW government have sustained significant damage," a spokeswoman said.

"Forestry Corp is making significant ongoing investments from its own revenue and borrowings to restore public assets, replant the burnt plantation estate and repair the infrastructure impacted by fire, supported by some government investment."

Harry Burkitt, a spokesman for the Colong Foundation, said the state-owned logger was "ensuring the NSW government continues to subsidise the slaughter of millions of native animals".

"The catastrophic impact of the fires is an indictment on native forest logging," he said. "The practice must end and NSW Forestry Corp restructured to facilitate the protection of our native forests."