Issue293

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ISSUE 293 | 28.10.13 | PAGE 1

Smokescreen on forest fire cause

THIS ISSUE

Climate change link ‘nonsense’: when will they listen to science?

AS fires continue to rage through the NSW Blue Mountains, foresters, timber industry leaders, scientists and experienced fire managers have called for leadership based on scientific evidence, rather than playing politics over the issue.

Linking the bushfire disaster to climate change is “an absolute nonsense” and reducing fuel loads in the Australian bush is urgently needed, leading scientists say.

Retired Monash University researcher David Packham said “latte conservationists”

Forest science still eludes the ‘cafe latte set’ • Fighting fire with forests • new shadow ministry • retrofit meets seismic codes • t.u.G. meeting in Brisbane • timber thieves thrive in russia

had too much influence on forest management.

He said fuel loads were now the heaviest they had been since human occupation of the continent and Aboriginal methods needed to be adopted.

• there’s gold in them thar leaves!

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industry news

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PAgE 2 | issuE 293 | 28.10.13

FORMER federal Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has been appointed Labor’s Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Forestry.

The appointment was made in the new shadow ministry announced by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek in Canberra last week.

Earlier Mr Fitzgibbon. 51, indicated his willingness to retain the agricultural portfolio which he claimed when former minister Joe Ludwig stepped down after the Labor leadership change-over from Julia Gillard to Kevin Rudd in late June.

Mr Fitzgibbon released a statement saying he was “delighted” Mr Shorten had provided him with the opportunity to continue in the agriculture portfolio.

“During my time as minister I was fortunate to establish very good working relationships with the key stakeholders and enjoyed the work and challenges immensely,” he said.

Mr Fitzgibbon has been the Member for Hunter in rural NSW since 1996 and is considered a strong candidate to shadow the new Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce.

The Labor MP has a vast coal mining and agricultural dominated electorate containing vineyards, wine tourism, cattle grazing land and horse studs.

In an interview with Fairfax Agricultural Media during the election campaign, Mr Fitzgibbon described himself as an ordinary guy and country boy who did a trade after school, played some football and did a little university study, which helps with his work on political policy formulation.

In other appointments, Anthony Albanese was named Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and

Joel Fitzgibbon

Barnaby Joyce

Transport and Shadow Minister for Tourism.

Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek is the new Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development and Senator Penny Wong is the Shadow to Liberal Andrew Robb on Trade and Investment.

Former Agriculture and Water Minister Tony Burke is the Shadow Minister for Finance and Mark Butler is the Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water.

In other shadow ministry appointments, Brendon Cont Page 11

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sPeCiAL BusHFire rePOrt

David Packham

Dr Chris Black

Gary Nairn

Gary Humphries

Adam Brandt

the Blue Mountains were just waiting to go up: Chris Black From Page 1

A tweet from Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt last week linked the NSW bushfires to the new federal government’s climate change policies, while Greens leader Christine Milne said it was “climate censorship” to not discuss global warming and bushfires.

But Mr Packham says there is no link.

“It’s an absolute nonsense,” he said.

“The very best interpretation is that the claim is misguided; it has no understanding of how bushfires actually do work in Australia.

“If there is any global warming, the global warming is so slow and so small that the bushfire event is totally overrun by the fuel state.”

More than 37,000 ha has now been burnt as 60 fires raged across the state, 15 of them uncontained, and there is an active fire edge more than 300 km long.

The largest fire-fighting force in NSW history has been mobilised to fight the fire fury.

The NSW Rural Fire Service says conditions are deteriorating further across the state. Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says drawing a parallel with the current emergencies with past fires would mean going as far back as the 1960s, specifically a major fire in 1968.

Dr Phil Cheney .. world’s foremost bushfire scientist.

State forests in Sydney, the Greater Hunter, the Central West and the Southern Highlands were closed to forest operations and the public last Wednesday due to high fire danger.

Forestry Corporation chief forester Ross Dickson said there were no fires running through the state’s pine plantation assets.

A plantation fire on the Newnes Plateau on the Central Tablelands was under threat but fire management stopped the flames at the boundary.

David Packham said flying over the Blue Mountains in recent years had been “frightening”.

“There’s been this determination over the last 10 to 20 years to not treat our country in the same way the indigenous people treated it

for 30,000 years,” he said.

“The concept has been every fire is a bad fire. In the Australian context, you need fire to keep the bush healthy and safe.”

Mr Packham said Western Australia had successfully reduced fuel for decades and up to 20% of bushland should be burned annually.

“If we got to 10% then the area burnt would drop by 90% and fire intensity would drop by at least that and undoubtedly more.”

He said major fires had occurred every 10 to 20 years since records began in 1915.

All of these issues were widely canvassed in a senate select committee inquiry and report coordinated in 2009-2010 by

‘There’s been this determination over the last 10 to 20 years to not treat our country in the same way the indigenous people treated it for 30,000 years’ – david Packham

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Liberal senator for Western Australia Dr Chris Black, who was CEO of the WA Bush Fires Board and a member of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council.

Dr Black oversaw the introduction of water bombing aircraft and the upgrading of ageing equipment used by the volunteers, and received the Prime Minister’s Gold Award for technological achievement recognising the work undertaken in using satellites to track wildfires in remote locations.

“We brought in as witnesses Gary Nairn [a survey and mapping expert] Phil Cheney [one of the world’s foremost bushfire scientists from CSIRO] and Roger Underwood [a fire manager with more than 50 years’ experience in high risk jarrah and karri forest communities],” Dr Black said.

“I said then, and have repeated often, that the Blue Mountains were just waiting to go up. And they now have.

“Gary Humphries [veteran ACT senator] and I co-sponsored a motion in the senate late last year recognising the 10th anniversary of the Canberra fires.

“We commented that little had been done to implement the recommendations of our 2010 report. The same can be said of the report by Gary Nairn.

“Our recommendations were well argued; they should not be ignored – they hold the clues to controlling this situation.”

issue 293 | 28.10.13 | Page 3

sPeCiAL BusHFire rePOrt

Federal government must play a key role in bushfire management States should not take all the responsibility

LAND, and therefore bushfire management, may well be a responsibility of the states and territories under the Constitution, but the community increasingly expects the federal government to play an important role.

That’s the opinion of Senator Chris Black who was chief executive of the Bush Fires Board of Western Australia and a member of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council.

“The question is, are we prepared to show leadership in this issue or follow the path of so many before us and simply watch history repeat itself?

Dr Black refers to the ‘dead cycle’ – negative reaction to scientific facts constantly provided on bushfire prevention and control.

“Bushfires – or more correctly wildfires – are the only natural disaster over which we can have control. If we let the Greens and their urban mates continue to dominate this debate then we have done the country a great disservice,” Dr Black says.

On the front line .. fire-fighters monitor a back burn near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

“The likes of Cheney, Underwood, Batini, Pegg and others are still around but are increasingly despairing of anyone in authority actually listening to them and taking action.

“You can assemble every firefighter, water bombing aircraft and ground appliance in the world in the one location and you won’t suppress the Black

Saturday bushfires or the fires currently raging in New South Wales.

“The solution does not lie in only throwing more money at suppression, no matter how good it looks on the nightly news.” [And this from someone who introduced water-bombing aircraft into Western Australia in 1996].

“We can’t prevent wildfires, but

‘we can’t prevent wildfires, but we can manage their impact and the damage they cause’ – dr Chris Black

we can manage their impact and the damage they cause,” Dr Black said.

“The conflagration we have just witnessed across three Australian states is not the effect of global warming; what we are seeing is the long-term effect of ignorance, and a failure to implement well-established and proven land management practices.”

Dr Black said those well-versed in bushfire behaviour were all too familiar with the so-called ‘dead cycle’.

“It is unerringly accurate: disaster followed by inquiry followed by apathy and the next inevitable disaster. Little is being done to break the cycle.”

He said all that varied between different regions in southern Australia was the interval between disasters.

Australia’s eucalypt forests accumulate dry matter at a higher rate than it decomposes.

This is what burns.

Western Australia’s jarrah forests accumulate over one Cont Page 6

Fires force closure of state forest operations STATE forests in Sydney, the Greater Hunter, the Central West and the Southern Highlands were closed last Wednesday due to high fire danger.

Forestry Corporation of NSW’s chief forester Ross Dickson said the forests had been closed in consultation with the Rural Fire Service Commissioner.

All forest operations, including harvesting, have been stopped.

“This closure will also affect popular camp grounds and picnic areas in Olney, Heaton and Strickland state forests,

PAgE 4 | issuE 293 | 28.10.13

and recreation areas along the Allyn River and Telegherry River in the Chichester state forest,” Mr Dickson said.

“It will also apply to the Penrose, Meryla, Belanglo and Wingello state forests in the south and the Ben Bullen, Canobolas, Lidsdale, Jenolan, Lowes Mount, Blenheim, Essington, Mount David, Mullions Range, Kinross, Roseburg, Pennsylvania, Dog Rocks, Gurnang, Hampton, Sunny Corner,Vittoria and Vulcan state forests in the Central West.”

Communities have been asked

to reconsider their visits to all other NSW state forests until the extreme weather conditions ease.

Forestry Corporation of NSW has deployed local staff as well as crews from Walcha, Sydney, Bombala, Tumut and Forbes to fires across the state and to assist in the coordinated fire fighting effort.

“We are working in partnership with the Rural Fire Service, and National Parks and Wildlife Services to help limit the impact of fire on forests and communities across the state,”

Mr Dickson said.

Metropolitan fire-fighters from interstate are backing up hundreds of NSW colleagues to help rural crews in the bushfire emergency. Up to 170 NSW Fire and Rescue tankers and engines with almost 800 officers are working in fireravaged communities in the Blue Mountains.

Ten crews from Queensland and 10 from Melbourne arrived on Wednesday last week in one of the biggest mobilisations in the history of Fire and Rescue NSW.

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eVents

wHAt’s On? nOVeMBer 1: Building with timber, managing fire risk industry networking breakfast. 7.30-9.30 am Bruce County, 445 Blackburn Road, Mount Waverley. Speakers: Mark Grouis, Carter Holt Harvey; Boris Iskra, FWPA and Wood Products Victoria; and Nick Vlahandreas, Alpine Shire Council. Contact: Ingrida Matulis, Timber Merchants Association. Tel: (03) 9875 5000.

Fax: (03) 9877 6663. www.timber. asn.au 7: IFA 2013 AGM events.

Cliftons, Level 1, 440 Collins Street, Melbourne. 12 noon: Lunch. 1-4.30 pm: Innovation forum supported

by Forestworks. 5-6 pm: IFA AGM. 6.30 onwards: IFA annual dinner.

Speaker: Graham Wilkinson, chief forest practices officer, Tas Forest Practices Authority. Presentation of IFA honorary membership to Alan Brown. RSVP October 31 to Alison Carmichael Institute of Foresters of Australia, PO Box 7002, Yarralumla ACT 2600. Tel: (02) 6281 3992.

Mob: 0414 287 079. Email: ifa@ forestry.org.au 8: 50th Anniversary of the Tasmanian Forest Contractors Association. Country Club Casino, Country Club Avenue, Prospect. 6.30pm till late. Cost: $900 per table or $100 p.p. The TFCA is one of the oldest employer organisations that represent primary industries in Australia.

Presentations from industry leaders throughout the evening will take us back through the many achievements of the TFCA over the last half a century. Numbers limited – bookings essential. RSVP to Denise DeBattista on (03) 6343 3398 or admin@tfca.com.au

8: Forest Valuation Seminar.

Venue: Cliftons, 444 Collins Street, Melbourne, 10 am-4 pm. Institute of Foresters of Australia, in conjunction with Pöyry Management Consulting (Australia) Pty Ltd, presents a one-day seminar on commercial forest valuation covering valuing natural forests and plantations for financial management, investment and reporting. Unique opportunity to meet with skilled practitioners to discuss compliant approaches to forest valuation. Fee: $550 non-members; $275 IFA members.

Contact: Institute of Foresters of Australia, PO Box 7002, Yarralumla ACT 2600. Tel: (02) 6281 3992.

Mob: 0414 287 079. Email: ifa@ forestry.org.au Web: www.forestry. org.au 23: TABMA Queensland timber industry gala dinner. Moda Events Portside Level 2, Portside Wharf Hamilton. Contact Alicia on (07) 3254 3166 or alicia@tabma. com.au 26-27: ForestTech 2013 (including the forest industry safety summit and steep slope wood harvesting conference – Rotorua, NZ. www.foresttech2013. com

2014 FeBruAry 2014

17-21: Gottstein wood science Course, Melbourne. Inquiries to Dr Silvia Pongracic (Gottstein Trust), 0418 764 954 or secretary@ gottsteintrust.org or www. gottsteintrust.org

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MArCH 2014 19: Forestwood 2014. Politics, Policies and Business Impacts.

Pan-industry conference jointly hosted by Forest Owners Association, Wood Processors Association, Pine Manufacturers Association, Forest Industry Contractors Association, and supported by Woodco, NZ Farm Forestry Association and the Frame and Truss Manufacturers Association. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. Registration opens October 2013. Contact conference organisers Paardekooper and Associates on +64 4 562 8259 or email info@forestwood.org.nz Visit www.forestwood.org.nz

MAy 2014 19-20: Frame Australia – Park Hyatt Melbourne. National event for engineered timber and building pre-fabrication, providing a unique forum on markets, products and systems for timber and wood used in the detached housing and multi-residential markets The conference – Prefab Timber and Engineered Wood in Building Construction – covers truss and frame pre-fabrication on Day 1 and pre-fabrication in building on Day 2. Frame conveys the very latest information at a global and local level to provide valuable knowledge on timber and engineered wood as sustainable and cost-effective construction systems for residential and commercial building.

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Australia’s forest, wood, pulp and paper products industry now has a stronger voice in dealings with government, the community and in key negotiations on the industry’s future, as two peak associations have merged to form a single national association.

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has been formed through the merger of the Australian Plantations Products and Paper Industry Council (A3P) and the National Association of Forest Industries (NAFI).

AFPA was established to cover all aspects of Australia’s forest industry: - Forest growing; - Harvest and haulage; - Sawmilling and other wood processing; - Pulp and paper processing; and - Forest product exporting.

For more information on the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) or to enquire about membership , please call (02) 6285 3833.

ISSUE 293 | 28.10.13 | PAGE 5

sPeCiAL BusHFire rePOrt the us Forest service is aggressively moving to thin trees to return forests to a more manageable state. rOss HAMPtOn, CeO, Australian Forest Products Association, asks: are we listening?

Fighting fire with forests THERE’S a tweet I wish we had read from the deputy Greens leader Adam Brandt: ‘Save our precious species and trees before the wildfire gets there – get real about fuel reduction’.

The conversation Mr Bandt wants to have about the long term effects of climate change on the frequency and intensity of our annual bushfire season is indeed worthwhile and will continue for years.

But if you believe that, there is most certainly also a conversation we must have right now about the most responsible approach to reducing the intensity of bushfires when they

start.

The process followed at present is pretty simple: Step 1 – lock up the bush. Step 2 – minimise any activities which reduce the amount and density of trees and fallen branches – be it hazard reduction burning or thinning of some areas and building of access roads. Step Ross Hampton .. when it comes to the bushfire prevention fund, a dose of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

this valiant work is essentially trying to close the door on a bolting horse’

3 – cross fingers every October and pray that no idiots start fires or drop cigarette butts and that lightening doesn’t strike. Step 4 – when the bushfire inevitably starts and, because of all the fuel, becomes a raging wildfire, ignore all the rules of steps 1 and 2 and frantically back burn and send in the bulldozers.

Yep, crazy.

These images of moon-like landscapes and survivors picking over their ruined houses demand a saner conversation about what we can do to reduce Cont Page 7

‘You need fire to keep the bush healthy and safe’ From Page 4

tonne a hectare a year of fuel loading.

“Simple maths will spell out the inevitable if fuel build-up on forest floors is not managed,” Dr Black said.

“Long-experienced forestry managers would regard 5-8 tonnes / ha of flammable fuel as the upper, safe limit to send in crews to suppress fires.

“In the Black Saturday fires of 2009 in Victoria, fuel loadings of 50 to 80 tonnes a hectare and

PAgE 6 | issuE 293 | 28.10.13

even higher were recorded – up to 10 times the recommended load.

“The rest is history.”

He said the fire triangle was simple: oxygen, a source of ignition and fuel.

“We can’t control the oxygen in the air and nature and humans are the catalyst for ignition.

What we can control is the fuel.”

Dr Black said in Australian bush dominated by eucalypt forests, the original pattern of mosaic

burning by the aboriginals points to the solution. The nation’s forest plants and animals evolved around this practice.

“Bushfires are inevitable,” he said. “The community has two options to deal with them.

“We can have low-intensity, cool season, controlled fuel reduction burns at relatively frequent intervals when humidity is high. Grazing or slashing can produce localised benefits. Or we can have

high-summer, hot winds, low humidity, highly dangerous, uncontrolled wildfires.”

Retired Monash University researcher David Packham reckons the concept has been every fire is a bad fire.

“In the Australian context you need fire to keep the bush healthy and safe,” he said.

Mr Packham said Western Australia had successfully reduced fuel for decades and up to 20% of bushland should be burned annually.

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sPeCiAL BusHFire rePOrt

$15m bushfire program should mean lot more than hazard reduction burns From Page 6

the intensity of these fires.

The difficulty is the answers challenge a simplistic view of the world which puts ‘natural conservation areas’ in one camp, and ‘multiple use forestry’ in another – and never the twain shall meet.

The areas we have set aside as places where we limit all of our impacts are treasures we must preserve. And preservation is the operative word.

Any serious person looking at the aerial photos of the Blue Mountains could not argue that this amounts to preservation.

Who can even begin to count the loss? Incinerated trees without number; biodiversity destruction in spades; rare natural environments ruined; threatened species destroyed.

And what of air quality and emissions from the bushfires themselves?

In the major 2003 Canberra fire, the equivalent of our entire annual national greenhouse gas emissions went up in smoke.

These Blue Mountains fires have already added nearly three and a half million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

During the election campaign, the Prime Minister announced a $15 million National Bushfire Mitigation Program. We will be arguing strongly that this should mean a lot more than hazard reduction burns.

Certainly ‘cool’ fires are part of the solution, but what about fighting fire with at least some more forestry?

In the United States five months ago a massive fire in Arizona tragically claimed the lives of 19 firefighters. In the last month, another huge blaze – the Rim fire – roared through parts of Yosemite National Park almost contaminating the drinking water for 2.6 million people living in and around San Francisco.

John Buckley, the executive director of the Central Sierra

Environmental Resource Centre, told Reuters that if the US national park service had a tree-thinning process in that area it “would have inarguably made the Rim Fire far easier to contain, far less expensive and possibly not even a major disaster”.

Back here in Australia, Monash University researcher David Packham says reducing fuel loads in the Australian bush is what was urgently needed, and research by Phil Cheney, a former head of CSIRO Bushfire Research, has found that “fire

intensity is far more significantly affected by fuel quantity, fuel dryness and wind strength than it is by temperature’’.

In the US they have had enough; they are getting serious about fuel reduction focusing on forests bordering major population centres and fire prone landscapes.

The US Forest Service is aggressively moving to thin trees to return forests to a more manageable state.

Are we listening?

Our Rural Fire Service does an amazing job but this a largely

volunteer force made up of committed people with day jobs.

Despite bundles of commitment and as much training as can be squeezed in, this valiant work is essentially trying to close the door on a bolting horse.

The Australian Forest Products Association will be hoping to persuade the Prime Minister that when it comes to the bushfire prevention fund, a dose of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

And preservation is not a binary proposition. Perhaps @ AdamBandt can agree?

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issue 293 | 28.10.13 | Page 7

GOttstein FeLLOwsHiP

south Africa Gottstein study reveals precision forestry a way of the future “WE now have the capability through advanced GPS systems to collect significant amounts of data, but unless we can organise and use this data to assist in our decision making it’s not much use.”

This was an opinion formed

by Dr Jim O’Hehir who was awarded a Gottstein Fellowship to investigate the adoption of precision forestry in South Australia by studying the systems used in South Africa.

Due to the importance of the topic, the Gottstein trustees elected to offer three Gottstein travel scholarships for successful applicants to accompany Dr O’Hehir on his travels. They were Gavin Matthews, Cameron Dobson and Adrian Marti.

The Australian contingent investigated the adoption of precision forestry in South Africa, attending the Precision Forestry Symposium in Stellenbosch and visiting a number of forestry companies in that country.

The next in these series of precision forestry symposiums will be held from March 3 to 5 in South Africa. [Visit academic. sun.ac.za/forestry/pf2014.htm].

“Precision forestry basically

Precision forestry .. collectings data to help make more informed plantation management decisions.

collects data to help make more informed plantation management decisions,” explained Dr O’Hehir.

“We now have the capability through advanced GPS systems to collect significant amounts of data, but unless we can organise and use this data to assist in our decision making it’s not much use.

“South Africa has a longer history of collecting and using geographic data, much of which is used to match genotype to sites, ensuring the highest growth rates and quality for purpose of the planted forests

Dr Jim O’Hehir .. South Africa has a longer history of collecting and using geographic data.

in that country.

“If we could adopt something similar in Australia then I’m sure significant production and value gains can be made.”

Protection against disease and plantation and water policy issues have similar parallels in South Africa and South Australia.

“These concerns must also be addressed in South Australia, and precision forestry management support systems can assist in this, once they have been developed,” Dr O’Hehir said.

Direct outcomes from the fellowship included the running of a symposium ‘Precision Forestry in Advance’ in Mount Gambier in conjunction with AusTimber 2012 which brought together an international group of speakers and attendees. The report from the symposium and visit can be found at www. gottsteintrust.org Further information may be obtained from S. Pongracic, secretary, J. W. Gottstein Memorial Trust, Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Vic 3169. Tel: (03) 9545 2209.

Email: secretary@gottsteintrust. org Web: www.gottsteintrust. org

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PAGE 8 | ISSUE 293 | 28.10.13

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industry news

industry applauds state changes to workers’ scheme PEAK industry body Timber Queensland has applauded the state government’s “common sense changes” to Queensland’s workers’ compensation scheme.

CEO Rod McInnes said the changes would significantly reduce premiums for Queensland businesses while ensuring the scheme remained strong and viable for the future.

“The changes, which were introduced in parliament recently, include a common law threshold of 5% which will clamp down on fraudulent claims,” Mr McInnes said.

“Employers will now have access to the claims history of applicants, as well as the maintenance of journey provisions.”

The changes will not adversely impact genuine claims or any individual right to workers’ compensation payments for lost wages, medical expenses and rehabilitation and return to work expenses.

Mr McInnes said premiums for workers’ compensation in the

timber & Forestry e-news is the most authoritative and quickest deliverer of news and special features to the forest and forest products industries in Australia, new Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. weekly distribution is over 7,000 copies, delivered every Monday. Advertising rates are the most competitive of any industry magazine in the region. timber&Forestry e-news hits your target market – every week, every Monday!

Rod McInnes .. workers’ compensation in the timber industry has increased more than 25% over the last few years.

Address all correspondence to timber industry had increased PO Box 330, Hamilton Central, Qld 4007 more than 25% over the last few years.

“Hikes of this nature were not sustainable and were impacting the ability of businesses to dennis@industrye-news.com employ people,” he said.

“We commend the Newman PUBLISHER government for a taking stand dennis Macready and restoring Queensland’s dennis@industrye-news.com workers’ compensation scheme to a condition that is fair and equitable for both employers and employees.”

Builder confidence weak

A National survey of Australia’s building and construction industry has found no strong evidence of a recovery despite a marginal lift in confidence.

Increased building activity will not be triggered in the short term despite improvement in some key indicators according to a Master Builders national survey of building and construction.

Master Builders chief economist Peter Jones said that overall, builders were cautiously confident that an embryonic recovery was under way, but there was no such confidence about expectations

HEAD OFFICE Custom Publishing Group unit 2- 3986 Pacific Highway Loganholme 4129 Qld, Australia

for their own business.

“The survey paints a concerning picture of business conditions in building and construction despite recent modest upticks in building approvals and housing finance,” Mr Jones said.

“Feedback from our members is that more concrete forward indicators, such as display centre activity and commercial building inquiries, remain extremely poor.

“The fragility of the recovery is reflected in the difficult and very patchy industry conditions highlighted by the survey.”

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mAnAgIng EDITOR Jim Bowden Tel: +61 7 3266 1429 Mob: 0401 312 087 cancon@bigpond.net.au ADVERTISIng Tel: +61 7 3266 1429 cancon@bigpond.net.au

Opinions expressed on timber & Forestry e news are not necessarily the opinions of the editor, publisher or staff. we do not accept responsibility for any damage resulting from inaccuracies in editorial or advertising. the Publisher is therefore indemnified against all actions, suits, claims or damages resulting from content on this e news. Content cannot be reproduced without the prior consent of the Publisher- Custom Publishing Group.

issue 293 | 28.10.13 | Page 9

enGineered wOOd

safe for another 60 years! retrofit of nZ building meets all seismic codes Engineered wood choice for Taranaki project

By JiM BOwden

A 60-YEAR-old building at Taranaki in New Zealand’s North Island has been made 2013 building code compliant, including 100% seismic, with the use of structural engineered wood products.

The project comes as the New Zealand Timber Industry Federation again confirms that timber is the best construction material for coping with New Zealand’s seismic conditions.

Experiments carried out in June by the Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) on behalf of the Ministry of Education have shown that timber-framed engineered wood buildings can cope with stresses three times that of the Christchurch earthquakes, and still remain standing.

The Taranaki building owned

by Philip Marsh, technical service manager, Wood and Specialty Adhesives, and his wife Sue, had been used as a petrol station, a used car yard, a tractor dismantler and was in a bad state of repair.

Quest Integrity NZL Ltd, a multinational company, was looking for a building to meet its current and future requirements and approached the owners to see if it could be retrofitted to meet its needs.

Discussions took place and with the help of Brent Stewart Construction and engineers Red Jacket Consulting, an economical design was drawn up and agreed to that fully utilised the existing building structure with minimal demolition.

The design was based on utilising a structural plywood diaphragm ceiling to tie the main heavy timber roof trusses and cantilevered steel columns together through the building.

This allowed the retrofit to be done without the use of

PAgE 10 | issuE 293 | 28.10.13

Seismically sound .. Sue Marshall, managing director of Hammer Hardware, inspects the retrofit of her building in Taranaki with Ian Berrie, general manager, Quest Integrity (left) and Brent Stewart, managing director of Brent Stewart Construction.

alternative steel cross bracing rods and the plywood also provided the finished ceiling.

J-Frame LVL from Juken New Zealand Ltd at Masterton was used for the ceiling purlins, battens and wall framing. Brent Stewart praised the benefits of LVL being dimensionally stable, straight and true and easy to work with.

Structural plywood sourced from IPL in Greymouth was used to form the diaphragm ceiling and also to line the interior walls in the large workshop area.

Sue Marsh said: “I love the plywood we have used in the building. It’s a structural product, looks great with the decorative veneer faces and it makes the building feel warmer.

“We ordered the Tuffply from IPL and it got delivered the next day!”

The managing director of Quest Integrity Ian Berrie praised the retrofit and is keen to move in.

He believes being 100%

Brent Coffey .. it’s hard to understand why anyone would build with anything else.

seismic compliant is important to his company as he can now claim that Quest is taking all reasonable steps to protect the health and safety of its employees.

“Quest wanted to move into the community so sustainability is important to us. Using plantationgrown wood products fits in with this core value.”

This renovation project will see

‘I believe being 100% seismic compliant is important. we can now claim that reasonable steps have been taken to protect the health and safety of employees’ – ian Berrie, Quest integrity

this building still standing in another 60 years.

The BRANZ tests on engineered wood were commissioned by the Ministry of Education to establish how much force its school buildings could withstand in an earthquake.

About 90% of the ministry’s 37,500 school buildings are timber-framed and the outstanding performance of timber in these tests has saved the ministry hundreds of millions of dollars in earthquake strengthening costs.

“This just confirms what Kiwi’s have known for generations,” said Brent Coffey of the New Zealand Timber Industry Federation.

“Timber-framed housing is the safest and best choice for the family home.”

He said timber was the kindest construction material to the environment, came from a plentiful and renewable source and was incredibly cost effective.

“It is hard to understand why anyone would build with anything else.”

“There are building companies out there who are not offering timber framing as an option and their customers should really be asking .. why?”

Postscript from Philip Marsh: As part of the seismic requirements we had to put a full plywood ceiling in and the IPL plywood is really beautiful stuff. Also the walls have been clad in IPL plywood, which will be seen as the painters are using a clear polyurethane for a good finish.

“It’s good to see our products being used – safest building in New Zealand, I tell you! It will be 100% compliant to the 2013 seismic code and the engineer is more than happy to sign it off as such.”

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industry news

Thai tie-in on timber trade

AustrALiAn participants at a regional workshop in Bangkok .. John Halkett, general manager, Australian timber importers Federation, Andrew ingles, chief technical adviser, the nature Conservancy, and tom Black, counsellor for agriculture, Australian embassy in Bangkok. the Australian contingent at the regional workshop on supporting capacity building in Asia related to legality verification needs for timber discussed legality verification and timber trade prospects. the workshop was hosted by unFAO and thailand royal Forest department. the significant regional forestry and timber trade event attracted participations from all timber producers across Asia and southeast Asia and consumers countries which, in addition to Australia, included the European Union, USA, China, India, Japan and South Korea. the workshop considered the development of international trends to improve legality assurance of tropical timber products, associated capacity building needs and the emerging trends and opportunities for global timber trade.

Forest industry will continue push to be globally competitive From Page 2

O’Connor is Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; Senator Kim Carr, Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Industry; Sharon Bird, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education; Kate Ellis, Shadow Minister for Education; and Richard Marles, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection – portfolios that play a major role in ensuring

a sustainable forest industry workforce.

The forest industry will continue to push priority areas leading into the next federal election – increase investment in research, development and extension; ensure that Australian forestry remains globally competitive; address the growing labour shortages in the sector; and ensure natural resources are sustainably managed, while also increasing timber production.

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Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia Plywood House, 3 Dunlop Street, Newstead, 4006 Queensland Australia Tel: +61 7 3250 3700 Fax: +61 7 3252 4769 Emai: inbox@ewp.asn.au

Web: www.ewp.asn.au

ISSUE 293 | 28.10.13 | PAGE 11

eVents: tiMBer united GrOuP MeetinG

shovel-ready land needed to help boost building industry THE building industry has endured a bad run for most of the past two years; almost every business involved in residential construction in Queensland has had its back against the wall.

But Housing Industry Association Queensland executive director Warwick Tenby is optimistic things can turn around in the coming years. He said growth would be driven by lower interest rates and the confidence boost the economy had received from the resources sector.

Guest speaker at a Timber United Group (T.U.G.) meeting in Brisbane last Thursday, Mr Tenby talked up economic and population growth, increasing consumer confidence, employment growth, an improved share market, and an upward trend in sales and building approvals and a growing renovations market.

He gave a solid overview of the state’s housing trends at a the meeting attended by 38 timber merchants, importers, truss and frame suppliers, foresters, industry consultants – and one

the HIA. That would be a very positive outcome for both the new home sector and the wider economy.

The level of sales in 2012-13 was 56,782; sales are therefore now back to a level equivalent to the GFC trough but no higher – the level is still 21% below the historical average.

Guest speaker at a Timber United Group meeting in Brisbane last Thursday Warwick Tenby, executive director, Queensland Housing Industry Association (right) confers with Roger Denley, Timbeck Cedar Products, and Norm Tilling, co-founder of the Tilling Group.

sawmiller.

The meeting, administered by Brisbane Hoo-Hoo Club 218, raised more than $500 for children’s charities.

Mr Tenby believes more land needs to be freed up for residential development in southeast Queensland.

“There needs to be much more flexibility in the way that we respond to the demand for housing and the way that land is turned out onto the market,”

Brent McIntyre, director, Woodmark Timber Importers Pty Ltd, Northgate (centre) chats with Peter Beverland and Harry Blom of Australian Timber and Trusses.

PAgE 12 | issuE 293 | 28.10.13

he said.

“We need to have much more land available and planning and infrastructure provided by government, so that when the demand is there, the land supply can respond quickly to those demands and not put pressure on prices.”

Land sales volumes highlight the prospect of further growth in detached house starts in 2013-14, following a modest lift of 3.7% in 2012-3, according to

Obviously it will be important to see further strong momentum in land sales for some time to come. For that to occur there needs to be a keener policy focus on ensuring adequate and affordable shovel-ready land is available.

A sustained improvement in confidence, together with low interest rates, will assist the prospect of the recovery gathering legs.

However, the current regulatory and taxation environment combined with ever tightening credit conditions for residential development significantly dilutes the chances of securing this outcome.

Nigel Shaw of Wilson Timbers (left) brought along Erin Gardner and Diane Holland and met up with Darren Nobile of Jindalee Timber Mouldings.

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eVents: tiMBer united GrOuP MeetinG Peter Crooke, sales manager, Bretts Pty Ltd, Jim Burgess, Black Bean Services, Greg Jensen, commercial and regulatory manager, Lonza Wood Protection (Aust), and Bob McMaster, Redland Roof Trusses.

David Alcock, director, Asia Pacific Timbers, Alan Jones, immediate past president, Brisbane Hoo-Hoo Club 218, and Chris Hay, general manager, Northside Trusses & Frames.

Graeme Rees, general manager (Asia Pacific) Lonza Wood Protection, Roger Denley, Timbeck Cedar Products, Pieter Verlinden, president Jurisdiction IV, Hoo-Hoo Inernational, and Alfred Chapple, president Brisbane Hoo-Hoo Club 218.

Felix MacDonald, private contractor, Bill Neilson, The Truss Company, and Graeme Ferrow, managing director, Timbeck Cedar Products.

Sponsorship Opportunity Frame Australia 2014 Conference and Exhibition Frame is the only national event for the complete supply chain of structural timber, engineered wood products and pre-fabricated frames for the detached housing and multi-residential dwelling markets, and embraces the key industry sectors from manufacturing through to building construction.

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For further information contact conference director Kevin Ezard: kevin@frameaustralia.com or phone (03) 9537 3800.

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2014 ISSUE 293 | 28.10.13 | PAGE 13

sPeCiAL BusH Fire rePOrt FOrester Gary Bacon gave us the nod to this article by norm Goyer – somewhat relevant in this bushfire report edition of timber&Forestry enews

Forestry student on fire watch spots enemy incendiary aircraft

Only WW 2 plane to drop bomb on US mainland SEPTEMBER 9, 1942 .. the I-25 class Japanese submarine was cruising in an easterly direction raising its periscope occasionally as it neared the US coastline.

Japan had attacked Pearl Harbour less than a year before and the captain of the attack submarine knew that Americans were watching their coast line for ships and aircraft that might attack.

Dawn was approaching; the first rays of the sun were flickering off the periscopes lens. Their mission – attack the west coast with incendiary bombs in hopes of starting a devastating forest fire.

If this test run were successful, Japan had hopes of using their huge submarine fleet to attack the eastern end of the Panama Canal to slow down shipping from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The Japanese Navy had a large number of I-400 submarines under construction, each capable of carrying three aircraft.

Pilot chief warrant officer Nobuo Fujita and his crewman petty officer Shoji Okuda were making last-minute checks of their charts making sure they matched those of the submarine’s navigator.

On the day, Nebraska forestry student Keith Johnson was on duty atop a forest fire lookout tower between Gold’s Beach and Brookings in Oregon.

Johnson had memorised the silhouettes of Japanese long distance bombers and those of US aircraft. He felt confident that he could spot and identify friend or foe almost immediately.

It was cold on the coast this September morning, and quiet.

PAgE 14 | issuE 293 | 28.10.13

The Yokosuka E14Y (allied reporing name Glen) .. an Imperial Japanesae Navy reconnaissance seaplane transported aboard and launched from Japanse submarine aircraft carriers.

The residents of the area were still in bed or preparing to head for work. Lumber was a large part of the industry in Brookings, just a few miles north of the California Oregon state lines.

The aircraft carried two incendiary 168 pound bombs and a crew of two.

Aboard the submarine the

captain’s voice boomed over the PA system: “Prepare to surface, aircrew report to your stations, and wait for the open hatch signal.”

During training runs several subs were lost when hangar door were opened too soon and sea water rushed into the hangars and sank the boat with all hands lost. You could

The Oregon coastline .. in the Japanese bomber’s sights.

hear the change of sound as the bow of the I-25 broke from the depths, nosed over for its run on the surface. A loud bell signalled the ‘all clear’.

The crew assigned to the single-engine Yokosuki E14Y sprang into action. They rolled the plane out of its hangar built next to the conning tower.

The wings and tail were unfolded, and two 168 pound incendiary bombs were attached to the hard points under the wings. This was a small two passenger float plane with a nine-cylinder 340 hp radial engine.

It was full daylight when the captain ordered the aircraft to be placed on the catapult.

Warrant officer Fujita started the engine, let it warm up, and checked the magnetos and oil pressure. There was a slight breeze blowing and the seas were calm – a perfect day to attack the United States of America.

When the gauges were in the green the pilot signalled and the catapult launched the aircraft. After a short climb to altitude the pilot turned on a heading for the Oregon coast.

Meanwhile, Keith Johnson was sweeping the horizon but could see nothing. He went back to his duties as a forestry agent which was searching for any signs of a forest fire. The morning moved on. Every few minutes he would scan low, medium, and high but nothing caught his eye.

The small Japanese float plane had climbed to several thousand feet of altitude for better visibility and to get above the coastal fog. The pilot had calculated land fall in a few Cont Page 15

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sPeCiAL BusHFire rePOrt

His instructions were simple: fly at 500 ft, drop the bombs into the trees, and circle once to see if they have started any fires From Page 14

minutes and right on schedule he could see the breakers flashing white as they hit the Oregon shores.

Johnson was about to put his binoculars down when something flashed in the sun just above the fog bank. It was unusual because in the past all air traffic had been flying up and down the coast, not aiming into the coast.

The pilot of the aircraft checked his course and alerted his observer to be on the lookout for a fire tower which was on the edge of the wooded area where they were supposed to drop their bombs.

These airplanes carried very little fuel and all flights were in and out without any loitering.

The plane reached the shore line and the pilot made a course correction 20 degrees to the north. The huge trees were easy to spot and certainly easy to hit with the bombs. The fog was very wispy by this time.

Johnson watched in awe as the small floatplane with a red

The Yokosuka E14Y is catapulted from a I-25 class Japanese submarine .. destination Oregon.

meat ball on the wings flew overhead. The plane was not a bomber and there was no way that it could have flown across the Pacific. Johnson could not understand what was happening. He locked onto the plane and followed it as it headed inland.

The pilot activated the release locks so that when he would select the bombs they would release. His instructions were simple: fly at 500 feet, drop the bombs into the trees, and circle once to see if they had started

any fires and then head back to the submarine.

Johnson could see the two bombs under the wing of the plane and knew that they would be dropped. He grabbed his communications radio and called the forest fire headquarters informing them of what he was watching unfold.

The bombs tumbled from the small seaplane and impacted the forests. The pilot circled once and spotted fire around the impact point. He executed a 180 deg. turn and headed

back to the submarine. There was no air activity, the skies were clear.

The small float plane lined up with the surfaced submarine and landed gently on the ocean, then taxied to the sub.

A long boom swung out from the stern. Crewman caught the cable and hooked it into the pickup attached to the roll over cage between the cockpits.

The plane was swung onto the deck.

The plane’s crew folded the wings and tail, pushed it into its hangar and secured the water tight doors. The I-25 submerged and headed back to Japan.

This event, which caused no damage, marked the only time during World War 2 that an enemy plane had dropped bombs on the United States mainland.

What the Japanese didn’t count on was coastal fog, mist and heavy doses of rain made the forests so wet they simply would not catch fire.

FsC certification suspended on blue gums in Green triangle AUSTRALIAN Bluegum Plantations (APB), which manages more than 90,000 ha of trees in the Green Triangle region, has received a notice of suspension of its FSC certification.

This follows independent audit reports on compliance of APB and Green Triangle Plantation Forest Company of Australia (GPFL) The reports highlighted a sensitive issue concerning the welfare of koalas in the Green Triangle region in southeast South Australia and southwest Victoria, an area which is home to Mt Eccles national park, with a significant koala population and some 117,000 ha of

eucalypt plantations.

ABP was formed in late 2009 to acquire and manage high quality blue gum plantations located in the Green Triangle region in southwest Victoria,

southeast SA, and southwest WA. The plantations were originally established from 1992 onwards and are managed on a 10 to 15-year rotation length.

The independent auditor’s

Blue gums plantations in the Green Triangle region.

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reports into the FSC certification of ABP and GPFL have been publicly released by the independent auditors. The audit reports found non-conformances by both companies, to differing degrees.

The notice of suspension of FSC certification provides ABP with a 30-day notice period that its certification will be suspended, giving it opportunity to manage its affairs such as contacting customers and removing the FSC brand mark from its products and marketing collateral.

issue 293 | 28.10.13 | Page 15

Timber and thieves thrive in russia’s far eastern forests

Illegal wood turns up as flooring and furniture in US FORESTS cover about half of Russia’s land mass, an environmental resource that President Vladimir Putin calls “the powerful green lungs of the planet”.

But Putin himself acknowledges that Russia, the world’s biggest exporter of logs, is having its timber stolen at an unprecedented rate.

The demand for high-value timber is fueling organised crime, government corruption and illegal logging in the Russian Far East. The hardwood cut in the endless forests often ends up as flooring and furniture in the US, Europe, Japan and China.

At a meeting on timber management earlier this year, Putin said that illegal logging has increased by nearly 70% over the past five years, and he added that timber thieves had no problem selling their product.

Illegal loggers are often linked to violent organised crime, and together, they undermine what officials say could be sustainable forests and contribute to Russia’s endemic corruption by paying off local officials.

Oak and walnut wood are highly prized for flooring and furniture and are targets for illegal loggers. Much of it is taken by companies with valid logging permits; they cut much more than they’re allowed to, or they cut species that aren’t permitted. The Environmental Investigation Agency recently released a report that traces illegally cut timber from the source to the consumer.

“We found out that the vast majority of it first goes into

PAGE 16 | ISSUE 293 | 28.10.13

Is it legal wood? Russian logs on track for processing in China.

China, which is right next door, into their manufacturing centres, and in products of any type you can imagine, as it spreads around the world,” says EIA’s executive director Alexander von Bismarck.

Von Bismarck says the team set up a dummy corporation and posed as buyers of wood flooring. They recorded conversations with an executive of a large Chinese wood products company called Xingja.

“He openly described the types of illegality in the supply chain – that he cuts illegally on his own land, which is a common method that is destroying the forest there, and he talked about corruption and how he used that to stay out of trouble,” von Bismarck says.

The EIA report makes another allegation that involves the

Alexander von Bismarck .. vast majority of Russian wood goes into China.

Chinese company’s American customer Liquidators.

biggest Lumber

Von Bismarck says Lumber Liquidators bought flooring from Xingja, and that it should have known that the flooring was made from illegally

Much of the timber is taken by companies with valid logging permits; they cut much more than they’re allowed to, or they cut species that aren’t permitted

logged wood.

That’s a serious allegation, because the US Lacey Act prohibits American companies from buying illegally cut wood products from other countries.

The law puts the burden on US companies to actively determine, as best they can, that the products they buy come from legal sources.

Lumber Liquidators’ founder and CEO Tom Sullivan says the report is inaccurate and that its claims are not substantiated.

“If we had any knowledge of any mill of ours buying from an illegal source or a non-sustainable source, we immediately would not buy from them,” Sullivan said.

“We are extremely pro-active in making sure that all our materials are from legal and sustainable sources.”

Sullivan says his company has more than 60 experts in the field who work to make sure that the products it buys comply with the law.

In September, federal agents searched Lumber Liquidators headquarters and one of its stores in Virginia, a raid that included investigators from Immigration and Customs, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Justice Department.

The search warrants in the case remain sealed, but the environmental group EIA says the raid was connected with the allegations of importing illegal wood products.

The company says it is cooperating fully with the investigation.

– NPR News.

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internAtiOnAL FOCus

exports to China surge as wood products climb the value chain

Canada pushes wood-frame construction BRITISH Columbia lumber exports to China are on track to surpass last year’s near-record $1.08 billion, and Japanese sales are rebounding as well, as the Canadian province continues to push wood products up the value chain.

By the end of August, the latest government figures available for the province show the value of lumber exports to China had hit $899 million, 32% higher than the same period in 2012.

British Columbia has been on a decade-long effort to gain acceptance for its wood products in China, which has traditionally relied on concrete and steel in its residential building sector.

While lumber exports have surged into China from this province – a 1500% run-up since 2003, which peaked at $1.1 billion in 2012 – it has largely been low-grade material used in concrete forming and in the country’s secondary manufacturing sector.

Efforts by the province to introduce wood-frame construction – including the use of roof-building systems and infill and exterior walls in apartment construction – are beginning to gain wider acceptance, Coast Forest Products Association president Rick Jeffery said from China.

The majority of BC lumber exported to China continues to be low-grade material, but there has been a 12% overyear increase in lumber used in wood-frame construction, said Mr Jeffery, who was in China as part of an Asian trade mission led by British Columbia Forests Minister Steve Thomson.

“We are slowly but surely chipping away at moving up the value ladder,” Mr Jeffery said.

The payoff is higher-grade and

British Columbia Forestry Minister Steve Thomson visits the Songjiang townhouse project, outside Shanghai. The project, a rare low-density community, is composed of 146 town house villas, 990 multi-layers of six to eight floors, and a small high-rise of 11 floors.

higher-priced lumber from BC’s Interior sold into the world’s most-populous country, and coastal wood used in interior finishing.

Mr Jeffery noted they also visited a sauna manufacturer sourcing red cedar from the British Columbia coast.

“What we find is as we help them understand the values and properties of our wood,

they start to understand how they can use those values and properties to their advantage,” explained Mr Jeffery.

“That’s a long, slow process; that’s why missions like this one are critically important to build relationships and show our customers we are there to help them with the value proposition.”

British Columbia and China’s

Zhejiang province have signed an agreement encouraging greater cooperation in woodframe construction.

The agreement calls for the two provinces to cooperate on developing construction and fire codes for wood-frame construction, and to exchange technological information.

The agreement also helps Zhejiang province promote the use of wood-frame construction, required under recently adopted Chinese policies on using wood as an environmentally-friendly, lowcarbon building material.

“We see opportunities for volume and for value (into China),” said Steve Thomson.

Earlier in Japan, plans were announced to build a support centre for children with disabilities as part of Canada and BC’s effort to aid construction after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Unlike China, Japan has traditionally used wood in residential construction.

Lumber sales to Japan are expected to surpass last year’s $711 million mark, according to the British Columbia government.

– Vancouver Sun.

Big increase in China imports

Architect’s impression of the Songjiang Townhouse project in Shanghai.

British Columbia’s value of lumber exports to China has hit $899 million, 32% higher than the same period in 2012

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CHINA’S lumber and log imports in September showed respective increases of 31.7% and 30.2% to 2.2 million cub m of lumber and 4.27 million cub m of logs – year-to-date lumber and log imports up 14.9% and 16.4%, respectively.

In September, China imported lumber at an average cost of $US279 / cub m. The same month, imported logs at an average price of $US204/cub m.

issue 293 | 28.10.13 | Page 17

FOrest reseArCH

scientists strike gold in leaves

Gilding the eucalypts in Western Australia EUCALYPT trees in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia are drawing up gold particles from the earth by way of their root system and depositing it in their leaves and branches.

Scientists from CSIRO made the discovery and have published their findings.

“The eucalypt acts as a hydraulic pump – its roots extend tens of metres into the ground and draw up water containing the gold,” CSIRO geochemist Dr Mel Lintern said.

“As the gold is likely to be toxic to the plant, it’s moved to the leaves and branches where it can be released or shed to the ground.”

The discovery is unlikely to start an old-time gold rush – the ‘nuggets’ are about one-fifth the diameter of a

Gold does grows on trees .. CSIRO geochemist Dr Mel Lintern.

human hair. However, it could provide a golden opportunity for mineral exploration, as the leaves or soil underneath the trees could indicate gold ore deposits buried up to tens of metres underground and under sediments that are up to 60 million years old.

“The leaves could be used

in combination with other tools as a more cost effective and environmentally friendly exploration technique,” Dr Lintern said.

“By sampling and analysing vegetation for traces of minerals, we may get an idea of what’s happening below the surface without the need to

drill. It’s a more targeted way of searching for minerals that reduces costs and impact on the environment.

“Eucalyptus trees are so common that this technique could be widely applied across Australia. It could also be used to find other metals such as zinc and copper.”

Using CSIRO’s Maia detector for x-ray elemental imaging at the Australian Synchrotron, the research team was able to locate and see the gold in the leaves.

“Our advanced x-ray imaging enabled the researchers to examine the leaves and produce clear images of the traces of gold and other metals, nestled within their structure,” principal scientist at the Australian Synchrotron Dr David Paterson said.

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PAGE 18 | ISSUE 293 | 28.10.13

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