Australian Forests & Timber February 2023

Industry warns of Koala Park plans

New South Wales Labor’s promise to establish a Great Koala National Park if it wins the State election in March will increase uncertainty in the forestry sector and potentially a mass exit of skilled labour, according to the Australian Forest Contractors Association.

And the Australian Forest Products Association NSW CEO Victor Violante says science shows that the state’s sustainable native forestry industry has no impact on koala numbers.

Labor has promised it will spend $80 million establishing the sanctuary, comprising existing national parks and state forests between Kempsey and Grafton.

Australian Forest Contractors Association general manager Carlie Porteous cautioning the NSW Opposition about making any decisions that removes the effective management of forest areas by highly skilled operators.

“Land management needs to be done correctly, by the right government entity and the right skilled workers,” she said.

Ms Porteous has called for NSW Labor to ensure it conducts its consultation in a balanced, transparent and fair way if it truly wishes to make a difference in the endangered classification of this iconic animal.

“The industry supports the science. We encourage Labor to be thorough in its engagement process and not to fall into the trap of confusing ‘land-clearing activities’ with well managed forests,” she said.

Mr Violante said the park would result in the closure of the hardwood timber industry on the NSW Mid North Coast.

“NSW forest industries are at the forefront of koala conservation, and firmly believe that koala protections must be based on science and evidence to ensure the survival of this iconic species,” he said.

“NSW’s sustainable native forest industries are part of

the solution and play a vital role in forest management and mitigating the threat of catastrophic bushfires.

Mr Violante said a recent NSW Government study of koala populations in NSW’s north-east forests that used advanced koala detection technology found that timber harvesting has no impact on koala numbers.

However, he said the lack of detail in Labor’s announcement meant the thousands of hardwood timber industry workers in NSW would be concerned about their future.

Anyone building a house or renovating should also be concerned about what this will mean for the cost and availability of timber, as well as other essential timber products sourced from state forests including firewood.

“The Great Koala National Park as proposed by anti-forestry groups would mean the closure of NSW’s hardwood timber industry and increase our reliance on timber imported from countries at high risk of deforestation and illegal logging,” Mr Violante said.

Closing the native timber industry would cost the NSW economy more than $1 billion a year in economic activity, and mean higher housing construction costs, lengthy delays on new home builds and renovations, shortages of firewood to heat our homes, and fewer firefighting resources in bushfire prone areas. The evidence also shows that it will not support koala conservation.”

NSW Environment Minister James Griffin has called Labor’s promise a “plan for a plan”, labelling it “embarrassing”.

“What we’ve seen from them today is a plan to spend $80 million to consult on potentially creating a new national park,” he said.

“That $80 million on consultation will not see a single dollar go to helping protect a single koala.”

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FEBRUARY 2023

Issue 1 – Volume 34

Established 1991

3 - 16

16-17

18 - 20

Front Cover: New South Wales

Labor’s promise to establish a Great Koala

A tale of two fires - the need for resources

Two separate fires that started from lightning strikes in Western Australia earlier this month reinforce the need to increase the resources available for prescribed burning and plantation protection in our south-west forests.

Prescribed fire is an essential tool to mitigate the risk of wicked wildfires and help protect the communities, biodiversity and business that surround Native Forests and ensure future investment in Australia’s timber supply.

Black Summer have scarred the insurers.

Continued losses in WA from fires like those experienced last week make any insurance, let alone affordable insurance, just a daydream.

32

National Park if it wins the State election in March is becoming a hot issue for forestry.

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While every effort has been made to

During just one storm, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) responded to more than twenty fires resulting from over 300,000 lightning strikes across the south-west.

Fire one started in jarrah forest near Kirup on Monday, January 9.

It had been just two years since the area had been prescribed burned and with low fuel loads, the fire behaviour, even being pushed by winds, was only moderate.

It only took two DBCA fire trucks and one bulldozer to contain the fire to just sixty hectares.

Contrast this with fire two started at the same time, 10km south-west of Mumballup.

Unfortunately, this lightning strike landed in fuels that had been not managed through prescribed fire for sixteen years.

Despite the best efforts of fire crews, it escaped from the native forest and burned into pine and blue gum timber plantations, inflicting millions of dollars’ worth of damage to valuable tree crops, and destroying at least one home.

MY VIEW

Brad

The fire eventually impacted an area of over 6000 ha and at its peak, 40 fire trucks, almost a dozen pieces of earthmoving equipment, two Large Air Tankers, several single-engine water bombers and fire-fighting helicopters fought the blaze.

The cost to extinguish the first fire would be under $50,000 while the second fire would be closer to $5,000,000 and still counting.

This does not include damage to farm infrastructure, lost earnings by volunteers and economic disruption of closed roads and the psychological stress upon the community of contemplating the safety of loved ones and enacting evacuation plans.

The difference of $4.95M in direct cost to taxpayers can be largely attributed to differences in fuel ages and prescribed burning in the immediate vicinity of the ignition point.

With the closing down of the native forest harvesting and the sawmills that come with it, Western Australia has put all of its timber eggs in the plantation basket.

Without better protection of community assets like plantation forests, investment in new plantations to supply the timber we need will be untenable – the risks will be too great.

To get a pine plantation to harvestable age, it must not be exposed to fire for a minimum of twenty-five years.

Already, it is virtually impossible for small plantation owners to obtain insurance for their crop.

The massive plantation losses experienced on the east coast during the 19/20

Local governments in areas where new timber plantations are being established are looking with trepidation at what risks may be being introduced into their community. They are asking questions about what increased demands will be made of their volunteer firefighters.

Australia is relying on these plantations to sequester carbon, to offset emissions from our major employers and creators of wealth. Not much carbon is going to be sequestered if plantations keep being rendered into carbon dioxide by fire, before they reach an age where they can be turned into timber for our children’s houses.

Continued Page 5

Closing native forestry – the net gain for Australia is nil

Do any of these possibly well-meaning anti-forestry folk really think through the ramifications of their usually destructive schemes when they come up with them? It seems not.

Let’s look at three examples; the Greens and antiforestry led closure of the native timber industry in Victoria, the as-yet unexplained closure of the native timber industry in Western Australia, and the New South Wales Labor Opposition’s pledge to go ahead with the Great Koala Park if elected to government in March.

We’ll start in Victoria. The last ream of Reflex white

multiple long court battles with the “well-meaning” anti-forestry folk.

paper has been produced at the Maryvale Paper Mill, near Traralgon in eastern Victoria, creating uncertainty for more than 90 workers.

Opal Australian Paper’s closure of the production of white paper means Australia will need to rely on imports, potentially sending paper prices skyrocketing.

Opal has struggled to source the native timber needed to produce white paper because of regulations placed on logging after

The subsequent court rulings have left VicForests unable to meet some contracts and the Maryvale mill emptied its stockpile in the time spent seeking a solution.

The mill is the biggest private employer in the Latrobe Valley.

Now let’s head west.

The tiny town of Nannup is the latest to feel the brunt of the Western Australian government’s decision to end native logging with the town’s timber mill closing.

Forty-five people lost their jobs when Parkside Timber closed the doors.

And thirdly, the Great Koala Park scheme. Labor has promised it will spend $80 million establishing the sanctuary, comprising existing national parks and state forests between Kempsey and Grafton.

Again, we see the end of the native timber industry in the name of saving the koala.

It would mean the closure of NSW’s hardwood timber industry and increase our reliance on imported timber.

Sadly, two themes resonate. In each case, jobs will be lost, and Australia’s reliance on imported timber will increase.

Net gain to Australia; Nil.

Barr

Resource Manager - Wespine Industries

• The aftermath of the fire 10km south-west of Mumballup.

Global demand putting pressure on SA forestry

Global demand for fibre-based products continues to grow, putting increased pressure on South Australia’s forest industries to plant more trees in the ground to meet our current and future fibre needs.

“The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) provided a new pathway for industry to work with farmers to realise this growth opportunity, whilst meeting the agricultural sector’s carbon reduction ambitions,” said Nathan Paine, Chief Executive Officer, South Australian Forest Products Association.

“With our forests producing countless essential products in our day-to-day lives, we need urgent action to get more trees in the ground, particularly

with global fibre demands expected to quadruple by 2050,” Mr Paine said.

The Green Triangle forestry estate in our state’s

South-East has shrunk by about 30,000 hectares over the past decade which is on top of almost 20,000 hectares lost on Kangaroo Island over the last couple of years. This is in large part due to challenging water policy settings in conjunction with economic conditions which have inhibited replanting in some areas along with the 2020 Kangaroo Island bushfires.

“SAFPA’s top priority is to immediately halt the loss of any more estate by ensuring every tree harvested can be, and is, replanted in conjunction with the implementation of policies that ensure the growth of the forest plantation estate.

“It is important we collaborate with other primary industry groups to secure partnership opportunities

where farmers plant productive trees on their farms which will not only deliver a carbon kick for the farmer and log for mills, but also improve farm productivity and generate regional economic activity.

Mr Paine said the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub-commissioned Unlocking Opportunities for Plantation Forestry Expansion in the Green Triangle: The Role of the Emissions Reduction Fund report provided evidence on the potential role emerging carbon markets could play in future forestry expansion, based on the Emissions Reduction Fund.

“This report indicates that a carbon price of $50 per tonne of CO2e, could potentially unlock up to 120,000 hectares of new greenfield

A tale of two fires reinforces need for resources

From Page 4

The members of Forestry Australia call on the WA State Government to invest further in the successful and proven prescribed burning program, and to commit to native forest fuel age maximums around plantation areas of no more than four years.

Overall, prescribed burning activity should increase to exceed 250,000 ha per year.

When this level of treatment was applied through the 1970s and 1980’s, plantation losses were essentially zero.

A virtuous side effect of such a policy would be that average intensity of prescribed fires, with less time for fuel accumulation between treatments, would be reduced.

This would make the fires

“cooler”, with less tree canopy scorching, and in-

Independent advisor to the world’s forest and agricultural industries

creased prospects for mosaics of unburned areas within fire-boundaries, creating refuges and habitat diversity.

The reinforced prescribed burning could be complemented by dedicated mitigation crews, preferably involving Noongar, working on Country, tasked with mechanical fuel reduction, carrying out cool burns in the wetter months, and being available for rapid de-

ployment in suppression efforts during summer.

● Brad Barr is a professional forester with 24 years’ experience in New Zealand and Western Australia. He is experienced in plantation management, harvesting, and protection. He has had direct involvement in establishing 1,900 hectares of plantations registered as carbon projects under the Emissions Reduction

Margules Groome are independent consultants to the forestry, wood products, bio solutions, pulp & paper, and agriculture sectors.

Our unique combination of forest management and consulting skills, deep industry knowledge and technical know-how, enables us to provide a wide range of expert services. These include forest valuation and transaction due

plantation estate across the Green Triangle,” Mr Paine said.

“This would not just provide certainty to the over 21,000 people directly and indirectly employed by forest industries but would unleash a tsunami of new private sector domestic manufacturing investment meaning more jobs and more prosperity for our regions and our state.

“While the current carbon price is hovering around $30 per credit, we only need to look at the equivalent prices in New Zealand and Europe to see that this value is likely to increase as we move to a decarbonised economy. SAFPA looks forward to working with primary producers to secure a solution that benefits all,” Mr Paine said.

Fund. He sits on the council of the Forest Industries Federation WA, is current chair of Forestry Australia (WA) and represents FIFWA on the State Bushfire Advisory Council. He volunteers with the Leschenault Catchment Council NRM group and the Gelorup Volunteer Bushfire Brigade.

diligence, sales advisory services, analysis and advice for forest owners, resource planning and business strategy, markets and market forecasts, operations and tech solutions.

At its core, Margules Groome stands for objectivity, impartiality and ethical business practice. Professionalism and integrity underpin everything we do.

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03 8199 7937

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● South Australian Forest Products Association CEO Nathan Paine.

Unlocking opportunities for plantation forestry in Green Triangle

Expansion of forestry plantations and trees on farms are a likely outcome in an emerging carbon market as the economy looks for pathways to achieve net-zero emissions.

The Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub has released a report it commissioned with The University of South Australia - Unlocking Opportunities for Plantation Forestry Expansion in the Green Triangle: The Role of the Emissions Reduction Fund - which provides looks at the potential role emerging carbon markets could play in future forestry expansion, based on the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF).

The report specifically focuses on the 3.4 million hectare region that straddles South East South Australia and South Western Victorian.

The report authored by Dr. Courtney M. Regan and Prof. Jeffery D. Connor from The University of South Australia identifies that a carbon price of $50 per tonne of CO2e has the potential to unlock up to 121,000 hectares of additional softwood plantations.

GTFIH chair Cam MacDonald said the report was aligned to a key aspect of the Hub’s Strategic Plan ‘Stewardship for Future Generations’ and that the findings clearly demonstrate the interconnectedness between the price of carbon and softwood plantation establishment.

“Forestry is probably the most proven technology for sequestering CO2,” he said.

“Any expansion of the softwood plantation estate

would not only provide for the sequestration of additional carbon but also create substantial additional economic benefit in the Green Triangle region through job creation.

“The carbon price is just one factor in the ability to establish forestry however carbon currently trades at about $30/CO2e which when combined with the current high prices for land challenges the profitability of establishing new plantations,” Mr MacDonald said.

“A price of $50 per tonne of CO2e paid as the forest grows would provide a revenue stream for land-owners that is more aligned with the income they generate from their other farming activities, topped up with the returns they receive when the trees are harvested. I would hope that establishing forestry plantations becomes a common outcome from those considerations.”

“This would provide a win for the community, a win for the environment and a win for economic prosperity in the region.”

Victorian Forest Products

Association CEO Deb Kerr said the report was a valuable document to inform foresters and farmers on the potential role of forestry in carbon mitigation across the landscape.

“This report indicates that a carbon price of $50 per tonne of CO2-e, could notionally unlock up to 120,000 hectares of new greenfield plantation estate across the Green Triangle with the area available ultimately influenced by a range of market factors,” Ms Kerr said.

Global demand for fibrebased products continues to grow, putting increased pressure on Victoria to get more trees in the ground to meet our current and future fibre needs. By 2050, this demand will outstrip supply by four to one.

“The Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) provides a new pathway for forestry and farmers to work together. It is a growth opportunity that will also help meet agriculture’s carbon reduction ambitions,” Ms Kerr said.

Just last week, the CSIRO

released a new report on Australia’s carbon sequestration potential showing that plantation and farm forestry provides significant potential to absorb carbon through its living biomass, forest debris and harvested wood products. Importantly, the economically feasible sequestration potential of plantation and farm forestry is significant across the technology types assessed. The report notes that an increased carbon price is one of the enablers that could unlock current barriers to planting the right trees and the right place at the right scale.

“Victoria needs to get more trees in the ground if we want to be self-sufficient in producing timber. The Green Triangle is one of Australia’s most important forestry regions and one of the largest suppliers of wood products into Victoria,” Ms Kerr said.

“Key opportunities abound where foresters collaborate in partnership with farmers to put productive trees on their farms - trees

which will not only deliver a carbon kick for the farmer and logs for mills but also improve farm productivity. “A higher carbon price, leading to an expansion of the plantation estate across the Green Triangle would give certainty to the over 8000 people currently directly and indirectly employed by forest industries in the region. It would also unleash new domestic manufacturing investment. This means more jobs and more prosperity for our regions and our state.

“While the current carbon price is hovering around $30 per credit, we only need to look at the equivalent prices in New Zealand and Europe to see that this value will increase as we move to a decarbonised economy. VFPA look forward to working with primary producers to secure a solution that benefits all,” Ms Kerr said.

The report can be found at https://gtfih.com.au/wpcontent/uploads/2022/12/ Carbon_research_to_support_GTFIH_strategic_ planning-Final.pdf

Industry warns of Great Koala Park plans for NSW

Nationals MP Melinda Pavey’s Oxley electorate hosts a large area of the proposed park.

“I think the greatest risk in locking up more areas is what we saw through the bushfires — we lost a lot of koalas and koala habitat during the last big bushfires,” she told the ABC.

“I think growing an expec-

tation that everybody will see a koala every five centimetres just by creating a park is actually probably not fair to community expectation.”

The New South Wales Government says it will not put a stop to native forest logging despite an online petition last year with more than 20,000 signatures.

Agriculture Minister

Dugald Saunders told the ABC at the time that while 20,000 signatures represented a lot of people, the NSW government needed to balance the interests of more than seven million citizens in its The CFMEU Manufacturing division has also warned that closing 176 ha of working forests will send NSW timber manufacturing off-shore.

The union’s Alison Rudman said the proposal would not achieve any environmental improvements.

“What it will do is push manufacturing of hardwood timber products offshore to countries that operate without NSW’s environmental and safety protections,” she said.

“The idea that these regrowth forests can be re-

placed by plantation timber is farcical. Those plantations have not been grown.

“The result will be an increase in imported building products and the closure of local manufacturing,” Ms Rudman said.

“These policies haven’t worked in other States (and) we don’t want to import them here.”

● Victorian Forest Products Association CEO Deb Kerr

From Page 3

Australian first for Forico plantations

Forico has become the first forest manager in Australia to achieve FSC Ecosystem Services certification.

The FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure enables organisations already certified to the globally recognised FSC Forest Management Standard to demonstrate the positive outcomes of their forest management activities on one or more ecosystem services.

Forico successfully demonstrated positive outcomes in the category of Biodiversity Conservation, specifically the conservation of natural forest characteristics, and conservation of species diversity.

The certification is an important third-party endorsement of Forico’s approach in protecting the biodiversity values across its managed estate.

This is a key element of reporting in the company’s award-winning Natural Capital Report, of which the third will be published early next year.

“Having our ecosystem services certified within the FSC framework highlights our commitment to sustain-

able forest management,” said Simon Cook, Forico’s Sustainability Manager.

“It allows us to verify our outcomes based on credible and robust monitoring and assessment, and to then communicate confidently on how we are making a measurable difference in fighting biodiversity loss and ultimately climate change.”

Forico manages some 88,000 hectares of productive plantation forest alongside 77,000 hectares of natural forest vegetation, including 6800 hectares threatened forest communities.

The estate’s natural forest is managed for conservation and biodiversity, while the company’s plantation operations are managed for wood fibre production.

Through surveys conducted across the estate

as a whole, Forico has determined the presence of thirty-eight threatened flora species such as the Crowded-Leek orchid, and twenty-five threatened fauna species including thriving populations of healthy Tasmanian devils, quolls and wedge-tailed eagles.

Highland Poa grassland, a listed threatened vegetation community in Tasmania, is proactively managed by the company through ecological burning, as it was by Aboriginal people. The Ptunarra Brown Butterfly, also a listed threatened species, occurs only in Tasmania and favours native tussock grassland habitat, specifically the highland Poa sites. Maintaining and enhancing the natural grassland ecosystem is a high priority for Forico to ensure the rare butterfly populations continue to thrive.

In the coming years Forico plans to incorporate additional ecosystem services elements to the certification, specifically Carbon Sequestration and Storage.

Melanie Robertson, Chief Executive Officer of FSC ANZ, congratulated the company on becoming Australia’s first certified forest manager to successfully implement FSC’s Ecosystem Services Procedure.

“Forico’s forest stewardship and commitment to achieving positive environmental and social outcomes demonstrate exemplary leadership for the forestry industry in Australia,” she said.

“We are proud to have Forico in our FSC community and believe this important milestone will inspire momentum in the ecosystem services space.”

● Forico’s Sustainability Manager Simon Cook and UTAS Lecturer in Wildlife Ecology Dr Rodrigo Hamede. Picture: E. Safarik

International recruits arrive for fire training program

Forestry Corporation of NSW has welcomed five international recruits to its Bathurst seasonal program, with firefighters coming from Canada

and New Zealand to join local recruits and support the organisation leading into bushfire season.

Canada is particularly well represented, with four re-

MASTERS OF THE FOREST

cruits making the 17 hour flight to Australia to join the team this year.

The two countries share many similarities, however there have been a few hurdles to overcome, reports Canadian recruit Ty Davis.

“Aussie slang is definitely a thing and it’s taken a little while to decode,” Mr Davis jokes.

“Once we got past that though, the experience has been really great and it’s been awesome working with the Sunny Corner depot team.”

The seasonal program is an opportunity for Ty and the other recruits to travel to Australia and extend their firefighting experience.

During the Canadian summer he works with Alberta Wildfire on a seven month contract, allowing him the chance to travel to Australia and work in Forestry Corporation’s seasonal program in their winter.

“I heard a couple of the guys I work with mention Forestry Corporation’s seasonal program and how

great it is, plus I always wanted to travel to Australia,” Mr Davis said.

“So I applied and eight days later I was in Bathurst — it’s been fantastic meeting my team and experiencing the Australian culture. Canadians have a reputation for being super nice, but Aussies definitely deserve this too.”

Fellow Canadian Krista Lagasse also travelled to join Forestry Corporation’s seasonal program and is based in Orange.

“Everyone has been super helpful and willing to help us settle in,” Ms Lagasse said.

“I work as a firefighter in Alberta and Ontario back home, so this has been a great opportunity to travel the world and do the job I love at the same time.”

Ty and Krista highlight the variety of staff working in the organisation’s seasonal firefighting program, with most staff locally recruited to extend Forestry Corporation’s firefighting capacity in bushfire season, said Fire

& Stewardship Supervisor Dave Anderson.

“Our seasonal workforce is a valued and essential part of our firefighting capacity,” Mr Anderson said.

“We have four Canadian seasonal firefighters here this year — they recently had their first experience of a eucalypt fire in a hazard reduction burn in Sunny Corner State Forest.

“We work hard to build a diverse and skilled seasonal team — people like Ty, Krista, Jess and Brandon are an essential part of our defence against bushfires.”

Forestry Corporation is responsible for preventing and managing fires in two million hectares of State forests across NSW. It also assists with large bushfires on private property and other bushland in Australia and also overseas.

The organisation recruits its seasonal firefighting force in early spring each year. To find out more, visit www.forestrycorporation. com.au.

Swedish forestry expo gets the go after Covid delays

Swedish Forestry Expo is a brand new meeting place for the professional forestry industry. The fair – to be held from June 1 to 3 this year - was created by the trade association MaskinLeverantörerna on behalf of its members in the forest industry.

Only relevant products, both machines and accessories, for the professional forestry industry, are showcased at the fair.

The brand was launched back in 2018 and scheduled to be implemented in 2021 but due to the pandemic situation we had to postpone the event to 2023.

Since the very beginning the interest has been high amongst the industry and the exhibition is currently sold out with more than 145 exhibitors on site with more than 40 coming from outside Sweden.

“We can not wait untill it is time for the forest machines to enter Solvalla,” Area Business Manager/Exhibition Manager Anton Erlandsson said.

”We hope that we can bring more than 9000 visitors during these days”.

Solvalla was the natural choice for the location as their facilities can support the new concept. The fair

will be an easily accessible meeting place with a practical layout where visitors can experience all it has to offer. In combination with the meetings and seminars that will be organised at the fair, Swedish Forestry Expo will be a brand new arena for the professional forestry industry.

Swedish Forestry Expo, the fair for the commercial, large-scale forestry, was supposed to be held on the 28-30th of April 2022. However, as a result of the pandemic, that still has a strong presence in many countries, the decision has been made to redate the execution of the fair to June 2023.

The event organizer wants to provide the best conditions for a safe and largescale execution, for both exhibitors and visitors from all around the world.

Already five months after the launch of SFE, large parts of the fair were sold out. Today the fair is fully booked with several companies queuing to get space. The exhibiting companies comes from all over the world and offers products for the large-scale forestry. There has been an enormous interest for the fair, both national and international. The fair is sold out and we receive daily inquiries from exhibitors and visitors from all around the world. They have questions about the fair, but also about the ongoing pandemic that makes visitors hesitant of travelling to Sweden, Gabriel Börjesson, Exhibition Manager reports.

The fair has always had its base in the concept “by the trade – for the trade.”

“We have always based our decisions around the

needs of the trade,” Gabriel said.

“Because of the great interest from overseas, we must take into consideration our many international exhibitors that today have difficulties exhibiting and that visitors still have travel restrictions.

“These restrictions may well be reversed by April 2022, but this is nothing we can be sure of.

“These uncertainties do not allow us to deliver an arrangement which the entire trade can take part in,” Gabriel said.

“We choose to put the trade’s needs before ours and deliver a fair for the large-scale forestry in a safe environment for all our visitors and exhibitors. Therefore, we have come to the decision to redate the fair to 2023, giving us significantly better possibilities for this.”

Swedish Forestry Expo 2023 is the professional forestry’s new arena. A world-unique meeting place, by the industry for the industry, with full focus on machines and successful networking. Here at Solvalla in Stockholm, you’ll meet the world’s leading players and their most important innovations.

world-unique successful and their

Read more and register at forestryexpo.se

Feds bow to Green pressure and at odds with science

The Australian Forest Products Association says the Federal Government has bowed to pressure from anti-forestry groups by removing the eligibility of native forest biomass from the Renewable Energy Target which it says is at odds with the international scientific consensus.

Electricity generated by burning native forest wood waste will no longer be allowed to be classified as renewable energy under a regulatory change adopted by the Federal Government.

The decision, which Labor had promised to consider after it was recommended by a Senate committee in September, reverses a 2015 Abbott government move which allowed burning native forest timber to be counted alongside solar and wind energy towards the national renewable energy target.

The right to burn wood left over from logging to create renewable energy certificates – which provide a subsidy for clean energy

generation – was not often used, but conservation groups said it could be an incentive to keep felling native forests.

Former AFPA Chief Executive Officer Ross Hampton said the decision ignored the advice from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that sustainably sourced forest biomass is a renewable energy feedstock.

“Bioenergy produced from sustainable biomass wood residues is carbon neutral and recognised internationally as a renewable energy resource,” Mr Hampton said.

“Australia should not close the door to a dispatchable renewable energy source that is widely used around the world at a time when we need more renewable energy sources.”

The significant potential for the forestry and forest products industry to contribute to climate change mitigation – including through renewable bioener-

gy – is acknowledged in the 4th assessment report of the IPCC, which states:

“A sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.”

“The fact is that over the past 20 years there have been no projects under the RET that have used native forest residues for electricity anywhere in Australia. That is because our native forests are primarily managed for high-value hardwood timber products such as floorboards, decking, furniture and joinery. The industry then tries to find the highest value uses for the residues,” Mr Hampton said.

“However, Australia’s wood and paper product industries routinely use mill residues for heat energy for a wide variety of applications, including drying,

preheating, and process heating. In doing so, they are using a renewable energy source instead of fossil fuels, and we welcome that the Government has recognised this and that mill residues will continue to be an eligible feedstock in the RET.”

Mr Hampton said Australia’s forest industries would continue to work with the Federal Government on supporting innovation and R&D to unlock even higher value uses for renewable wood residues and build the circular economy.

“Increasingly, the sector is looking for higher value uses for residues, such as engineered wood products, biomaterials and biochemicals to displace plastics and other fossil fuel-based chemicals. It is important that the Federal Government continues to support rather than discourage investment in all our sustainable forest industries,” Mr Hampton said.

Opposition Forestry Minister Jonno Duniam said

the decision was the latest in a string of anti-business attacks by the Federal Government which had promised at the Federal election just six months ago to stand up for the forestry industry, and its thousands of workers.

Senator Duniam said there had been no projects under the RET over the past 20 years that have used native forest residues for electricity anywhere in Australia.

“It’s in Labor’s DNA to attack this industry, as they are currently doing in Victoria and Western Australia at a State level,” he said.

“And now, it looks like they may have promised the Greens that they would take this action on forest biomass as part of their deal to get their disastrous energy legislation through the Parliament.

“Australia’s forestry sector deserves a way better approach than the one they are receiving from the Albanese Government.”

● Electricity generated by burning native forest wood waste will no longer be allowed to be classified as renewable energy.

New Forests appoints new CEO

The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed the appointment of board member and forest industries leader Mark Rogers as CEO of New Forests.

Mr Rogers is taking on the role from David Brand who will become New Forests Chair following an exemplary career leading the business.

Mr Rogers will commence his new role on 3 April 2023, while working closely with Mr Brand over the first quarter of 2023 to ensure a smooth transition.

Mr Rogers joined New Forests in 2016 as managing director for Australia, New Zealand and took on the additional responsibility for the United States as

senior managing director in ments and business lines in those regions managing teams across acquisitions, operations and investment

elor of Arts, a Bachelor of Economics, and a Masters

of Law from the Australian National University in Australia, and is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

During his time at New Forests, he has overseen strong investment performance and assets under management have grown from approximately $3 bil-

lion to almost $10 billion today.

Prior to New Forests, Mr Rogers held senior leadership roles across other real asset companies where he was responsible for businesses and teams including acquisitions, distribution, project development and finance.

“I congratulate Mark on becoming New Forests CEO and pay tribute to David Brand who will transition from the position to the Chair’s role. Both are incredible advocates for forest industries,” AFPA Chief Executive Officer Joel Fitzgibbon said.

“Mark has been an effective and forward focused voice, serving as a Director on the AFPA Board

since January 2018 and has worked diligently to progress the effectiveness of our organisation as an advocacy body. He will be an excellent successor to David Brand leading one of Australia’s premier forest management businesses in New Forests.”

In addition to Mr Brand’s role as Chair, he will work on strategic growth opportunities for New Forests, looking at new markets and new opportunities for the business in support of New Forests senior executive team. He will continue to chair New Forests’ investment committees and remain as Chair of New Forests until June 2025.

Mr Rogers said that he honoured to take on the role

of CEO and look forward to continuing to cement our reputation as leaders in the natural capital investment space across developed and emerging markets.

“With the new shareholders Mitsui and Nomura providing growth capital and access to a global distribution platform, it’s an exciting time for New Forests,” Mr Rogers said.

“I wish to thank David for his vision, innovation and creating a culture of passionate, purpose-driven individuals.”

New Forests will undertake a search process for Mr Rogers’ replacement and will confirm any interim arrangements in due course.

● Mark Rogers

Optimising mahogany plantations in northern Australia

The results of an important $1 million, five-year study that investigated approaches to help maximise the productivity and profitability of African mahogany plantations in northern Australia have been released.

A report detailing the study findings aims to provide guidance for industry on the impact of climate and various silvicultural management practices — including fertilisation, thinning, and pruning — on plantation productivity. The study also examined processing options for the timber produced.

The project commenced in 2016 and was funded in partnership between African Mahogany Australia and Northern Tropical Timbers, with matching funding provided by the Australian Government, through FWPA.

The research was undertaken by a team including McGrath Forestry Services principal John McGrath; African Mahogany Australia CEO Frank Miller and Operations Manager Chris Oliver; Northern Territory Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade Director Plant Industries, Mila Bristow and Horticulture Extension Officer Dallas

Anson, and Queensland

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Research Facility and Project Manager Robbie McGavin.

The researchers observed a range of sites identified in the Douglas-Daly region of the Northern Territory. They set out to identify relationships between tree growth, thinning, and the nutrient status of soil and foliage, by using existing data and conducting a series of new trials that manipulated plantation nutrition and planting density.

“The ultimate goal of the project was to identify the optimum thinning and fertilisation regimes for productivity across existing African mahogany sites, with the intention to collect knowledge that would be transferable to a wide range of sites across north-

ern Australia,” said Jodie Mason, FWPA’s Forest Research Manager.

Impact of water availability

A key finding was the strong relationship between water availability and productivity, with water constraints in the Northern Territory’s seasonally dry, monsoonal climate found to be the main barrier to productivity.

During the wet season, growth was rapid but ceased when pre-dawn leaf water potential declined to a relatively modest –0.7 megapascals (MPa). In drier months, trees had the capacity to mitigate the impacts of modest water stress by maintaining their minimum daily water potential, but under more severe and extended drought conditions they were unable to avoid permanent damage.

Fertiliser — nitrogen and phosphorus are the key

During fertiliser trials, growth improved where nitrogen and phosphorus were added to soil. Low fertility sites enjoyed double the usual growth rates, while additional growth of between 30 and 50 per cent was observed at other sites. In contrast, sites with better agricultural fertiliser history showed limited or no response to the fertiliser.

Water availability was also found to have a strong influence on the response to fertiliser. In drier years, fertiliser response was limited, and higher leaf area created by fertilisation under wetter conditions was found to ultimately predispose plantations to severe water stress and drought-related mortality.

Across the board, response to fertiliser appeared to last for at least four growing

seasons, with the impacts increasing over the first four years after fertilisation. One of the key recommendations made in the report therefore is the application of fertiliser at four-to-five-year intervals.

The optimum plantation density

In thinning trials, plantation density was found to influence productivity, with total production volume seen to rise by 10 to 20 per cent where density was increased from 300 stems per hectare (sph) to 600 sph. Conversely, further density increases to 800 sph led to a reduction in growth and an increase in mortality during dry years, due to intensified water stress.

Based on these findings, the researchers recommend African mahogany plantations should be maintained at or below 400 sph to optimise growth and reduce the likelihood of drought-related mortality.

Processing options

Because the African mahogany plantations in the Douglas-Daly region were established to provide material for the high-quality furniture market, it is critical they provide clear stems. However, stem shape also impacts recovery of usable wood. So, the team looked to determine the impact of silvicultural inputs on processing performance (for example, sawing or veneer production).

The effect of log geometry – including diameter, taper (diameter measured vertically) and sweep (curvature of the log) – on the performance of rotary veneer production was modelled against the current African mahogany resource, and the log geometries expected as the resource matures.

The main takeaway from these simulations was that log geometry substantially affected the performance of rotary veneer manufacture, and consequently log value was reduced due to increasing levels of taper, sweep and ovality. Analysis also found the financial viability of veneering short logs of up to 1.3 metres was uncertain, with researchers suggesting 2.6 metre logs should be prioritised instead.

The potential recovery of veneer and sawn wood was assessed. The recovery and quality of veneer was found to increase with age, with more than 30 per cent of veneers achieving ‘C’ grade or better from the oldest trees. Veneer defects found to have the greatest impact on recovery included compression, surface roughness and grain breakout.

Meanwhile, sawn board recovery ranged from 35 to 49 per cent of log volume, with boards from all sites demonstrating high levels of distortion. It is suspected the mechanism influencing board distortion and compression in veneers may be one and the same, but the cause is not yet understood. The team suggests further studies to inform appropriate management strategies to help overcome these issues in the future.

Market scoping stud

A market scoping study was added to the project during its final year to assist current and future African mahogany growers in fully understanding the commercialisation potential of the resource, both in Australia and the wider Asia–Pacific region. The outcomes of this study will support planning for value optimisation of current and future resources.

The core recommendation from the market scoping study was that, based on current market conditions, sawmilling, veneer, and plywood processing all look to be possible, subject to further research and considerations.

“I would like to thank and acknowledge the entire research team for lending their considerable talents to this research projects over an extended period of time,” said John McGrath, Principal at McGrath Forestry Services.

“Conducting a multi-year, field-based project in a remote area of northern Australia required considerable effort from all involved, the results of which will continue to be of benefit to African Mahogany growers in northern Australia for many years to come,” McGrath said.

● African Mahogany Australia CEO Frank Miller.

● McGrath Forestry Services principal John McGrath.

• Mahogany plantation

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Photography exhibition celebrates 75 years

Anew photography exhibition is taking visitors to Te Whare Nui o Tuteata on a trip down memory lane of research and innovation at Scion.

In April 2022 the Crown Research Institute (CRI) turned 75 and, as part of a series of events across the year marking the special milestone, staff have dug deep into the archives to celebrate the people and research activity that have shaped Scion’s history of impact in New Zealand’s forestry sector.

Eight photos are on display in an intimate gallery space in Scion’s Rotorua building, Te Whare Nui o Tuteata until April 2023. They are a visual record of Scion’s research expertise and offer insights into the methods and equipment used over the years by scientists exploring radiata pine productivity, site map-

ping, tree genetics and nursery management – all work that has helped to create New Zealand’s third largest export industry.

Snapshots taken in the field, from the sky and inside Scion’s laboratories transport visitors back in time and serve as a reminder of how technology, fashion and architectural trends have changed over many decades.

Scion’s chief executive Dr Julian Elder says the exhibition has sparked animated conversations and special memories for existing staff and Scion alumni.

“Much like their treatment of a treasured family album, our staff have enjoyed curating this exhibition and taken

pleasure in poring over dozens of images pulled from our archives.

“It’s been a chance to reminisce about the hundreds of people who have contributed to Scion’s research over the years and reflect on the many changes at our site near Whakarewarewa Forest where we have been building our reputation as forestry science leaders since 1947.

“For a long time, our site was behind closed gates, but with Te Whare Nui o Tuteata we have a new space to share our activity with the public. We invite everyone to visit our exhibition to take in some special moments in time, recorded on film.”

Visitors are welcome to pick up a bookmark with images from the exhibition as a memento.

Since 1947, Scion’s expertise has grown from

research to support the development of sustainably managed exotic plantation forests to supporting New Zealand’s transition to a circular bioeconomy. In this new era, Scion remains committed to enhancing New Zealand’s prosperity, wellbeing and environment through trees.

The 75th anniversary has provided the CRI with fresh opportunities to share its

work with the ommunity and invite visitors into Te Papa Tipu campus, where Scion is headquartered in Rotorua.

A part of that has been acknowledging the past and celebrating Scion’s relationship with the three hapū who are the tangata whenua of the 114-hectare site where Scion is located: Ngāti Hurungaterangi, Ngāti Taeotu and Ngāti Te Kahu.

WORLD LEADING Forestry Chains and Tracks

● Scion scientists J Nairn and Ruth Gadgil in a glasshouse in 1969. The photo is one of eight images that illustrate Scion’s research expertise that has helped to grow New Zealand’s forestry sector.

Scientists tackling myrtle rust threat

University of Queensland scientists have developed an environmentally friendly RNAbased spray to help combat myrtle rust, which has wiped out many Australian plants.

Developed in collaboration with Department of Agriculture and Fisheries forest pathologists, the spray induces RNA interference (RNAi) – a natural way to shut down protein translation – which means it could stop the spread of myrtle rust through bushland, home gardens and nurseries.

Since myrtle rust was first detected in NSW in April 2010 it has spread across the eastern Australian landscape in bushland reserves, home gardens, commercial operations and amenity settings such as parks and street plantings.

Myrtle rust can now be found in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and on the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory.

Myrtle rust (exotic strains) is one of the most serious exotic threats to Australia’s natural environment. It also threatens commercial native forests. Myrtle rust ‘exotic strains’ and myrtle rust strain present in Australia combined would be highly damaging to our eucalyptus trees.

PhD candidate Rebecca Degnan said in the decade

myrtle rust had been in Australia it had become a huge problem, with more than 350 native hosts.

“Of those plants that have been screened, only three per cent were completely unable to be infected, and more than 40 species have been deemed conservation priorities because of damage from myrtle rust,” Ms Degnan said.

Molecular plant biologist Dr Anne Sawyer said

the team wanted to find an alternative myrtle rust control to fungicides.

“Growers rely heavily on fungicides, but they come with a lot of problems such as being harmful to humans and beneficial organisms like bees and monarch butterflies as well as water contamination,” Dr Sawyer said.

“Pests and pathogens can also develop resistance to chemicals and consumers are becoming more aware

of residues on their fruit and vegetables.

“We already knew that RNA interference works against other plant pests and pathogens, and our research found rusts are very amenable to this method when we sprayed the double-stranded RNA onto the plants.”

Dr Sawyer said the early results were very positive, and further research would test the spray in more uncontrolled conditions.

“Now that we’ve seen the proof of concept of RNAi in myrtle rust, there are a lot of possibilities for other rusts as well,” Dr Sawyer said.

“It’s really exciting, especially when you talk to people who have been working on myrtle rust for a long time and have seen the damage it can do.”

The research is published in Molecular Plant Pathology.

● Louise Shoey, Rebecca Degnan and Dr Anne Sawyer and undertaking myrtle rust for the University of Queensland.

NZ to host major log transport event

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In log transport, coverage of an array of new innovations around electric, hydrogen and diesel-hybrid powered vehicles, truck automation and platooning continue to roll out.

Right now, there’s a huge amount of interest by larger fleet operators and already, a number of firsts for fuelling log trucks in this part of the world are underway and have been planned for early 2023.

It’s for this reason that a major Wood Transport & Logistics event has been

set up by the Forest Industry Engineering Association with support from all of the key trucking associations for forestry and log transport companies for 24-25 May 2023.

As well as being the first dedicated log transport event run for over five years, the event (conference, trade exhibits and pre-and postconference workshops) will be covering industry technology firsts including;

• The first Australasian electric log truck using exchangeable batteries

• Operations of the first hydrogen powered log and timber haulage trucks

• Trial results on running diesel-hydrogen hybrid transport fleets

• Rolling out scalable hydrogen refuelling networks across NZ

• Development of the first off-road in-forest log truck platooning

• Robotic and mobile log scaling measurements

• Operations of new automated chain throwing & tensioning

Mark the date into your diaries.

It will be run in Rotorua, New Zealand and will also be live-streamed for Australian companies unable to travel into New Zealand or for international delegates from outside this region. Programme details and registrations have just gone live.

Other information on this major wood transport event can now be found on the event website www.woodtransport.events.

Check it or wreck it: NHVR urges operators to inspect brakes

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator is urging operators to check their brakes after recent intercepts in the Blue Mountains region found that 5.2 per cent of heavy vehicles inspected had a brake defect, 14 per cent of which were major.

NHVR Director of Operations Central Region Brett Patterson said that the results of these intercepts, which took place at the

Mount Boyce Safety Station late last year, were particularly concerning given the road environment in the Blue Mountains.

“A well-maintained braking system with correctly adjusted brakes is essential in any situation, particularly when making descents on the Great Western Highway,” Mr Patterson said.

“Operators should make sure their brake system components are inspected

in the pre-start checks before they start a journey – it may save their life and keep others from harm.”

The NHVR recommends using a daily pre-start checklist, such as the NHVR’s Daily Safety Checklist, before each trip:

• Check for brake faults quickly and efficiently by applying the brake with the engine off and listening for air leaks. Then,

with the park brakes released, apply the brake again and listen for abnormal sounds, as this can indicate excessive brake travel.

• Whether they’re minor or major, fix any brake defects before travel For more information on the NHVR Daily Safety Checklist visit: www.nhvr. gov.au/dailycheck

Nokian Tyres adds L-5S fitment to HTS G2 harbour range

In a busy terminal, tire stability and long service life are key factors in making the work safe and efficient for reach stackers, forklifts and log stackers.

The Nokian Tyres HTS G2 harbor tire family has been developed for this purpose, and its excellent stability, good grip and predictable service life has been impressing users for years. Now the HTS G2 family has a new member: Nokian Tyres HTS G2 L-5S, a new tire developed for reach stacker front axle use.

In a container terminal, the last thing you need is downtime. You want to keep the goods moving – reliably, predictably and economically. The new Nokian Tyres HTS G2 L-5S reach stacker front axle tire in the size 18.00-25 is made for long, busy working days on grinding tarmac or concrete.

“In a heavy reach stacker front tire use, the smooth, extra-deep slow-wearing tread lasts up to 35% longer than our previous comparable tire – depending on your location and application”, says Kimmo Kekki, Product Manager at Nokian Tyres. “Add the stable,

steady handling, high loadbearing capacity, and excellent puncture resistance to the package, and you have a real efficiency booster in your hands!”

Advanced tire engineering

The whole Nokian Tyres HTS G2 series of port and terminal tires has been designed specifically for high stability and load-bearing capacity in mind.

“Particular attention has been paid to the tire flexing area, which benefits from our special shock-absorbing rubber compound used in the tire carcass”, says Kimmo Kekki. “All Nokian Tyres HTS G2 tires use bias tire technology that has now been further developed for the benefit of the new tire.”

Optimized cost per hour

The Nokian Tyres HTS G2 L-5S is designed specifically for front axle use. This ena-

bles even thicker tread than the previous L-4S models, resulting in a longer service life. The rubber compound that has already proven its value in previous models both wears slowly and resists puncture damage, preventing unexpected downtime.

“It all comes down to the cost per hour”, Kimmo Kekki says. “Longer tire life means lower cost of ownership, which helps to keep the operation competitive.”

Safety and sustainability

In addition to optimized cost per hour, premium harbor tires with excellent handling properties can improve working safety and the sustainability of the entire operation.

“The longer the tire tread lasts, the more efficiently the entire tire will be utilized resulting in less waste”, says Kimmo Kekki. “What’s more, the entire Nokian Tyres manufacturing process is optimized for efficient use of energy and materials.”

The new Nokian Tyres HTS G2 L-5S tire will be available from January 17, 2023. ●

$16.15m in grants to keep trucks moving

Federal Government is making sure Australian trucks keep on moving by promoting domestic manufacture of a diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) additive, making the trucking industry more resilient and the country more self-sufficient.

The $16.15 million Maintaining Our Supply of Diesel Exhaust Fluid grants program will encourage Australian industry to produce Technical Grade Urea (TGU) domestically, or DEF from means other than imported TGU. DEF is also known widely by its trade name ‘AdBlue’.

DEF reduces harmful nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel engines, but tight TGU supply last summer led to concerns about Australia’s domestic supply and our overreliance on imports.

The MOSDEF grant program will reduce this vulnerability by supporting manufacture of ISO 222421-compliant DEF or TGU.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the grant program was part of the Albanese Government’s approach to secure the supply

of TGU here at home.

“The grant program will support the sovereign manufacture of Diesel Exhaust Fluid and Technical Grade Urea in Australia, and make our trucking industry more resilient,” Mr Bowen said.

“This funding will protect households, business and industry from further disruptions and bolster stock holdings of TGU. But most importantly, it will keep our transport and freight sectors moving.”

Grant recipients can receive up to $16.15 million under the four-year program, which will fund up to

50 per cent of project costs, from facilities central to existing DEF infrastructure and logistics. DEF is made by blending TGU with de-ionised water and is mostly consumed by the long-haul trucking fleet in Australia. The Government is already moving to make the local DEF market more secure by:

• Creating a governmentcontrolled stockpile of 7,500 tonnes of TGU for an additional five weeks of supply beyond industry stock levels in the

event of a supply shortage, and

• Implementing a transparency system for collection and publication of data provided by industry.

The opening of the MOSDEF grant program is the latest in the suite of measures to restore security to the DEF market in Australia.

Maintaining Our Supply of Diesel Exhaust Fluid applications are open until 31 January 2023 and can be accessed through business. gov.au/MOSDEF.

Nokian Tyres’ HTS G2 L-5S.

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New standard for forest management in NZ

The Forest Stewardship Council ANZ has released a new standard for responsible forest management in New Zealand.

After a comprehensive process of rigorous consultation with industry, environment, and social stakeholders and Indigenous groups, the FSC Forest Stewardship Standard for New Zealand (NZ FSS) targets the most pressing issues in New Zealand forestry today.

This includes living wage requirements, better protection of waterways, addressing issues related to erosion, and establish-

ing culturally appropriate means of communication with Māori communities affected by forestry operations.

“The publication of the Standard is a hugely important achievement based on years of hard work,” CEO of FSC Australia and New Zealand, Melanie Robertson, said.

“The FSC Forest Stewardship Standard for New Zealand will mark a watershed moment for New Zealand’s forestry industry, enabling forest managers to further enhance the industry’s profile and to cement its role in New Zealand’s transition to a sustainable future.”

Effective April 15th 2023, the NZ FSS publication coincides with FSC’s 25th anniversary in New Zealand. Once it comes into effect, forest managers will have 12 months to implement the NZ FSS. Within this 12-month phase-in period, the FSC forest managers can choose to be audited against the old interim standard or the NZ FSS. After 12 months, all FSC certificate holders in New Zealand must be evaluated against the NZ FSS. By October 15th, 2024, 18 months after the effective start date, all certificates under the old interim standard will be invalid.

“I can think of no better way to mark this anniversary than the publication of a Standard that helps drive forestry in New Zealand towards further positive environmental and social outcomes,” Ms Robertson said.

“FSC International provides a suite of generic requirements that define what good and responsible forest management look like. The requirements are then tailored to suit the local context.”

To do this, FSC NZ, in accordance with its unique governance model, brought together a group of diverse economic, environmental and social stakeholders

tasked with developing the NZ FSS.

One of these stakeholders, Sally Strang, Environmental Manager of Hancock Natural Resource Group said that over the past two decades, FSC certification had been the catalyst for vast improvements in the standard of forest management in New Zealand, particularly relating to the management of environmental values in our forests and engagement with stakeholders.

“This has been positive for the industry to ensure we are well-placed to meet future challenges,” she said.

Urgent call to revise national risk assessment for Australia

FSC ANZ wants its stakeholders to participate in the public consultation on its revised National Risk Assessment (NRA) for Australia.

“FSC ANZ is undertaking an unscheduled revision of our National Risk Assessment to ensure the FSC Controlled Wood system continues to be properly implemented in Australia,” FSC ANZ CEO Melanie Robertson said.

The NRA is used by FSC Controlled Wood/Chain of Custody certificate hold-

ers to control uncertified materials from Australia so that those materials may be mixed with FSC-certified materials and used in products that carry the FSC Mix label.

“The strength, value, and quality of FSC’s normative documents are built on the active engagement of our stakeholders in their development and revision to ensure they are fit for purpose,” Ms Robertson said.

“We encourage all interested economic, environmental, and social stakeholders

to participate in the consultation to ensure the changes proposed to the NRA are clear, auditable, and reasonable.

“The revision was prompted by the uplisting of the east coast koala and the southern and central greater glider from vulnerable to endangered under the EPBC Act and a suite of recommendations provided by FSC’s assurance services provider, Assurance Services International (ASI), following an investigation in Australia.”

To assist in the revision of the NRA, the FSC ANZ Board established a chamber-balanced NRA Advisory Working Group tasked with proposing a draft of the revised NRA to the Board. Through constructive and careful deliberations, the Working Group recently reached consensus around a draft version of the revised NRA.

“FSC ANZ now invites all interested stakeholders to participate and provide their input to the proposed revisions to help ensure

they are understandable, auditable, and reasonable,” Ms Robertson said.

The consultation runs until February 19.

The consultation material can be accessed on the FSC Consultations Platform. If you do not already have an FSC Consultations Platform account, you must register first before gaining access and participating. Additional information on the consultation will be provided on the FSC ANZ Newsfeed.

• The Forest Stewardship Standard for New Zealand will mark a watershed moment for thr country’s forestry industry.

Waratah racks up 50 years in the forest

Waratah Forestry Equipment is celebrating 50 years of innovation within the forestry industry and thanking its customers for decades of trust and loyalty to the brand.

“We’re proud to celebrate our 50th anniversary this year thanks to our loyal customers and dedicated team members across the globe,” said Heather Robinson, general manager of worldwide distribution at Waratah.

“It’s exciting, because we are in a unique position to offer our customers experience, expertise and innovation.”

Waratah customers are a testament to the company’s reliability and legacy. While the industry has changed over the last 50 years, Waratah has always been Built To Work – supporting its customers, so they can outsmart and outperform the others.

“We’ve had great experiences with Waratah,” said Reid Lind, owner of G.R. (Mac) Lind Logging Ltd., Princeton, British Columbia. “You know what you’re getting when you buy it. For us, it’s the industry standard.”

Established in 1973 in Tokoroa, New Zealand, the company manufactured a delimber-feller-buncher with a four-roller fixed head to meet local loggers’ heavy-duty delimbing needs.

Following that innovation, a red grapple processor manufactured for the Canadian markets marked the start of the 600 Series line. It cemented Waratah’s place as the original red head in the industry.

Today, Waratah’s full line of harvesting, processing and felling heads are used in a variety of logging applications from cut-tolength hardwood harvesting at the stump, to processing on a landing,

felling on steep slopes or debarking on plantations.

“Waratah heads are designed well, tested well and built well,” said Pasi Volotinen, managing director of Waratah OM, Finland. “We are always aiming for best-in-class. We are happy when our customers are feeling good in the forest.”

Waratah continues to build on its past to innovate for the future – manufacturing more productive heads, engineering products with parts that don’t quit and working to earn each customer’s trust every day.

Since its inception, Waratah, which has factories in New Zealand and Finland, has grown to support a global market.

Waratah has continued to innovate by finding new ways to increase productivity and provide customer solutions including reliability and durability. For example, the Waratah HTH622C 4×4 and HTH624C 4×4 help minimize waste and maximize profits as powerful four-wheel drive heads that offer multi-stemming, independent log shuffling, 360-degree rotation and more.

TimberRiteTM H-16, Waratah’s measuring and control system, is another recent innovation. This system provides unique versatility with configurable settings for improved head performance, productivity and measuring accuracy.

In addition to the TimberRiteTM H-16 system, Waratah developed WaratahMateTM – a phone app that works with TimberRite to wirelessly share the machine’s production data in real-time. Developed exclusively for Waratah customers, the new app makes it faster and more reliable to send measuring system data back to the company.

BRIEFS

New WA minister

Jackie Jarvis has been appointed Western Australia’s new forestry minister.

Ms Jarvis spent a number of years as deputy chair, and then chair, of the Rural, Regional, Remote Women’s Network of WA, and served on the board of the Forest Products Commission for nearly seven years.

She ran a winery and farm in the state’s South West before entering politics last year.

Ms Jarvis replaces Dave Kelly who was forced to resign from Cabinet “at the request” of Premier Mark McGowan to make way for more female representation.

Harvesting begins

An operation to harvest and replant timber plantations has begun in Orara East State Forest, near Karangi.

Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Harvesting Manager Tom Halliday said the mature timber plantations would be harvested over the coming months and replanted with 1,100 seedlings per hectare to regrow the plantations for future generations.

Planning Supervisor Matt Howat said plantation operations were planned in line with strict environmental conditions.

NZTIF president

Bruce Larsen, General Manager and Director of Northpine Ltd, Waipu, Northland is the new president of the New Zealand Timber Industry Federation. He has been a member of the NZTIF Board for six years and replaces John McVicar who served as president from 2013.

Bruce joined the New Zealand Forest Service as a trainee in 1981 before going on to Canterbury University where he received his B.For. Sci (Hons) degree.

He joined the State Owned Enterprise Timberlands based in Woodhill Forest.

Carter Holt Harvey purchased the northern forests in 1990 and Bruce then spent 11 years in various roles within that organisation, primarily related to harvesting and log sales.

Timbeter on shortlist of Future Unicorn award

Timbeter from Estonia has been officially unveiled as one of the top 9 nominees to DIGITALEUROPE’s Future Unicorn Award 2023, the annual prize recognising the most promising European technology scale-ups.

The winner will be announced on 8 March at Masters of Digital, DIGITALEUROPE’s annual flagship conference, by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

Timbeter provides accurate AI measurement and data management solution for transforming forestry. Timbeter’s digital solution is changing the forestry sector by enabling sustainable forest management, increasing the safety of employees, maximizing the value of each log, helping to optimize logistics and guaranteeing fair trades. Also, it helps with monitoring and controlling the timber supply chain, supporting governments and law enforcement agencies to prevent illegal logging and keep a better overview on the volumes harvested.

“Being one of the Future Unicorn Award 2023 nominees is great recognition

to our team. Working with organizations across all the continents proves that our solution solves universal challenges related to transparency, traceability, efficiency and accountability in the forestry sector,” Timbeter CEO Anna-Greta Tsahkna said.

“The one thing we owe our success to is dedication on R&D and trust of our investors for seeing a long term perspective. It is fascinating to witness how the regulators and very traditional forest industry is slowly indicating interest for more transparent, traceable and accurate forest information. Climate policy being an important driver here.

“We strongly believe that digital transformation and harnessing innovative tech-

nology in the forestry industry is 100% required for a more sustainable future.”

Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE, said only 12 per cent of the world’s unicorns were European.

“This is far from enough, at a time when Europe seeks to assert its global competitive edge,” she said.

“This year’s impressive shortlist of the most brilliant scale-ups represent critical sectors from energy & green tech to cyber security.

“They clearly reflect Europe’s most burning challenges and the power of European innovators to deliver solutions.

“Yet, the road to a truly empowering innovation ecosystem remains very

bumpy. While the US and China invest over 3.58% and 1.34% of GDP respectively in scale-ups, Europe’s 0.53% is obviously not enough. In addition, many European innovators suffer from barriers between EU countries, which stop them from scaling quickly enough. This should be top of mind as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the EU’s single market next year.”

The Future Unicorn Award is a chance to show why European unicorns matter Running for the sixth year in a row, the Future Unicorn Award celebrates scale-ups from across Europe that have the potential to become the bloc’s future tech giants. The shortlist is compiled in collaboration with DIGITALEUROPE’s national trade associations, representing the digital and technology sector in 29 European countries.

The Award is a great opportunity to showcase aspiring European scale-ups that have the potential to become future unicorns (that is, scale-ups valued at over one billion dollars), highlighting that Europe has what it takes to become a digital leader.

• The Timbeter app at work and the Future Unicorn Award nomination.

GROW

CFForest

CFHarvest

HARVEST

CFLogistics

TRANSPORT

CFBusiness

BUSINESS

Investment in R&D to continue

The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed a decision by Australia’s forestry growers to continue their enhanced research, development, and extension investment which sees forest grower levy funds and additional voluntary grower cash contributions matched with funding from the Commonwealth.

The extension for three years equates to more than $9 million per year that goes directly to priority research and development for the forestry sector.

“The forestry sector is committed to research, development and extension work. This significant commitment by Australia’s forest growers enables greater investment in research over and above the recently increased growers levy,” AFPA Growers Chamber Chair Dr Andrew Jacobs said.

“These increased funds will be used to progress research in climate change adaption, pests and diseases and fire prevention.

“Forest industries are sunrise industries in Australia and research is critical to positioning the sector for the challenges and opportunities that lie in the years ahead,” Dr Jacobs said.

Remsoft adds AI

Remsoft has added artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to Remsoft Operations, its cloud-based platform for forest operations planning, providing a new level of decision-support with access to valuable insights and predictive analytics.

Remsoft Operations centralizes data, plans and intelligence to deliver realtime decision support for operational team members. Storing planned values for operational scheduling as well as actuals, it provides a unified and efficient hub for forest operations.

Leveraging the rich, comprehensive harvest operations data that’s connected and readily available within Remsoft Operations, planners can take advantage of the new AI tools to predict productivities, inventory volumes, delay risk, and weather impact.

SPARQS bringing simplicity to forest information

After years of muddling through old and clunky systems, Tim Bates — along with his colleagues Steve Giudici and Jeremy Wilson — finally bit the bullet and conceived a fresh, simple and innovative software, which he believes revolutionises professional forestry asset management.

The trio who jointly own and manage Esk Mapping & GIS, last year launched SPARQS – a cloud-based next generation system which utilises open-source technologies, is feature rich, and is accessible everywhere.

SPARQS is a contemporary resurrection of a much loved and battle proven 1990s ArcView plugin that provides rapid planning, mapping and operational decision-making tools, without having extensive GIS knowledge.

The team set out to achieve a simple, clean and intuitive user experience, that is cloud based and offers speed and flexibility across devices in a modular design which can be enhanced and customised.

“SPARQS was created to address a fundamental gap in the natural resources market: simple and effective management of resource information,” Tim said.

“It was designed to be flexible to the complexities of the forest industry and any forest management company. We are committed to working with clients to customise SPARQS so they can

get maximum benefit from the system.”

No stranger to the industry, Tim has more than 25 years’ experience in field survey, special data management and operations management spanning the forest sector, agriculture and water.

However, he said it was Steve who originally introduced him to Geographic Information Systems back in 1999 when he was a graduate at North Forest Products.

“I was actually trained in the original SPARQS system, which Steve and Jeremy build and maintained out of necessity for the foresters back in the early days of GIS” Tim said.

A decade later, amid the collapse of managed investment schemes, Steve and Tim decided to join forces and establish Esk Mapping & GIS, with Jeremy joining the business a short time later. Twelve years on, the

three men and their team of 20 ‘Eskies’ are committed as ever to creating solutions that enable more efficiency and accuracy in asset management.

So what makes SPARQS better than anything else on the market?

“How long have you got?

In a nutshell, SPARQS is easier, faster and better connected,” he said.

“The internet was obviously a game-changer for the entire world, and then along came connected devices. Stand record and operational mapping systems have been too slow to respond. There are really only two established options out there, but both are old, slow and rely on additional, very expensive mapping software – they are expensive to purchase and customise and complicated to maintain.

“A key feature of SPARQS is that mapping is included as a core feature. Every other option requires additional third-party GIS software licencing and development to get close to doing what we know forestry companies need – and we have grand plans for future modules!”

The new system has taken around 18-months in development, but Tim says a true SaaS (Software as a Service) product is never ‘complete’.

“SPARQS is no different, it will continue to evolve to meet client needs over time.”

Tim said the biggest challenge many companies

face when developing new products is funding, and acknowledges they’ve done it the hard way to date.

“It is a challenge to crack a market such as commercial forestry, even when there is a chorus of discontent about the known deficiencies of the established options,” he said.

“Humans are creatures of habit and this is why we are so thankful for our earlyadopters and Beta partners who have shown faith and invested in the solution which will revolutionise business intelligence for them.”

Tim said their decision is already paying dividends for them – a sentiment shared by user Simon Gatt, Resource Manager at AKD Softwoods.

“The team at Esk have supported AKD Softwoods for many years, so when we heard of a new development in a cloud-based platform that would give our staff accessibility and portability of our geospatial data, we jumped at the opportunity to be involved as an early adopter of SPARQS,” Simon said.

“Our staff feel as if they have been part of the SPARQS journey. We have enjoyed the interaction and open discussion which has ensured SPARQS meets our needs.

“We are excited to be involved in the shaping of future refinements in the SPARQS platform.”

SPARQS has also garnered international attention, recently winning the Innovation Award at the 2022 Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards for Tasmania and will contest against innovation in other states at the National APSEA Awards in early 2023.

Tim, Steve and Jeremy are keen to share SPARQS with the industry locally and nationally and encourage businesses to get in touch to learn more.

SPARQS is also seeking seed funding.

“Investing in SPARQS is actually an investment in getting the product you need for your business to launch into the future,” said Tim.

● Tim Bates

• A demonstration of forest mapping using the SPARQS cloud-based next-generation system.

Treemetrics launches real-time forest monitoring

Treemetrics, a worldleading provider of forest inventory and management solutions, has announced the launch of its new ground-breaking ‘realtime forest monitoring and measurement’ platform. In a world-first innovation developed at the company’s headquarters in Cork, Ireland, the platform utilizes advanced satellite imagery processing software to provide real-time insights into forest health and productivity.

The Treemetrics platform offers a range of powerful features to help forestry professionals and forest carbon developers to monitor and manage their forests.

It is immediately available to users, who can access high-resolution satellite imagery, as well as advanced

analytics tools to track changes in tree cover, biomass, and other important

metrics. The platform also includes an intuitive user interface and easy-to-use mapping tools to help users visualize and analyse their data.

“We are most excited to introduce this new forest monitoring platform, which represents a major advance in the way that forestry professionals and forest owners can measure and manage their forests,” said Treemetrics CEO, Enda Keane.

“With the ability to access near real-time satellite imagery and advanced analytics tools, our platform provides a powerful tool for accurately calculating forest carbon credits.”

Niall Bolger, Head of Earth Observation programmes, Enterprise Ireland, said: “Treemetrics is a great example of an SME that is suc-

cessfully leveraging the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel Hub, a world class resource of Earth Observation data that has an open and free data access policy. With Treemetrics deep insights in forestry management, they have developed a powerful analytics tool that is sure to bring value to forestry owners and carbon credit managers across the globe.”

The Treemetrics platform is designed to be scalable and flexible, allowing users to monitor forests of any size or complexity. It is also compatible with a range of existing forest inventory and management systems, making it easy to integrate into existing workflows.

“One challenge in measuring forest carbon is that forests are dynamic ecosystems, and they can change

over time due to factors such as tree growth, mortality, and disturbance events such as fires and storms. This means that the carbon capturing potential of a forest can also change over time, and it is important to regularly monitor and update the carbon inventory. We believe that our platform represents the future of forest monitoring,” said Enda Keane.

“With its advanced technology and intuitive design, it is the ideal solution for forestry professionals looking to take their operations to the next level.”

In November, it was announced that Treemetrics was selected to participate in an important EU-wide project aimed at mitigating and adapting to climate change by better monitoring of EU’s forests.

● Treemetrics CEO Enda Keane.

Dohnt chipping away in the forest now for 90 years

Komatsu Forest has been dealing with LV Dohnt & Co for more than 30 years with both companies evolving through the forest harvesting industry’s ups and downs especially in the export chip market.

This year L V Dohnt & Co Pty Ltd is celebrating its 90th year and through 30 years of succession planning has managed to reduce shareholdings back to one, third generation family. Phil Dohnt, owner/manager believes this is an important step to stop dilution of ownership and set the company up to be bigger and highly focused to achieve 100 years of timber harvesting in 2032.

LV Dohnt & Co Pty Ltd was founded in 1932 in Bundaleer, north of Adelaide, by Phil’s grandfather. The company shifted to Penola in 1939 with a contract to supply timber for a local sawmill and provided wood to build ammunition boxes in the Second World War. Phil started with the Woods and Forest Department at Nangwarry Sawmill before joining the family business in 1985. He has overseen its transformation from hand fallers to mechanised harvesting, and continue on to be one of the largest infield chipping contractors in Australia with more than 140 employees.

Komatsu Forest became the Peterson Dealer in 2010 which strengthened the business relationship with

LV Dohnt & Co concentrating around the development of the Peterson 5000H Flail/Chipper.

L V Dohnt purchased the first Petersen 5000 Flail/ Chipper combination in Australia in 1999. “When Petersen was able to offer bigger horsepower in one engine in the 1990s, it convinced us to purchase the first 5000 Fail/Chipper and over the years the company has purchased 15 units”, Phil says. “The thing that rates them highly for us is the overall specification and the product support”, he added.

Today Phil has eight in operation and is waiting on delivery of another two in the coming months. In addition, he also has two Peterson 4300B drum chippers in his operation. The company currently operate six infield chipping operations in South Australia and five in Western Australia, producing between 90,000 to 120,000 tonnes per chipper, per year. The timber is processed and chipped in forest, requiring equipment that is robust, manoeuvrable, and highly productive.

Brenton Yon, National sales Manager Komatsu Forest, says the Peterson 5000H processes whole trees in one continuous operation. It has a proven track record in the industry for high productive capacity and reliable export quality chip.

Equipped with a large feed throat, the 5000H can ac-

cept up to a 56-centimetre (23 inch) tree or multiple small stems.

“It can be configured with a three or four pocket disc, with several optional sheave sizes to make precisely the chip you need,” Brenton says. “The standard threepocket disc produces chips from 16 to 32 millimetres long.

“Chipping production from 90 to 120 tonnes per hour can be achieved depending on chip size and wood characteristics.”

He says upper and lower chain flails strip bark and limbs from the stems, while replaceable wear liners protect the flail housing sidewalls. Ergonomic joystick controls provide precise control of the two-section knuckle-boom log loader. End loading or top loading spouts are also available.

Phil says that over the years, the company has collaborated with Petersen and Komatsu Forest to improve the chippers.

“In conjunction with Mal Windrim (local Peterson Product Specialist) we were the first to start looking at increasing from a threepocket disc to a four to improve productivity,” Phil says. “We looked at how the machine worked and got a good understanding of it. The ability to go from two to three flails improved the debarking aspect which then helped with throughput. Phil says LV Dohnt & Co aims for less than half

of one percent of a load to contain green weight bark, placing more importance on the flail chain. A low standard chain will affect chip quality and increase chipper knife costs.

“Over the years we’ve had a good relationship. Both parties have worked together to try and improve the product.”

LV Dohnt & Co covers a wide geographical area spread across what is referred to as the green triangle of South Australia, Western Victoria and southwest Western Australia. The availability of service and parts is vital. Brenton says Komatsu Forest takes its after sales responsibilities seriously and engineering, sales, manufacturing, and dealer personnel work together to ensure the right support is delivered when it’s needed.

“Every wasted minute impacts the bottom line,” he says. “Producers must be

able to rely on service to keep their operations profitable. We ensure our equipment operates effectively and efficiently throughout its life because our reputation depends on our customer’s satisfaction,” continued Brenton.

Phil confirmed, “it’s the service that makes Komatsu Forest stand out.”

“At times they’ve flown parts in from America to get the machine back up and running,” he says. “The availability of service after hours is also a big plus. If something goes wrong and you need that back-up, you need it. It’s that simple.”

The company also offers hands-on or online training so that customers grasp the key aspects of maintenance and operation of machinery.

Komatsu Forest also offers hands-on or online training so that customers grasp the key aspects of maintenance and operation of machinery.

● The Peterson 5000H Fail/Chipper.

● The Peterson 4300B Drum Chipper

Compact track feller buncher for challenging thinning

The 822E is the most compact track feller buncher and harvester platform in the Tigercat track carrier line-up.

The powerful machine is versatile for challenging thinning and final felling applications. Strong lift capacity, tight-tuck ER boom geometry, and compact tailswing make the 822E the perfect choice for selective felling where minimal site impact is important.

The harvester configuration is available with a fixed or leveling undercarriage. High horsepower and harvester head optimized hydraulics provides responsive control, quick feed speed and powerful delimbing capability for high performance and productivity.

The 822E series carriers can be equipped with the Tigercat FPT N67 Noncertified, Tier 4f or Stage V engine, producing 210 kW (282 hp). A redesigned engine enclosure provides improved roof access for clearing debris.

A boom slider also reduces debris build-up in hard-to-reach areas. The clamshell style enclosure and drop-down side platform allow easy access to all

sides of the engine, valves and daily service points. A hot shutdown feature has been added. This allows the turbo to sufficiently cool before stopping the engine for improved turbo life.

A larger, spring-assisted pump cover improves service access to the hydraulic pump area. Hydraulic improvements include quicker anti-stall response, consistent anti-cavitation flow and improved heat rejection.

The updated E-series cab includes a new parallel action air ride seat with integrated heating and cooling. The reclining seat is fully adjustable with seat angle and seat extension adjustment. The wider seat cushion and lumbar support provide operator comfort all day long.

The full-length front window and narrow side posts give the operator an excellent view of the tracks and surrounding area. The HVAC controls feature a new infinitely variable fan speed control, which can be adjusted on the control panel, or by the machine control system touch-

screen. Additional features include an emergency stop button and multiple storage locations with nets to keep objects in place.

Develop our future workforce

LOOKING BACK

2020

AROUND 50,000 hectares of the softwood plantations in the New South Wales South West Slopes area have been impacted by the fires, but the good news is that most of the merchantable burnt timber is expected to be salvageable.

A Forestry Corporation of NSW spokesman said it was getting as many crews restarted and working on harvesting logs from areas that have been affected as soon as possible.

Salvageable pine trees need to be harvested within around 12 months, however harvested logs could be stored for years under the correct conditions.

2017

CERTIFIED TIMBER is becoming an important recognition of the legal and responsible sourcing of timber and wood products. Many small and medium sized enterprises have been priced out of the certified timber market due to the high compliance costs of obtaining and maintaining certificates.

All of the three most important certification schemes that operate in Australia, Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) have provision in their scheme rules for small enterprises to band together and share certificates. This option has been slow to get to the market but this has recently changed.

2012

STATE-OF-THE-ART Geographic Information System (GIS) technology that can create highly detailed 3D maps of entire forests is set to overhaul Australia’s $2.5 billion forestry industry, according to one of the nation’s leading spatial professionals.

The technology, from leading location intelligence specialists Esri Australia, was on display at SilviLaser 2011, an annual showcase of LIDAR, or light detection and ranging, technology and its applications in forestry.

Taree-based Ironwood setting the pace

Keith Smiley

With a mix of hard work and delivering world class timber products, Ironwood Sawmill proves recycling hardwood and reforestation can go hand in hand. With 20 years under their belt, their timbers are well sought after and found in the choicest of places.

Taree-based Ironwood sawmill has a showroom in Botany, Sydney, displaying its products for high end designers looking to add character to their projects in recycled wood. It is easy to see why architects, interior and landscape designers, property developers and hospitality groups recognise the value of hardwood fashioned from recycled timber.

“We’re highly experienced in and love working with recycled timber and achieving the best results for our clients. We take extreme care in producing what they want and are proud of the products we deliver,” said Chris Swadling, Ironwood’s CEO.

Ironwood’s recycled hardwoods have also found pride of place in New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Fiji. They have landed major contracts with Roads and Maritime Services recycling road and rail bridges that are then processed and used in residential and commercial properties.

Their re-sawn timber is also ideal for flooring and decking, feature walls, beams and posts, bridges, stair treads, bearers, joists and trusses, gates and fences, benches, bar tops and landscaping. These timbers can give it a rustic look or a slightly twirled look to give the appearance of ingrained lines. Ironwood has explored different techniques to enhance the quality, feel and visage of timbers such as grey ironbark, tallowwood, blackbutt, and red bloodwood; blue, spotted and grey gum, and mahogany.

As a sustainable timber operation in Australia, Ironwood works closely with major marine construc-

tion companies recycling old timber wharves along the east coast of Australia and supplying new sustainably harvested timbers to replace these. This helps to reduce the mill’s carbon footprint, again demonstrating the worth of recycling timber.

Taree is on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, and close to Cundletown, both settled in 1831. Taree’s population has since grown to 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural and timber processing district. The Tasman Sea coast is only 16kms away, and a three hour trip to Sydney. Taree is derived from ‘tareebit’, a Biripi-Aboriginal word meaning tree by the river.

The company says its use of recycled hardwood has a positive advantage for the environment, apart from conserving old growth forests, with increased carbon storage and therefore, lower greenhouse gas emissions.

“We are highly motivated to continue to reduce our carbon footprint by recycling timber, replanting hardwood plantations and developing and installing new technologies. We’ve modernised our machinery and vehicle fleet to increase productivity, while contributing to operator safety and reducing our reliance on diesel usage.

“We are currently looking at alternative sources and storage of power including solar, battery, bio-fuel and hydrogen,” said Chris.

Ironwood developed a replanting scheme five years ago, planting a tree for every tree they use, fulfilling part of an initiative called Future Forests. Their passion is to be recognised as a global leader in sustainable timber management by developing and using best practice stimuli.

After major capital works and investment over the past three years during extremely difficult times with

fires, flood and Covid - Ironwood is focused on the future of the timber industry. They believe timber is the only fully sustainable building product in the world that has a great future.

“Global demand for wood products is expected to increase significantly over the next 25 years, with Australian demand for wood products expected to increase by thirty percent by 2050. Our recent acquisition of new saws and moulders and infrastructure investment now places us in a great position to service this demand and help secure the future of this sustainable and progressive industry,” said Chris Swadling.

“The future of the timber industry is positive and the recent 2-year recruitment drive has delivered youth into the ranks of the Ironwood business. Once they become aware of the sustainability and modernisation of Ironwood, they’re keen to get involved.”

● Chris Swadling at right with JCB representatives

● Recycled Ironbark bridge cross deck and new Mixed Class 1 F22 wharf decking.