Round Table 8

BRIEFS

Gary Blackwood

If there is to be a transition away from Native Forest Harvesting it has to take place over a much longer timeframe. If we are serious about growing our own timber needs here in Victoria we have to get really serious about plantation establishment, both for short term fibre for Australian Paper, 10-15 years and for the production of appearance grade and construction timber processed by Sawmills 40-60 years. In my view it is so hypocritical to shut down our Native Timber Industry and then import the product from Countries who do not replant or from areas of huge environmental significance such as the Amazon Rainforest. However the reality is if you are going to grow trees of the same quality that our Native Forests produce you will need areas of high rainfall, good soil type and climate. At present this type of land is high quality agricultural land and unlikely to be affordable/viable for growing trees. You can grow trees in short rotation for fibre from marginal farming land and this will assist fibre supply to Opal Australian Paper. However in summary a real transition must be long term 40 years minimum. There is no reason that this cannot be undertaken. We have a sustainable industry, not one species of animal has become extinct because of timber harvesting in Victoria. The product used is regrown, stores carbon and is a complete contrast to steel and cement or imported timber.

Dale Harriman

If there is to be a transition away from Native timber then it needs to be over a harvest cycle, 60-80 years, not the 9 years we have left. What we need is an allocated 10,000 hectares ready to be planted on a rotating cycle now before the transition begins, not the mess we have now with the lack of plantings and no long term goals. We need guarantees of the right to harvest ( and signage ) so that in 60 years time we aren’t left with a situation similar to those occurring now where new local residents object to THEIR trees being cut down .

QGiven the State Government’s plan to replace the native timber resource with plantation timber, how viable would plantations be given water, and feral pest issues and a potential lack of available land?

Darren Chester

I fully support more investment in plantation timber but it is deceitful by the State Government to claim that the plantations can replace sustainable native timber harvesting in just 10 years.

We currently harvest just four out of 10,000 trees each year on public land in Victoria, with the vast of the majority of our forests already locked up in national parks and reserves, never to be harvested.

Any trees harvested are replanted on a continuous cycle which has provided timber for construction, furniture and paper manufacturing for decades.

It is a strictly regulated industry and if we shut it down, the alternative is importing more wood and paper from countries with lower environmental standards.

Victoria has a vast reserve of national parks with strict environmental protections. Our State’s timber industry is the most environmentally sustainable native timber harvesting industry in the world, with value adding occurring in timber manufacturing facilities in Gippsland.

Timber production and recreational activities like four-wheel driving, camping and hiking can co-exist in our well managed forests.

There are already a lot of concerns within the timber industry regarding the State Government’s plan for plantation timber with continued delays in establishing plantations and the loss of thousands of hectares during the bushfires. Gary Blackwood

As I have said the available land is the big problem. It is too expensive and has a much higher value use growing clean green food. Growing Plantation Timber and relying solely on it’s product comes with some risk. The quality can never be the same as native forest given it is grown outside it’s natural environment. Access to water could be another issue for plantation establishment, once again native forest has, by it’s very location, has access to natural rainwater of medium to high volume. Fire is always going to be an issue in a drying climate and will pose a closer risk to communities than remote never to be harvested. The remaining 6% is available for timber production and only .03% of that area is harvested each year.

Dale Harriman

We have already seen the lack of land being an issue and leases not being renewed to current lease holders and then magically being taken up by the government. With the so called climate emergency predicting large scale loss of water then the new plantations become totally unviable. As for the current plan to have them taken on by Investment Companies and Super Funds , no doubt with Carbon credits as the key, I see the repeat

It is a strictly regulated industry and if we shut it down, the alternative is importing more wood and paper from countries with lower environmental standards.

native forest, especially located within easy access for arsonists. At the end of the day if we are serious about supplying our own timber needs for sustainable sources, the ongoing access to a small part of our Native Forest is far more responsible. Remenber 94% of our Public Native Forest Estate is currently set aside in Parks and Reserves of previous failed programs being blueprinted ! We already see with a number of Government run forests the huge impact on local farmers and residents of Feral animals and the lack of control measures to keep them under control. Again this is a city Centric mantra taking precedence over the reality in our Forests. ROLLINS RETIRES

AFTER nearly 44 years in the timber industry, Dave Rollins will soon wrap up his ‘gap year’ and retire from Timberlink.

Dave began his career in timber in 1976 in Cumming Bros sawmill timber yard, after taking a gap year from his university studies in agricultural science. While working there, he completed a four-year cadetship in timber through RMIT.

Dave was first employed by Timberlink in 1987, when he joined what was then known as Tas Softwoods. During his career with the company, Dave worked across three states, including at the Tarpeena mill in South Australia and the Bell Bay mill in Northern Tasmania.

CARBON DEAL

MIDWAY Tasmania and Climate Friendly, two leading service providers in their respective fields of forestry and carbon project development, have announced a strategic alliance that combines farm forestry with carbon farming.

The partnership model will provide services to local land managers in Tasmania, enabling them to become small-scale private forestry growers and to improve the productivity of otherwise marginal land.

Climate Friendly and Midway will partner with these growers to facilitate both an early income from carbon farming, in addition to longer term income from sustainable forest products.

COMMENT SOUGHT

PUBLIC comment is now being sought on a revised draft for the Australian Standard for Chain of Custody for Forest and Tree Based Products – AS 4707.

The Australian Standard, along with the Australian Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (AS 4708) was developed by Responsible Wood and are key components of the Responsible Wood Certification Scheme (RWCS). AS / NZS 4707 underpins the endorsement of the PEFC Chain of Custody of Forest and Tree Based Products certification scheme operating in Australia.

East Gippsland in crisis Native timber decision will cut mill’s supply

Phillip Hopkins

Chris McEvoy could not be happier. His new Radial Timber sawmill at Yarram is working extremely well, but there is a cloud on the horizon: the Andrews Government’s plan to close the native forest industry by 2030 will leave him five years’ short of timber supply.

Radial began establishing hardwood plantations on planned 30-year rotations in 2004. The plan was to make the business self-sufficient in the long term, but in the interim, it still relies on timber supply from VicForests.

“The real dilemma is, we’ve got the longest contract with VicForests of all timber producers – until the end of 2026 - due to the huge investment in the new mill in 2016,” he said. VicForests is scheduled to start cutting back on supply from 2024. “Both dates (2026 and 2030) leave us short – not much short. We can see the end in sight even with 2030, but we are potentially still five years short.”

The new mill, which uses the radial cutting technology originally conceived by Andy Knorr, has now been operating for four-and-ahalf years. Radial sawing cuts a log like a cake, which creates less waste and processes smaller logs than conventional sawing.

“We have hit our strides. We are in full production; we are easily cutting our annual allocation. We have a stable crew and stable production facility,” said Mr McEvoy, the company owner and managing director, who is a wood scientist and former CSIRO employee.

The high performance led to a recent visit to the business by Victoria’s Governor, Linda Dessau.

The mill is processing 12,000 cubic metres a year, while the old mill site is now a new drying mill.

“We have four times the production of the old mill, with the same number of staff – 20 people – who are multi-skilled and all doing it easily,” he said.

The company’s trees are being grown by Heartwood Plantations, which has a joint venture with Radial. They now have 3000 hectares of trees on 4000 ha of land within a 50-kilometre radius of Yarram, which is located in Victoria’s South Gippsland.

A key acquisition was 1500ha over 24 properties bought from the failed management investment company Great Southern Plantations in 2017. Most had been planted to blue gum and some shining gum for woodchips.

“As these plantations are harvested, we are replanting to high-value sawlog species. These are at various stages of growth. The oldest is 16 years old, and we are planting every year. We try to get 50-100 ha planted annually,” Mr McEvoy said. “The 3000 ha gives us a 30year sustainable supply. That’s all we need to give us 10,000m3 a year for 30 years and replant as we go so it’s a sustainable cycle.”

With experience, Radial has now changed its plantation model, but with the emphasis still on durable hardwoods. The species mix has grown from four to about six or seven - yellow stringybark, silver top, spotted gum, coastal grey box (class1, “grows locally, slow growing, the form is not great, but can be improved by genetics – definitely a new one”), red iron bark, (“another class 1 from Gippsland”) and southern mahogany.

“We also do a lot more random establishment – still planting in rows, but mixing up the species,” he said. Nature had provided interesting lessons. “What we found – Darwin’s natural section showed us how forests work. The stronger survive and the weakest don’t.

In monoculture blocks, some species are more affected by drought, some by insect attack, some by nutrient deficiencies in the soil – a lot is degraded farmland – and some more affected by frost.”

Mr McEvoy said a frost or nutrient deficiency could destroy a whole block and “you are back to square one”. However, by mixing up and using the right species, a frost may only take out a few trees, which were then thinned as part of the usual thinning process.

“You don’t have to start from scratch. It’s a more efficient way and like an insurance policy.

Also, it’s really good for biodiversity; there is no sterile monoculture forest. It’s similar to a mixed species forest.”

Mr McEvoy said people many people maintained these timbers would not grow well in plantation – “they won’t grow straight enough, or fast enough”. “But when you talk high value timbers, you have time on your side. There are a lot of even non-traditional products you can do,” he said.

For example, Radial supplies plantation durable timber for children’s playgrounds. “The market now wants natural organic playgrounds. They’ve gone away from plastic and steel and treated pine; they want odd forms, bent and twisty wood. Not everything has to be sawn timber for flooring – that’s how markets evolve.”

Fencing and managing the plantations still remained an ongoing cost, but livestock are now used as a natural way to control weeds and fire risk. “To plant and maintain – the cost goes up every year. It does get harder to manage privately - the ongoing, 30-year cycle with very little income and inflated expenses. It’s not a fantastic business model. For now, we still need VicForests’ timber for cash flow, but the very efficient, reduced-cost mill is helping to fund ongoing plantation establishment,” he said.

•Victoria’s Governor Linda Dessau AC during a recent visit to the Radial Timber mill at Yarram in Gippsland.

Key Points

•The Radial Timber sawmill is processing 12,000 cubic metres a year, while the old mill site is now a new drying mill. •The mill has the longest contract with

VicForests of all timber producers – until the end of 2026 - due to the huge investment in the new mill in 2016 •The State Government’s plan to close the native forest industry by 2030 will leave the mill five years’ short of timber supply.

BRIEFS

RFA CHANGES

THE Senate has agreed to recommended changes to the Regional Forest Agreements framework to give operational certainty that the native forest industry has been seeking.

The Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee report follows the committee’s inquiry on the private Senator’s Bill put up by Senator Bridget McKenzie. This follows a controversial ruling of Justice Mortimer last year which undermined two decades of environmental oversight of forestry operations through Regional Forest Agreements.

LOH APPOINTED

NEW Forests Pty Ltd, the international sustainable forestry investment manager, has appointed Christine Loh as an independent director to its board.

Ms. Loh has previously served as Under-Secretary for the Environment for the Hong Kong Government (2012-2017) and is currently Chief Development Strategist at the Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

NEW WA DIRECTOR

WESTERN Australia’s Forest Products Commission has appointed Islay Robertson as it’s new Director Operations.

Mr Robertson is a Forestry School graduate of the Australian National University and has previously held operational, management and executive roles in forestry in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia.

He replaces FPC’s former Director Operations Gavin Butcher, who retired earlier this year.

COMMUNITY GRANTS

THE Hyne Community Trust will open for applications on 1 June for four weeks. The trust supports projects valued over $10,000 that can demonstrate how they will provide lasting benefits to the community.

Community groups considering applying for a Hyne Community Trust grant this June should start reviewing the guidelines available at https:// www.hyne.com.au/hyne-community-trust and consider how their application will provide long lasting benefits to the community.

Mangan family reaches major milestone

60 years in the field and four generations

Oberon-based Mangan Logging & Haulage has reached a major milestone with the Australian-owned business marking 60 years of operation and welcoming its fourth generation into the family-run business.

Established in 1961 by Bert and Monica Mangan, the business has grown from one trucking unit to 25, along with numerous harvesting units, two mechanic workshops, a 24hour breakdown service and a parts store.

They employ over 70 staff and contractors, including six apprentices, many of whom are themselves multi-generational employees with the business.

Today, the Mangan Group harvest and haul over 500,000 tonnes of softwood plantation pine each year delivering quality product to Highland Pine, Borg, Visy, Allied Timber Products NSW, and various export markets.

A hallmark of the business has been the seamless management transition over the six decades from Bert and Monica, to son Michael and his wife Suzanne, and to today’s leaders, their grandchildren Mathew, Lisa, Chris, and Michelle.

Recently they welcomed Mathew’s son Riley to the business, who began his mechanical apprenticeship, following the same path his father did 24 years earlier.

Starting out

Bert began his career in the timber industry on the NSW Central Coast in the town of Wyong. Historically a strong logging community, the industry had begun to slow. In 1961, at the request of his then employer, Bert and Monica and their young son, Michael, travelled to the town of Oberon in the Central Tablelands to complete a contract. Before long, the contract was theirs.

“It came down to the fact that the chap we were working for decided he just didn’t want to run the business anymore and that we could take over,” Monica recalls. •Bert Mangan with one of his original trucks.

“When Dad began the business in Oberon the timber industry was manually based, so the first 10-15 years of Mangan Logging were tough,” Michael said.

“It was basically people with chainsaws felling, pruning, and stacking the timber onto pallets that were winched onto Dad’s two army-style Blitz trucks and then delivered to the sawmills.”

Michael began joining Bert in the plantation forests by the time he was around seven years of age.

“I used to go out to the bush with my father and the big thing was weekends. He’d go and load the trucks up ready for Monday and things like that. I’d go out with him and give him a hand.” Michael joined his father in the business full time as soon as he could leave school.

As Michael’s responsibilities within the family business increased, he took the initiative to upgrade the company’s equipment. He introduced the first mechanised harvester and forwarder into the business, which took the timber workers off the bush floor and into the safety of a machine cab. First changing of the guard

In 1984, Bert’s doctors strongly advised him to step down from the day-to-day running of the business. As Suzanne put it, “The doctor told him if he didn’t get out, he wouldn’t survive because his blood pressure was so high.” Bert and Monica retired back to the NSW Central Coast and Michael and Suzanne stepped up.

But it was challenging times. Government economic reforms during the 1980’s had a profound impact on the economy overall. Mangan Logging wasn’t spared as interest rates to borrow for the necessary upgrades to equipment hit 29 per cent.

“The machines we needed to land contracts were around the $400,000 to $500,000 mark which was huge back then,” Suzanne said. “We were lucky to secure a contract with CSR during that time. The banks finally understood that loans to get equipment meant we could actually do the work.”

Investment in safety and productivity

Mangan Logging & Haulage use a variety of machinery to optimise the productivity and quality of their services, including Harvesters, Feller Bunchers, Forwarders, Skidders, Loaders and B-Double Trucking Combinations. This allows their crews to work on different slopes and terrains, including the steep slopes of the Oberon region that