Australian Forests & Timber - August 2019

AUGUST 2019

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Victoria Forestry at crossroads – Pages 3-6

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Victoria Forestry at crossroads

Victoria’s Central West bearing the brunt of reserve expansion PHILIP HOPKINS

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HE timber industry bears the brunt of the pain in a massive expansion of parks and reserves in Victoria’s Central West under a Victorian Government report.

The final report of the Victorian Environment Assessment Council, released late on Friday, said the biggest impact on the regional economy was to the reduction in timber milling and commercial firewood production.

“There will be minimal regional impacts related to potentially displaced recreational uses,” the report said. The report emphasised the importance of nature conservation, recreation and tourism in the Central West investigation area of 403,815 hectares, of which 161, 215 ha, or 40 per cent, is public land.

The report recommended: • An increase of 58,115 ha in protected areas (national park, conservation park, nature reserve, bushland reserve, heritage river) as a major step towards a comprehensive, adequate and representative protected area.

This is designed to strengthen the role of traditional owners in land use and management, cater for more recreational use, protect key areas for threatened species and protect landscape connectivity.

• An extra 19,728ha of regional parks, mainly for recreation.

Domestic firewood collection would be allowed in some of the new parks but phased out over 10 years.

• A total of 30 new and expanded nature reserves.

• State forests would be reduced by 77,377 ha, leaving 11,901 ha of state forest (40% of the state forest area) for timber harvesting and recreation. This resource www.timberbiz.com.au

would supply Pyrenees Timber at Chute.

VEAC said the economic benefits of its recommendations amounted to a net benefit of $247 million to the Victorian economy over 30 years. The gross benefit ($270 million) came from improved protection of native vegetation.

“The estimated likely costs ($22 million present value over 30 years) mostly result from impacts on wood product harvesting, and recreational prospecting, hunting and dog walking,” the report said.

No future timber harvesting would be allowed in the Wombat-Macedon block (228,770 ha), which was previously an important timber industry area. VEAC said there was strong support, particularly in the Wombat forest, to restore forests to a more natural structure.

“VEAC is now recommending an independent research study to determine the most effective restoration treatments for forests whose structure, composition and ecological function have been altered by a history of intensive logging,” the report said.

VEAC said the implications of its recommendations for wood products were difficult to quantify without explicit information about sustainable harvest levels. Further complications were unpredictable variations in markets, such as home heating, and large areas beyond the Central West where wood could be sourced.

The report estimated that recommended sustainable harvest level of 2400 cubic metres from the remaining state forest resource would be “close to sufficient supply” to the mill at Chute.

Regarding fencing and commercial and domestic firewood, “there is insufficient information

to determine the implications of the final recommendations”.

“Applying pro-rata the reduction in state forest area, there would be a 60 per cent reduction in availability of these products,” VEAC said.

Elsewhere, all commercial harvesting would cease across the Wombat and Wellsford forests and most of the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. Cuts in harvest volumes were likely to be several hundreds of cubic metres of fencing timbers and several

thousands of cubic metres of commercial firewood.

“VicForests advice is that there would be limited opportunity to relocate,” VEAC said. “There would be similar relative levels of reductions for several other products sourced in these areas including bark and wood chop logs.”

There had been few sawlogs from the Pyrenees and none from the Wombat forest in recent years. “In terms of box ironbark sawlogs from Wellsford

forest and potentially the lower slopes of the Pyrenees, harvesting would cease in those areas,” VEAC said.

“They comprise less than ten per cent of the total box-ironbark state forest estate in Victoria from which licensees can potentially harvest, suggesting a comparable level of reduction in timber volumes produced.”

The Andrews Government must now make a decision on the recommendations of the final VEAC report.

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Victoria Forestry at crossroads

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AUGUST 2019 Issue 5 Vol. 28 Established 1991 News 2-20 Forest machines 22-23 Biofuels 24-25 On the Road 30-31 Trees on the Farm 32-33 Sawmill Profile 34 Classifieds 35 Front Cover: Winter plantings are underway in New South Wales and South Australia, with 7 million seedlings going in in NSW.

Publisher and Chief Executive: Hartley Higgins General Manager: Robyn Haworth Editor: Bruce Mitchell b.mitchelll@ryanmediapl.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9512 Advertising: Gavin de Almeida g.dealmeida@ryanmediapl.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9517 Production: Peter Frezzini & NEM Creative Team Trader classified: g.dealmeida@ryanmediapl.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9517 Subscriptions: subs@forestsandtimber.com.au Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9522 Subcription rates One-year (8 editions) $55 Two-years (16 editions) $95 Accounts: Adelaide Office (08) 8369 9555 Postal Address: 630 Regency Road, Broadview South Australia 5083 Phone: (08) 8369 9555 Fax: (08) 8369 9501 Melbourne Office: Suite 2262, 442 Auburn Rd, Hawthorn VIC 3122 Phone: (03) 9810 3262 Website www.timberbiz.com.au Printed by Lane Print, Adelaide, SA

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Industry disappointed at plans to limit harvesting VEAC report putting ‘enormous pressure’ on small business owners BRUCE MITCHELL

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IMBER industry organisations have blasted a report which, if implemented, the state government in Victoria over a report which create an extensive suite of new national parks in Victoria’s west.

And the Institute of Foresters of Australia says the Victorian Government has ignored the concerns of rural communities in its rush to create more national parks.

Victorian Association of Forest Industries CEO Tim Johnston said that the proposals in the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council’s recommendations to create new conservation reserves in the Wombat, Wellsford, Mount Cole and Pyrenees Ranges State forests would have negative impacts on local businesses and communities.

“If accepted by the Government, these proposals will severely impact upon the local harvesters and processors that rely on high-quality timber,” Mr Johnston said.

“These forests are extensively used by local communities for a wide range of activities, including sustainable timber harvesting and firewood collecting. Currently in the Mount Cole State forest, approximately eight hectares is sustainably harvested and regrown annually,” he said.

Pyrenees Timber owner, Ian Crick, said he was disappoint-

ed with the recommendation to further reduce the area of the Mt Cole State Forest, which supplies most of his timber, by 44 per cent.

“VEAC has recommended retaining 3099 hectares of Pyrenees Ranges as State Forest to offset the area lost from Mount Cole. The problem is that the sawlog quality in the Pyrenees Ranges is of a lower quality and diameter than compared to Mt Cole,” he said.

“Sawlog quality is more important than volume. If the recommendations are accepted, then this will have a devastating effect on the viability of my business and the businesses supported through Pyrenees Timber down the supply chain.”

Mr Johnston said VAFI reiterates the need for a long-term sustainable industry plan so that businesses can make investments and make decisions for their own futures. The ongoing uncertainty is having a detrimental effect on the mental health of many.

“VEAC has not made an adequate socio-economic assessment of the impacts these proposals, which VAFI strongly recommended during the investigation. This timber is harvested and processed by community businesses. Reducing this supply will severely impact livelihoods.

“This is putting an enormous amount of pressure on small businesses owners, their families and their local communities.”

“Our industry demands a long-term State Government industry plan so the industry can adapt and make plans for their futures. These recommendations have disappointed local timber businesses given their futures lie in access to the resource.”

The Institute of Foresters of Australia has called on Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily d’Ambrosio to direct VEAC to follow its legislated charter which requires VEAC to adhere to the principles of “ecologically sustainable development”.

“VEAC’s advice to the minister is a clear breach of the VEAC Act (2001) which requires VEAC to “enhance individual and community well-being”, yet VEAC’s recommendation to slash the State Forest area by 90 per cent is opposed by a substantial majority of local people living in and around State forests,’’ Institute spokesman Mark Poynter said “These communities rely on the forests for a range of public services and life-style activities.

“The report into the future of forested public land in Central West Victoria shows that the agency has not listened to local communities.

“They have ignored the great work done to care and look after the environment by Landcare, farmers, foresters and people living in bushland settings.’’

The notion promoted by VEAC that only national parks and re-

serves can “protect” the environment, was plainly incorrect.

“The IFA strongly supports biodiversity conservation, and we believe that the existing mix of dedicated parks, other reserves and State Forests already conserves biodiversity while allowing people to undertake activities such as horse-riding, free camping, hunting, dog-walking, and domestic firewood collection,’’ Mr Poynter said.

“VEAC has not explained why the current mix of public land categories is unacceptable and what threats to biodiversity, if any, will be alleviated by the land tenure changes that it is recommending.”

Mr Poynter said that the critical threats to biodiversity, such as fire, pest plants, feral carnivores, and climate change did not respect land tenure boundaries.

Conservation required active forest management and simply changing the land category from State Forest to parks and conservation reserves would not address these key threats.

“VEAC’s recommendations are inappropriate for a government agency responsible for creating a balance between conservation and uses that satisfy all stakeholders,’’ Mr Poynter said.

“If adopted, VEAC’s final recommendations for the CentralWest forests would provide only an illusion of environmental protection, while permanently shutting-out a range of legitimate community uses.’’

Voices not being heard by government

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ALBOT miller Alistair Hull says he is feeling like he has had the proverbial rug pulled out from underneath him by the Victorian Government.

The same could probably be said about the entire forests and timber industry in Victoria.

In a period of just weeks the industry has fallen victim to endangered animal protection plans based on reportedly dodgy science, a massive expansion of parks and reserves in Victoria’s Central West, all enveloped in the shadow of regional forest agreements that have dramatically failed.

And then it got worse, with news as reported by Daily Timber News, that the Victorian State Government is road testing its plans for closure of the native forest timber industry in that state via a series of meetings labelled Community Ideas for Victoria.

There can be little doubt the push to lock down the state’s forests is being driven by

Editorial

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the environmental lobby.

And there can be little doubt that the Andrews Labor Government owes the environmental lobby big time.

But it would be easy to belt the environmentalists.

Where is the voice of the Labor Party’s friends at the CEFMEU – members of which are widely employed in the timber industry?

Where is the voice of the Government and its Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes?

Where is the voice of industry representative bodies in mainstream media?

It’s a hard sell for the industry. Most Victorians living in metropolitan areas have little or no knowledge of how the native timber industry works and yet they use and depend on timber products daily.

The fact it employees 2500 people and is

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

worth $770 million and manages the forests properly doesn’t sell when other lobbies can show pictures of endangered species and lush forests to promote shutting down the native timber industry.

This time, though, the industry may just have the general public on its side.

Four-wheel-drive clubs are beginning to realize that if the Victorian Government punts the loggers out of State forests, then they may be – probably will be – next.

And then the bushwalkers, and the campers, and the horseback riders, and the list goes on.

They will all be making their voices heard on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne on August 27.

It’s time the Victorian Government listened and confirmed balanced forestry as a vital regional industry, which requires certainty of supply to produce a carbon friendly natural product used by all Australians.

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Victoria Forestry at crossroads

VEAC conservation concept ‘simplistic and ignores history’ PHILIP HOPKINS

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EAC’s concept of conservation in Central West Victoria is simplistic, ignores the historic role of Aborigines in forest management and will do little to protect threatened species, according to a community forest group.

Instead, an expert panel should rewrite Victorian conservation legislation, says the South East Timber Association (SETA).

This rewritten legislation should enshrine the principles of active and adoptive management into the conservation regulatory framework.

SETA, based in south-east New South Wales, includes several forestry scientists and supports small forest communities.

VEAC’s final report into the Central West recommends a massive expansion of parks and reserves and huge cutbacks in the forestry industry.

SETA said VEAC did not recog-

nise that some of the underlying principles driving “protection” were rooted in the myth of ‘terra nullius’. ‘High quality wilderness’ was an artefact of European neglect, rather than maintaining the pre-1750 distribution of each forest type that was actively managed by Aborigines.

“Consequently, much of the conservation reserve system seeks to preserve slabs of land covered by native vegetation, altered in structure and in places, species composition,” SETA said.

Earlier VEAC reports, including the River Red Gum Forest report of 2008, had not recognised the adaptation of Victorian ecosystems to regular disturbance over tens of thousands of years before Aboriginal peoples’ dispossession.

“What VEAC looks at today and calls ‘natural’ biodiversity, is an artefact of 200 years of European management and/or neglect, that is fundamentally different

to management applied by Aboriginal people,” SETA said.

These simplistic assumptions implied that if timber harvesting was stopped and recreation curtailed, the current environmental values and threatened species would be “saved”.

SETA said many of the 375 threatened species would not be saved by simply changing land tenure. All public land, including reserves, should embrace the principles of active and adaptive management.

“Key tools … will include thinning of regrowth, a return of cultural/ecological burning across significant parts of the landscape, if Victoria is to reverse the current extinction trajectory for many threatened species,” SETA said.

“The passive neglect management approach will be locked in, as soon as most of the current area of state forest is transferred to the parks and reserve system.”

SETA said the Reference Areas Act 1978 holds up neglected, overgrown and moribund areas of native vegetation as the reference against which parks and reserves can be benchmarked.

“With the bar set so low, it is little wonder that across Australia, as the area of ‘protected land has increased, the threatened species list has continued to escalate,” said SETA, which made four key recommendations: •VEAC should shelve all proposed new parks and reserves in Central West Victoria and urge the Government to repeal the Reference Areas Act 1978.

•The Government should direct an expert panel to lead a rewrite of Victorian conservation legislation to enshrine the principles of active and adaptive management into the conservation regulatory framework.

•Before new parks and reserves are added, the Government should direct VEAC to

review all previous investigation recommendations to gauge whether previous land tenure changes have actually enhanced biodiversity.

•An expert panel should provide guidance on how to bring back ecological and fuel reduction burns and provide DEWLP and other land management staff expertise to refine burning strategies.

SETA said VEAC needed a question answered: how to use fire intelligently to help restore the habitat of threatened plant species. This question must be answered if plant species that were relatively common before Europeans arrived, were to be returned to the landscape that had not been permanently converted to other land uses.

“It is not clear what ‘protection’ means. If protection means total fire exclusion, the likely end for this special value species is likely to be eventual death from old age or disease,” SETA said.

‘They are going to come back and get the rest of it’ BRUCE MITCHELL

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LISTAIR Hull feels like he has had the proverbial rug pulled out from underneath him.

In simple terms, the VEAC report has the potential to make his mill at Talbot north of Ballarat – and at least two other nearby mills - unsustainable.

The report suggests a 10 per cent reduction of the forest, that has the potential to place more pressure on other areas so the sustainable yield has to drop. Estimates of the figure being closer to 20-25 per cent are being tossed around.

Alistair and Roslyn Hull and their family have a lot at stake.

They have a long history in forest-related industries.

Roslyn’s family worked in the Otway Ranges, as well as with the messmate, peppermint and swamp gums that characterize the Wombat Forest.

The Hull family came to Talbot, the heart of Central Victoria’s box and ironbark forest, in the 1850s and progressed from cutting firewood through fencing products to leaf harvesting eucalyptus oil, before turning their at-

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tention in the late 1980s to producing high value-added timber products.

But things started going a bit pear-shaped.

“In 2002 the Environment Conservation Council (now VEAC) recommended that about 50 per cent of box and ironbark be locked into parks,’’ Alistair said.

“They said whatever is left had to be value added.

“So that would get rid of sleeper cutters and firewood cutters and phase out fencepost cutters.

“So we went from firewood to value adding.

“We spent a lot of money over those years setting everything up.’’

They recently installed a Gibson twin saw and a Meadows multirip for milling and for value adding a 18m3 solar kiln plus two profile moulders.

“We are a product of those recommendations and now they are pulling the rug out from under us,’’ Alistair said.

He said there were three small mills, with each value adding in a different way, which will be affected.

Talbot’s are involved in kiln drying, another specializes in sawn timber and another rustic furniture. Everyone is doing their own thing using as much of the resource as

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

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Alistair Hull (left) with employee Gary Gregor.

possible without wasting it.

“Any cut to the sustainable yield is going to mean a cut to the quotas or we’re going have to disappear.

“There’s nowhere for us to go,’’ he said.

“The plantations (from 2002) aren’t ready and there’s no other resource anywhere else.

“We start to wonder where do we go from here.

“And I don’t think there’s any compensation coming forward this time.’’

The future for Talbots rests at this stage on natural attrition in the industry, or gaining access to extra stock.

“We may be okay but we don’t really know,’’ Alistair said.

He fears further restriction are inevitable.

“It will happen again,’’ he said.

“They are going to come back and get the rest of it.’’

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Leadbeater Possum

Significant scientific gaps remain in our knowledge about possums A

N independent and comprehensive study of the Leadbeater Possum population and range is urgently needed to close the significant scientific gaps surrounding the management of this species, according to the Australian Forest Products Association.

AFPA CEO Mr Ross Hampton said the Commonwealth’s twoyear review of the Leadbeater Possum’s critically endangered status had produced encouraging new evidence that indicates the possum population and range is much greater than was understood in 2015 when the Threatened Species Scientific Committee first recommended it be listed as ‘critically endangered’.

“However, despite the recent

new evidence, a comprehensive population study across all land tenures has still not occurred, and consequently only 6 to 10 per cent of the Leadbeater Possum’s potential habitat in the Central Highlands has been surveyed,” Mr Hampton said.

“Environment Minister Sussan Ley’s decision to retain the possum’s critically endangered status should focus efforts on getting the best science to inform future conservation efforts, and that’s why we are calling on the Federal and Victorian Governments to ensure this comprehensive study finally happens.”

Ms Ley said that while there were a range of views, she had listened carefully to advice from Australia’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee and those

who made their living from the land, and decided that the status of Victoria’s faunal emblem, the Leadbeater’s Possum, should remain as critically endangered.

“This ensures the Leadbeater’s Possum remains a priority species for all levels of government,’’ she said.

“I’m encouraged by the forestry industry’s willingness to engage in the possum’s survival – indeed they have invested heavily research of the possum to ensure they abide by the terms of their Regional Forestry Agreement.’’

It was this agreement that had placed a 200-metre barrier around all nesting trees, those with hollows, to protect the populations known about, and provided much needed data on those that don’t.

Mr Hampton said the review of the possum’s listing had been worthwhile because it gave scientists time to gather new evidence which has significantly boosted our understanding of the possum’s population and range, which are greater than previously thought.

However, the review has also exposed just how little was known about the possum’s actual population and range, and future habitat availability.

In the past 12 months scientists had documented Leadbeater’s Possum colonies as far as 15km outside their known habitat range, and they were being found in regrowth forest from the 2009 bushfires and in mixedtree species forests that they were believed not to inhabit.

And, as of November 2018, there were 688 known Leadbeater’s Possum colonies identified, 527 of which had been identified since 2014, which scientists estimate could put their population at more than 10,000.

“A comprehensive survey will not only provide a more accurate understanding of the possum’s status, but also inform a wholeof-landscape approach to the conservation of this important species,” Mr Hampton said.

“Until such a study is completed, releasing a final Recovery Plan based on the limited science available could compromise conservation efforts and adversely impact Victoria’s forest industries, which employ thousands of people across the state,” Mr Hampton said.

New laws to shut down activists must be ‘broader’

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ROPOSED new laws to protect farmers and primary producers, including forest industries from activists should be broadened to include necessary protections for processors of forest products according to the Australian Forest Products Association and Australian Forest Contractors Association.

While welcoming the new laws, AFCA General Manager Stacey Gardiner said State jurisdictions must do all they can to enforce their own existing powers so sustainable forest industry operations can operate without interference, AFCA General Manager Stacey Gardiner said.

“State jurisdictions need to ensure they enforce their own existing powers to ensure forestry operations aren’t disrupted, and employees and forestry contractors are free to complete their work without hindrance from activists. We know that powers exist at the State level, but often aren’t properly or timely enforced by the relevant authorities,” Ms Gardiner said.

“Our industries have borne the brunt of disruptive and unconscionable activist behaviour along with vandalism impacting on legally conducted forestry

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operations. It needs to stop, and these latest proposed Federal laws are both recognition and an opportunity to work towards that end.”

AFPA CEO Ross Hampton said the Federal Government’s Criminal Code Amendment (Agricultural Protection) Bill 2019 currently covers forestry operations on private land only.

“Many of the activist issues occur on public land, which means the States need to play a significant role,” he said.

“Additionally, the proposed Federal laws should also cover forest product processing facilities, like timber mills, just as meat processing facilities like abattoirs are already covered.

“The Federal Government is now consulting on the Bill and, although the proposed laws are a welcome step, the concerns and circumstances of Australia’s forest product industries should be addressed,” Mr Hampton said.

“Australia’s forest industries are among the most environmentally conscious of anywhere in the world. Of our 123 million hectares of native forests, only about half a per cent is harvested for renewable timber annually, before it’s sustainably regrown.’’

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

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Green Triangle

It’s your time to thank ‘someone’ ADRIAN FLOWERS Chairman GTTIA

I

F you were asked to describe our industry in simple terms what would be your answer? Possibly, science to seeds to trees to management to harvest to haul to process to ship to market?

If you were asked to number how many different tasks, there are that make up our industry what would your answer be?

Would it be hundreds or thousands?

Out of all of those tasks how many do not require some sort of

input from someone? I bet, not many or none?

The Green Triangle Timber Industry Awards would like to recognise someone.

That someone will be a person or group of people that goes about their job with the utmost professionalism.

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job done.

It’s the best of these people that we need to single out. It’s most likely that these people will not want to be recognised but that is why they deserve it, because they go and do what they do for their families, themselves and their respective employers without complaint or criticism.

These vital members of our industry have earnt a pat on the back and a thank you.

Our industry was established by ambitious, hard-working people who understood that forestry could be a platform to support communities for a long time

into the future. Through recognition and celebration of the stand out people within our industry I believe that we can continue to grow and build on the platform that was established for us. If we invest in our people, then the future of our sustainable industry will be secure for generations to come.

We all know someone that deserves being nominated and recognised for their contribution. Please jump on the website https://gttia.com/nominations/ and put the time aside that these ‘someones’ deserve and complete the nomination form.

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Or they could be the person we all have in our business that goes relatively unnoticed but has been getting their job done without fail every day for as long as you can remember.

It’s the people that work within the Timber Industry that push the buttons, pull the spanners, formulate the spreadsheets, turn the steering wheels, study the data, walk the rows, conduct the training, change the tyres, diagnose the faults, sweep the floors, debate the issues, answer the phones, weld the cracks, type the emails, walk the walk and talk to talk, manage the risk and get the

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IMBER Queensland with the CRC NA have been conducting Forestry & Forest Products Industry Situation Analysis Consultation Forums across Northern Australia, with forums already held in Cairns, Darwin and Nhulunbuy.

A WA forum will now be hosted at Kununurra on September 5.

The forum is a strategic plan to identify and explore the growth potential of the forest and forest products industry in Northern Australia, seek input from industry stakeholders on the initial findings of a literature review and develop longer term relationships with key industry and community representatives to seek further input on the final report and future actions for policy, R&D and investment decisions.

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ore than 2000 hectares of southern pine plantations near Grafton are now in public hands, after Forestry Corporation of NSW bought the timber rights to plantations established under contract for a private company.

General Manager of Forestry Corporation’s Softwood Plantations Division Mike Beardsell said the purchase delivered a long-term boost to timber production in the region.

“By purchasing the timber rights to this plantation, we have increased plantations in our Grafton Management Area by 20 per cent,

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

bolstering the supply of locally-grown renewable timber into the future,’’ he said.

NEW Forests has finalised the acquisition of Hikurangi Forest Farms (HFF), based in Gisborne, New Zealand, on behalf of its investment clients.

HFF is one of the largest forestry estates in the Gisborne region and includes around 25,000 hectares of radiata pine plantation on 35,000 hectares of freehold, forest rights, and leasehold land.

As part of the ownership transition HFF has been renamed Aratu Forests Limited. A formal launch of the new rebranded business is planned in Gisborne in September.

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HE Australian Forest Contractors Association has received $140,000 to support the Professional Ownership and Driver Wellbeing program through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s 2019 Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative, supported by the Federal Government.

AFCA general manager Ms Stacey Gardiner said the funding would support the organisation to improve heavy vehicle safety.

“AFCA is pleased to be partnered with Australian Trucking Safety Services & Solutions (ATSSS) and KJ Training and Consulting to deliver the PODW Program which will provide fundamental psychoeducation tools, addressing the ‘human factors’, for those at highest risk within the forestry industry of a heavy vehicle accident,” Ms Gardiner said.

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Winter planting

■■

The Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Blowering Nursery near Tumut

Blowering’s massive seedling dispatch M ORE than seven million pine seedlings are being dispatched from Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Blowering Nursery near Tumut this winter, which is one of the largest crops since the nursery began producing containerised seedlings a little over a decade ago.

Phil Green, Plantation Improvement Manager, said the 7.4 million seedlings will be sent out to restock timber plantations near Tumut, Bombala, Bathurst and Walcha.

“Over the last 20 years, Forestry Corporation’s Blowering nursery has seen over 140 million seedlings pass through our gates to help build people’s homes and workplaces,” Mr Green said.

“We have 16 staff on board to help with the grading and dispatch program which runs for five months.

“At the height of the dispatch program, it is not uncommon to send upwards of 800,000 seedlings out of the nursery gate in a week.

Mr Green said preparations for the massive seedling dispatch began in October last year, when the team at the nursery planted more than 340 kilograms of seed into individual cells.

“These seedlings are going to become future generations’ homes and furniture, so we go to great lengths to ensure we

produce high quality, robust seedlings that will produce strong and straight timber when they are ready for harvest in 30 years,” Mr Green said.

“We use different seeds for seedlings destined to be planted in different parts of the estate so that the seedlings have the best chance of thriving in their environment and growing into high-quality timber.

“Over the past eight months, we have carefully fertilised, watered and nurtured our seedlings, regularly measuring

the stem diameter, height and nutrient status of seedlings in sample plots throughout the nursery and we are now assessing each individual seedling to ensure it meets our high standards.

“Forestry Corporation replants the equivalent of almost 300 times the area of Sydney’s CBD to pine plantations each year and around 85 per cent of the seedlings replanted statewide are grown here at Blowering, so it’s a role we take very seriously,” Mr Green said.

Winter planting underway in SA

F

ORESTRYSA will plant 480,000 pine seedlings across its Mount Lofty Ranges plantation estate this winter as part of its 2019 plantation reestablishment program.

More than 320 hectares of recently harvested pine plantation will be planted by mid-August across nine sites within the Kuitpo, Mount Crawford and Second Valley Forest Reserves.

Local contractors are engaged to complete the planting program, employing a mix of permanent and seasonal workers.

Commercial Operations Manager Peter Merry oversees ForestrySA’s annual planting program and explained it requires thorough planning, preparation and

10

coordination.

Site preparation, cultivation and weed control needs, natural features and heritage conservation, as well as stakeholder interests are all considered on a site-specific basis.

“Planning starts long before the first seedling goes into the ground,” Mr Merry said.

“Commencement of planting this year was pushed back to late June due to the delay in the break of the season.

“Optimising young plantation establishment is critical due to the long-term nature of forestry – the seedlings we plant this season will set up a more than 30year investment commitment.”

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

This year ForestrySA is partnering with the Southern Tree Breeding Association to establish a genetic gains trial at one of the planting sites.

The results of the trial will be shared with other softwood plantation managers in Southern Australia.

ForestrySA manages more than 10,000ha of plantation pine across the Mount Lofty Ranges. The business is committed to the responsible and sound environmental management of its plantation and native forests.

Its Forest Management System is certified to the internationally recognised Australian Forestry Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (AS4708) known as Responsible Wood.

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RFA update

Victoria’s RFA a “dramatic failure”: VAFI PHILIP HOPKINS

V

ICTORIA’S regional forest agreements have dramatically failed, with quality sawlog volumes slashed by two-thirds and jobs by more than a quarter over the past 20 years.

That was the stark conclusion of the Victorian Association of Forest Industries in its response to the independent consultant’s report into the modernisation of the RFAs. VAFI said when the current RFAs were established between 1997 and 2000, the projected volume of D+ sawlogs from State forests was a minimum of 675,900 cubic metres annually.

“In 2009, this projection had fallen to 500,000m3 annually.

In contrast, in 2017 the most recent resources outlook from VicForests forecasts a total annual supply of 230,000m3 of D+ sawlogs (130,00m3 mountain ash, 100,00m3 mixed species),” VAFI said.

Total harvested timber volumes (sawlog and pulpwood) had declined from 2.2 million m3 in 2000-2001 to 1.2 million m3 in 2015-16. Direct jobs had fallen by 28 per cent between 2005-2016, although this had been partly offset by growth in the hardwood plantation sector.

“However, in the Gippsland and Central Highlands regions, which are dominated by native forestry, direct jobs have reduced by 27 per cent over the same period,” the association said. Saw mills had downsized or closed outright.

VAFI said the reductions had been caused by major bushfires in 2003, 2006 and 2009 and political willingness to create new reserves outside the agreed RFA framework.

“It is clear that the RFAs have not provided security of supply to the timber and forestry industry, as intended,” VAFI said.

Uncertainty had increased in the past five years, with the Andrews Government’s delay in re12

leasing the latest Timber Release Plan creating extraordinary uncertainty, financial pressure and social hardship in timber communities.

VAFI said the RFAs should ensure certainty to the industry by providing a stable and predictable supply of high-quality timber, as the RFAs originally stipulated.

“This intend should be honoured,” the association said.

“There should be no reductions in productive area, quality or supply volume caused by changes to the boundaries of either formal or informal reserves. In the event of unavoidable losses, such

years, with changes to terms negotiated no later than five years before the end of the active period; A consistent and transparent system for regulation and compliance; Retain Commonwealth commitments to allow forestry in RFAs under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999; Incentives for new plantations should not replace timber supplies from native forests.

VAFI said a landscape approach would assess the best actions for forest species, using meth-

communities gaining access to contracting, training and job opportunities in the forest industry.

“When traditional owners own land suitable for timber production, partnerships with industry can offer substantial business and employment/training opportunities at the local level,” VAFI said.

VAFI acknowledged that climate change could have a huge impact on forestry if the risks were not addressed. Potential impacts included reduced timber yields, losses from more frequent fires and lower regeneration rates in some forests.

"

A population approach should be used to protect forest species based on ecological information from all public forests.

as very large bushfires, the RFAs should use adaptive planning to maintain available timber supplies.”

VAFI said crucial to this outcome was landscape-scale forest planning across all public land tenures. A population approach should be used to protect forest species based on ecological information from all public forests.

“Maintaining biodiversity and forest health can be balanced with managing a sustainable timber resource,” the submission said. “The RFAs should work from the fundamental principle that well planned sustainable harvesting is compatible with tourism, honey production and water extraction.”

VAFI said other ways to ensure industry development included: A comprehensive timber resource assessment across all state forests; Identify opportunities for investment in new technologies and partnerships; Supply contracts should be agreed over periods of 10-20

ods such as predator control.

Threatened species surveying had focussed on timber harvesting coupes; no comprehensive review of forest species across state forests and conservation reserves had been made. “This means that population and distribution models may not be fully representative,” the submission said.

The increasing use of small timber exclusion zones, such as for Leadbeater’s Possum, created a scattered reserve system with limited long-term conservation management value. The forest available for harvesting became fragmented, reducing coupe access and increasing costs.

Leadbeater Possum exclusions had created, to date, reserves of 4000ha, further reducing log supply by a projected 88,000m3 annually.

VAFI fully supported the role of traditional owners in the forests. The RFAs should work with local Aborigines to identify their priorities for forest use, protect cultural heritage and respect native title, and support Aboriginal

However, the RFAs should support carbon market frameworks that account for the full benefits generated by the forestry. Industry could mitigate the risks through forest management, fighting bushfires and carbon benefits.

VAFI said mechanical fuel reduction could reduce understory and dense regrowth where planned burning was difficult or undesirable, such as new towns, water catchments, plantations and production forests. This would remove larger fuels that can cause huge fires. Thinning the forests could also reduce fire risk.

VAFI said forest industry workers were skilled and trained in fire-fighting; indirect firefighting such as backburning; and highly experienced in using machines in forest conditions, road and track construction, tree falling, fire behaviour and overall local knowledge. “Other operators are often inexperienced in those conditions,” the submission said.

VAFI emphasised the carbon benefits of timber products.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

“Harvested wood products store carbon and reduce construction emissions by substituting high carbon materials,” the association said. Creating more conservation reserves would cut timber production and lead to increased imports of timber products.

VAFI said there were a variety of ways that the RFAs could encourage investment and new market opportunities.

These included: New technologies to process small diameter logs and residue fibre; Low-carbon construction materials and off-site construction techniques; Chemicals and materials derived from wood feedstock; Electricity and heat generated from wood residues; Increased use of engineered wood and timber composite products; Promoting consumer use of a wider range of timber species; Developing local processing hubs tailored to nearby resource types, such as hardwood/softwood, or sawlogs/pulp logs.

VAFI said an updated resource inventory was essential for accurate assessment of the forests and their ability to supply commercial timber. The native hardwood sector now relied on a small subset of areas and species, such as 1939 regrowth ash in the Central Highlands. This could result in intensive production management over small areas, creating resource pressure.

“However, the remaining available area (about 600,000 ha) is considered unsuitable due to topography, species composition, low yields, timber quality, poor access and other factors,” the submission said.

“In a changing industry, there is potential to consider how the available resource in these areas can be utilised effectively.

This may mean marketing species that are currently considered subcommercial or harvesting smaller logs for use in engineered products.

“These changes would contribute to a larger, more diverse resource base subject to more extensive management approaches.” www.timberbiz.com.au

Tasmanian Forests

■■

The Tasmanian Forest Practices Code will ensure the ongoing viability of Tasmanian forests.

Enhancing forest management practices across Tasmania T

HE latest proposed enhancements to the Tasmanian Forest Practices Code (‘the Code’) have been released by the Forest Practices Authority (FPA) for public comment.

The Code provides standards and guidance to ensure the ongoing viability of Tasmanian forests balanced with reasonable environmental protections.

The latest enhancements include guidance for land owners wishing to establish and harvest

trees along waterways (riparian zones) for agroforestry and riparian rehabilitation.

There is also a new section on native forest management (silvicultural) systems which will provide a single stand-alone reference and reduce reliance on external documents.

Chief Forest Practices Officer, Peter Volker, said the latest proposed enhancements were developed through a comprehensive review process.

“We set up working groups drawn from industry, private forest owners, discipline experts and community groups to review each section of the Code,” Dr Volker said.

“It was a very positive process with a focus on changing only those things that were necessary and ensuring the Code remains up to date with modern forest practices and environmental management.

“The Code is the go-to for peo-

ple preparing and implementing forest practices plans to achieve sustainable forest management.

“Importantly, it is about how forests are managed and is not about setting forest policy or how wood and timber are used, and it is very clear on that.

“The Tasmanian Forest Practices Code has stood the test of time. It has been rated as one of the best Codes in the world – the latest amendments will make it even better,” Dr Volker said.

Tasmanian Forest Practices Code was first released in 1987 and has had previous revisions in 1993, 2000 and 2015. The enhanced Tasmanian Forest Practices Code is available on the FPA website or can be viewed at the FPA office in Hobart or at Private Forests Tasmania (PFT) offices in Burnie and Launceston.

Submissions close on Friday, 20 September 2019.

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Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

13

Mill upgrades

■■

OneFortyOne general manager Paul Hartung with executive general manager Cameron MacDonald and production manager Nigel Boyd at the Jubilee Sawmill.

OneFortyOne invests $19M at mill W

HEN OneFortyOne took ownership of Mount Gambier’s Jubilee Highway Sawmill in 2018, it not only cemented the company’s commitment to the Green Triangle region, it also marked the first of many significant investments to be made at the site.

Over the past 18 months, OneFortyOne has invested $19 million in various projects, ensuring the mill remains one of the largest and most efficient mills in Australia, and at the cutting edge of domestic processing.

The company has announced this week a further $19 million

investment at the site for two major capital projects. Work is set to start this month with the purchase and installation of a new scanner and two new highly efficient Continuous Drying Kilns, with the projects set to conclude in 2020.

“We are excited to see the posi-

tive impact of our ongoing investment across the mill, ensuring it continues to be a work class plant for many years to come,’’ OneFortyOne’s Executive General Manager, Australia, Cameron MacDonald said.

“We know this will provide job security for our team and is

another positive for our local economy.”

Maintaining the internationally recognised timber industry in the Green Triangle is critical to ensuring that Australian grown and processed timber products are competitive against those imported from overseas.

Major upgrade for Tarpeena mill

T

IMBERLINK has begun a major upgrade of its mill facility at Tarpeena in South Australia’s South East.

The company is investing $90 million over the next three years to secure local jobs in the region for the next generation, in addition to the significant spend that has already taken place at the mill since Timberlink’s takeover in 2013.

Key to the early stages of the project is the construction of a new electrical substation for the town of Tarpeena. This is expected to improve the reliability of electricity supply for the township with all new hardware, modern design features and more reliable components.

The mill upgrade, to be completed in 2021, will increase both the volume of renewable plantation pine logs that can be processed and the yield per log.

This will transform the mill into a workplace of the future, with high tech machinery improving accuracy, safety and job security.

Timberlink is committed to training and upskilling its staff to run the new machinery and the company says there will be no job losses as a result of the upgrade.

Around 20 per cent of Australia’s softwood timber is imported, and to ensure Tim-

14

berlink remains internationally competitive, the business is expanding and investing in new technologies to improve efficiency and create more structural timber for the domestic market.

The investment includes a completely new saw line, the installation of a new stacker and edger, coupled with addition of a contraflow kiln and a new batch kiln for drying timber.

A new drying shed will also be built as part of the project.

The Timberlink Tarpeena mill supports 680 direct and indirect jobs in the area whilst contributing more than $180m to the local economy.

The company says that the investment will create 200 jobs in the construction phase and secure the 210 permanent full-time jobs at the mill for the next generation.

The $90m Tarpeena upgrade project will source the best technology from around Australia and the globe to ensure that Timberlink remains an essential supplier to the construction industry in Australia, whilst securing jobs and futures for many families in the Mt Gambier region.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

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New technology

■■

One of the drones in flight.

Drone trials to make hazard reduction burning safer F

ORESTRY Corporation of NSW has been trialling drones for aerial ignition to better understand how this emerging technology can support a safe and effective hazard reduction burning program.

Recent trials in Benandarah State Forest, north of Batemans Bay, have shown drones can effectively ignite hazard reduction burns in hard to access areas.

This ultimately means less risk to forestry staff and better bushfire protection for neighbours and forest assets.

Multiple gridded ignition points mean that fires don’t reach high intensities before they run into the next fire. Burns are kept cool to create better mosaic patterns, which is good for ecological diversity.

Forestry Corporation Protection Supervisor Julian Armstrong said that drones have

huge potential to complement existing hazard reduction practices.

“We used the drone to deliver incendiaries to the target sites, which would have otherwise been difficult and dangerous for staff to access,” Mr Armstrong said.

“Drones meant we could safely carry out the burning program over a wider area, removing fine fuels in a mosaic pattern for a safer and healthier forest.

“The trials are not about replacing staff, but will mean staff

can work in a safer environment.”

The results showed that over the two-day trial, double the area could be burnt using the drone incendiaries for ignition.

“Forestry Corporation ground crews concentrated on lighting the burns from road lines, while drone incendiaries were used to light ridgetops, remote areas and tricky areas such as around powerlines,” Mr Armstrong said.

“The drone is equipped with infra-red technology so we could see where the fire front was

slowly burning, even through smoke.

“This was a first for us, and we are really happy with the results – we look forward to running more trials of this technology in the current burning season.

“We’ll build on these learnings, and ultimately will have a clear picture on drone incendiary effectiveness, management and cost-effectiveness in this space.”

The drones were operated by Civil Aviation Safety Authoritycertified drone pilots according to a prescribed burn plan.

Virtual reality steps in to improve safety and cut costs

N

ew research has demonstrated that forestry field operators can accurately perform certain tree stem assessments in an immersive, virtual reality (VR) environment. Consequent benefits to industry could range from improved safety to reduced labour costs.

As part of this FWPA-supported research project, a team at the University of Tasmania used data acquired by helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to investigate the potential of VR to replace current forest inventory fieldwork approaches.

Lead researcher Dr Winyu Chinthammit, of the University of Tasmania’s College of Sciences and Engineering, said the project was prompted by the fact forests are becoming more difficult to evaluate manually, due to increasing safety concerns and access problems.

“We were looking to work with people who didn’t have any experience of VR, but who would traditionally go into forests to assess trees, in order to test how people who already have skills in forestry might per-

16

form inside a VR environment,” Dr Chinthammit said.

For this pilot project, dense point cloud data captured from a pre-harvest Pinus radiata inventory plot was successfully imported into an immersive VR environment using the commercially available hardware, Oculus Rift. Functionality included multiple options for users to record their observations using a virtual control pad.

The design of the VR application was further informed and developed using the results of extensive user testing and feedback, undertaken in collaboration with several industry partners.

An initial experiment with 31 industry participants helped to determine how effectively users were able to learn to use the VR tools. A second experiment was then conducted with 17 participants, using an updated version of the software, to assess how reliably users were able to measure or estimate tree metrics.

The testing found all participants demonstrated a capacity to work within the VR environment. Most were able to successfully acquire the skills needed to

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

use the tools and take basic measurements, including diameter and height, within a reasonable time.

However, more complex measurements relating to features such as wobble, sweep type, stem damage and branch size inside the canopy were not as accurate.

“This project provided evidence that a field crew can indeed operate inside a VR environment and perform some of the same basic tasks they would normally complete as part of their everyday operations on the ground,” Dr Chinthammit said.

“Going forward, we plan to use more advanced visualisation and rendering techniques to determine how the data can be used to give a more detailed view of what is going on inside the canopy.

“The ultimate aim is for users to assess forests in a VR environment with the same levels of accuracy that would be achieved had they gone into the forest themselves. For industry, this will mean reduced labour costs, as well as overcoming access problems and safety issues,” Dr Chinthammit said.

www.timberbiz.com.au

30 March–04 April 2020

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AUSTimber 2020 ■■ The crowd and machinery on display at AUSTimber 2016.

Next year’s program Mon, 30 March 2020 - Sat, 04 April 2020 Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday - bump in Wednesday - Field trips (full day) Thursday - Field trips (½ & ¾ day) and Welcome Dinner Friday and Saturday - show hours to be finalised (est 8 hrs) Sunday - priority pre-paid bump out Monday and Tuesday - regular bump out.

AUSTimber not just big, it’s hit the top BRUCE MITCHELL

I

T’S not just the largest timber show in Australasia; AUSTimber is now also considered one of the top five timber shows in the world with 10,000 people expected to attend next year’s event.

Next year’s event will take place over the course of six days and will include field trips, site visits, competitions and the show at the HVP site in Flynn, 16km from Traralgon. Traralgon is 150km from Melbourne on the M1. There is also hourly train service to Tr-

aralgon and surrounding communities.

For 2020 all activities will be happening on site at the HVP plantation. It gives a great opportunity to demonstrate the full spectrum of the timber industry from silviculture to harvesting to manufacturing.

The site boasts the opportunity to cater for all types of exhibitors and will feature displays as well as in-forest demonstrations showcasing various machinery, technology and innovations looking to the future.

The revised site plan will also have a new central activity area

between the pine and eucalypt live demonstration areas, and one site will be used for all expo and demonstration days. In 2016 two sites were used – one in the forest and the other in Traralgon which did not work well for visitors who had to travel between the two.

Unique to Gippsland is the ability to offer live pine and eucalyptus for demonstrations, making it the only expo in the world to showcase such a combination.

Stump grinding, mulching and levelling has already occurred and site preparation will con-

tinue throughout the year. Construction of on-site buildings and marquees begin two weeks out from the show.

More than 10,000 people are expected to attend with organisers already contacted by local, national and international people who are interested in attending.

Organisers are expecting more than 100 exhibitors at AUSTimber 2020. In addition to Australian exhibitors, teams coming from the UK, Europe, Canada, USA, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan are also expected.

AUSTimber 2020 will feature live pine and eucalyptus harvesting, live chipping, and l a live truck and trailer test route.

The Komatsu Forwarder Competition and the Woodchop competition are also expected to attract international participants and several exhibitors are expected to bring simulators for all attendees to try out.

The support of Latrobe City has been integral to bringing AUSTimber to the region.

AUSTimber has an economic benefit of almost $10 million direct spend for local communities.

Fitness test puts forestry firefighters through their paces ahead of fire season

L

ocal Forestry Corporation of NSW staff have completed the first stage of their annual fire season preparations, passing grueling fitness tests that simulate the strain placed on the body during firefighting.

Many Forestry Corporation staff are trained as firefighters and must pass an annual fitness test, which involves walking 3.22km in less than 30 minutes wearing an 11.3 kilogram vest.

Third-generation forester Rod Winkler, who has been working and fighting fires in the region’s forests for close to 35 years, and Field Ecologist Peter Simon coordinated a fitness program for staff to prepare them for this year’s test, which they plan to continue into the fire season.

Mr Winkler said he was motivated to coordinate the training sessions after missing his first fire season last year due to a knee injury.

“Training is much easier when you’ve got someone walking alongside you giving you encouragement — if you develop relationships and you know you can depend on someone life is easier, not just on fires but in our general work,” Mr Winkler said.

18

“That teamwork side of things is something Forestry Corporation is really good at.

“Over the years I’ve been involved in fighting so many fires in the region, from big fires out the back of Coffs Harbour in ’94, to fires around the township of Nambucca where the forest abuts the community, to a big fire in the young eucalypt plantation at Barcoongere State Forest a few years ago that had 30 metre flame heights coming out the tops of the trees.

“Getting ready for the fitness test not only helps firefighting, but it also has benefits in preventing injuries for our teams out in the bush.

“I supervise a team of Field Technicians who are in the bush every day walking the mountains looking for rare plants, koalas, wildlife and other important features so we can protect them.

“It’s a very difficult job under extreme conditions and they do it very well. The fitter they can be, the less likelihood there is of an injury.”

Forestry Corporation of NSW’s Protection Supervisor Tom Newby said local staff took their fire-fighting responsibilities seriously and played a crucial role in managing, preventing and fighting fires in the region’s State forests.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

“Bushfires are a big risk and our firefighters have been on the front line fighting significant fires in the region in recent years, including a bushfire in Scotchman State Forest near Bellingen last year which had potential to be a large fire.

“Fortunately we brought it under control using a combination of traditional firefighting and modern technology including drones, mapping technology and a contract helicopter,” Mr Newby said.

“We need to be confident staff are fit and able to manage the physical pressures of the fire front, so fitness tests are a crucial part of our preparation the official fire season each year, along with scenariobased exercises and a program of hazard reduction burning.

Forestry Corporation is responsible for more than two million hectares of native and plantation forests and has been formally involved in fire-fighting for more than 100 years.

The organisation also works in partnership with the Rural Fire Service, and National Parks and Wildlife Services to help limit the impact of fire on forests and communities across the state.

www.timberbiz.com.au

Conferences

Who’s coming this year

F

Workshops to cater for mill production, operational staff F

OLLOWING on from the success of the 2017 sawmilling event, a series of practical troubleshooting workshops have been designed as part of the WoodTECH 2019 series that runs in September for a much wider cross section of sawmill production and operational staff.

And they’re going to provide a unique insight into how sawmills can extract the best performance out of their saws, machine centres and sawing operations”.

Workshops of between 60-90 minutes are being given on primary breakdown and machine alignment and maintenance techniques to improve machine reliability, real-time quality control, condition monitoring, saw and guide alignment and trouble-shooting saw guides.

In addition to the workshops, presentations throughout the two days in each country have also been geared towards both mill management and sawmill production staff. www.timberbiz.com.au

The three workshop presenters are already well known by local companies and are regular visitors to this part of the world working alongside many mills across the region – in installation, commissioning and in troubleshooting.

Joe Shields, now a mechanical trainer with USNR has over 40 years’ experience in the troubleshooting of electrical, electronic, and mechanical systems.

Alignments and system diagnostics have become Joe’s main focus for service trips around the world working with sawmill service and engineering teams developing product improvements to reduce maintenance and downtime.

Josh Bergen will be taking the workshop on Troubleshooting Saw Guides, demonstrating to local mills how they can get

the most out of their saw guides through careful selection, installation, operation and maintenance.

Contained in the workshop will be a number of in-mill case studies. Josh is the founding partner of Precision Machinery, a CNC machine shop, R&D facility and industrial manufacturer based out of British Columbia. With customers all over the world, Josh’s company has specialized and is recognised internationally for their work in manufacturing and maintaining saw guides and guide dressers.

Nick Barrett, President of the Canadian company, SiCam Systems who received outstanding feedback from delegates at the 2017 event, will also be back for the 2019 series.

Nick is a visionary in the field of emerging technologies to support lumber size control and predictive maintenance in the mill.

He has worked in both Aviation Systems and Robotics but has focused the last 17 years on the

wood products industry.

Nick is the original designer of the SiCam products and currently the driving force behind the company’s vision.

As part of the workshop this year Nick will be outlining through a series of mill case studies, the application of both manual and automated methods for testing specific machinery in the sawmill and systems that have successfully been implemented by leading mills to audit equipment, scanning systems, people and overall mill performance.

Registrations to both events in the series are now flowing in with most mills taking full advantage of the significant discounts on offer for group bookings to attend this year’s programme.

Information and registrations can be accessed from the event website, www.woodtech.events.

The two-yearly sawmilling series runs in Rotorua, New Zealand on September 11-12 and then in Melbourne on September 17-18.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

or a full appreciation of what’s happening in September, check out the listing of all major equipment and technology suppliers to the sawmilling industry involved in either presenting or exhibiting. At this stage these include; USNR, USA/ Canada, ScanMeg, Canada, Optimil Machinery, Canada, LMI Technologies, Sweden, Nicholson Manufacturing, Canada, JoeScan, USA, EWD/Linck, Germany, IWTMoldrup Asia Pacific, Singapore, TS Manufacturing, Canada, SiCam Systems, Canada, GCAR Design, Canada, Lewis Controls, USA, Taqtile, Singapore, TimberSmart, NZ, Timberlink, Australia, Precision Machinery, Canada, Williams & White, Canada, Simonds International, USA, Winsaw Mill Services, NZ, Holtec, NZ, KeyKnife, Braford Industries, Australia, Andritz, NZ, ILS, NZ, Pacific Sawmill Engineering, NZ, Supply Services, NZ, High Duty Plastics, NZ, Modern Engineering, Australia, Thode Knife & Saw, NZ, Tui Technology, NZ, Checkmate Precision Cutting Tools, NZ, Saito, NZ, HewSaw, Australia, Stinger World, Australia, Automation & Electronics, NZ, AKE Sales Tech, Australia, Accurate Group, Australia, Indufor Asia Pacific, NZ, The Lean Hub, NZ, Fagus Grecon, Germany, Prodetec/Firefly, Australia, Phoenix Sawmill Supply, Australia, Vecoplan, Germany and Camco, Australia.

19

Transport

■■

Locomotive ‘Spud’ bringing the first load of empty containers to the Werris Creek yard.

New rail hub gears up to take timber by train T

HE first shipment of 60 containers of timber has been loaded onto the train at Werris Creek destined for Port Botany, as the region’s new rail hub gears up to take up to 230,000 tonnes of timber from Walcha and Nundle annually.

Walcha District Manager Gary Miller said Forestry Corporation of NSW is the first customer to use

the rail hub, which would improve safety and significantly cut costs by removing trucks from the hazardous road route to Newcastle.

“Forestry Corporation’s export operations from Walcha and Nundle are a great local success story,” Mr Miller said.

“We began exports after we were unable to find a processor in the region and over the past few years

exports have revived the region’s timber industry and created new jobs in forest management, harvesting, haulage and processing for export.

“In recent years this region has become a timber production powerhouse, with around 300,000 tonnes of certified sustainable timber set to be harvested from the plantations around Walcha

and Nundle each year.

“Timber from certified sustainable State forest plantations is sought after because people know that it has come from a well-managed source, it’s reliable and it’s good quality.

“Every time the trees in our timber plantations are harvested for timber, we replant another crop of high-quality seedlings, ensuring

our region will continue producing sustainable timber for generations to come.

“Forestry Corporation pine plantations currently produce enough structural lumber to construct a quarter of the homes built in Australia each year, as well as supplying renewable pulpwood for paper and packaging and logs for export markets.”

Trains taking trucks off NZ roads

M

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20

OVING another 100,000 tonnes of logs by rail from the Wairarapa to CentrePort benefits the region and means 6000 fewer truck trips annually, Forestry and Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones says.

Minister Jones, along with representatives from KiwiRail, CentrePort, the forestry sector, and councils attended an event in Masterton today to mark the start of larger log trains from the Waingawa rail hub which will be able to carry 40 per cent more logs to Wellington’s port.

“The industry has been clear there is a lot of potential to grow harvest export volumes from the Wairarapa, but not without beefing up the supply chain. KiwiRail has stepped up, adding wagons to their trains to carry around 100,000 tonnes more logs to CentrePort each year,” Shane Jones said.

“Not only are these log trains supporting the forestry industry to get its goods to market, the increased rail capacity reduces carbon emissions and will see 6,000 fewer logging truck trips annually across the Remutakas and into central Wellington.

“Log harvests in the south eastern section of the North Island are predicted to increase to 1.65 million tonnes in the next five years and stay that

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

way into the 2030s. Trucks alone won’t be able to manage the future harvest volumes.

“I see a real opportunity to get even more export logs onto rail. We need to take a more intermodal approach to transport and make greater use of rail and hubs like Waingawa, and KiwiRail are already beginning discussions with CentrePort and the forestry sector on possible further increases.

“That’s why the Government, through the Provincial Growth Fund, has invested $6.2 million in reopening the Napier-Wairoa line and establishing a log hub at Wairoa. There’s also $4 million funding earmarked for a log hub in Dannevirke, and $40 million for a road-rail freight hub near Palmerston North.”

Greater use of rail makes the supply chain more resilient, which is crucial for New Zealand as an export led-economy. Earlier this year road works on the Rimutaka Hill Road stopped trucks getting logs to port, creating big problems for the forestry and trucking industries.

“This mode neutral approach helps realise the Government’s ambitions to grow our forestry sector, reduce emissions, and get rail back on track,” Shane Jones said.

www.timberbiz.com.au

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Logging

Neuson’s ‘green machine’ suits High Country Logging BRUCE MITCHELL

S

INCE starting High Country Logging in 2006, Jock Haris has run a fleet of exclusively Tigercat machinery, having purchased 17 Tigercat’s in that time frame, with another currently on order.

For him, Tigercat have always lived up to their motto of Tough, Reliable, Productive.

However, the latest version of the Tigercat 822, which is the backbone of High Country Logging’s thinnings operations, is now significantly bigger than its predecessor. This makes the machine less manoeuvrable in a first thinnings application.

As a result, Jock was considering his options as the first thinnings machines were due for replacement.

Jock first saw a Neuson Forest 243 HV / HVT harvester at the Elmia logging show in Sweden in 2017, with a group of High Country Logging operators and their families whilst attending the show.

“We spotted these green machines that no one had ever heard of ”, he said.

“We briefly assessed them and thought they had potential as a first thinning machine, given their smaller size”.

“When we got back to Australia, I thought about them some more and decided a trip to Austria to visit the factory and some local contractors would be valuable. We visited the factory in Austria, with our mechanic and a first-thinnings operator” Jock said.

The High Country Logging team visited some local contractors in both Austria and Germany during the week-long visit to see how the machines operated in the field.

“We came away impressed with build quality, the positive comments of contractors and operators, and could see no reason not to proceed,’’ Jock said.

“For Neuson, the deal sort fell into their lap as I was looking for some machines at the time

and the Neusons seemed to fit the bill,’’ Jock said.

“The only reason they are in Australia is because I wanted two of them”.

Jock says the Neuson harvesters are only really only a first/ second thinnings machine.

“Neuson’s biggest machine is smaller than Tigercat’s smallest machine.”

High Country Logging had to carry out due diligence to ensure the equipment complied with Australian ROPS and FOPS and other requirements specific to our contract principals.

One early snag was that to contract to Forestry Corporation NSW and other private plantation owners in the region, it is mandatory that the front windows are 32mm thick.

This is not mandatory in Europe and as a result the Neuson harvesters didn’t have the 32mm windows.

“So Neuson had to go back to their engineers and work through those issues” Jock said.

“They were pretty obliging as Neuson were pretty keen to get something into Australia.”

Both of High Country Logging’s machines are now working with Log Max 6000 heads and are currently working in plantation pine first thinnings in the Tumut area.

“Jake Longobardi, the operator who accompanied us on both trips, has really hit the ground running considering both the machine and head are unfamiliar,’’ Jock said.

“He has not missed his quota target even during the familiarisation phase”.

The Tumut area plantations feature areas of steep slopes.

The Neuson machines are specifically designed for steep slope work as the majority of forestry work in Austria and Germany is comparatively steep.

Both machines were purchased through Scandinavian Forestry and Engineering in Tumut.

■■ High Country Logging’s Neuson Forest 243 HV / HVT harvester in the snow at Tumut.

22

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

www.timberbiz.com.au

Brands leading sustainability

Sustainability drives brand growth; inaction risks regulation TONY WILKINS

S

USTAINABILITY is climbing the political agenda, fuelled by increasing consumer concern about the health of our planet.

Brands that take a leadership position on sustainability issues become part of the solution while driving growth. Inaction risks regulation and erosion of customer trust. But voluntary business-led initiatives are already delivering results. Read on to discover how brands and publishers are creating more sustainable businesses.

With single-use plastics currently in the spotlight, the sustainability stories that usually hit our headlines involve small changes made by big organisations: Starbucks and McDonald’s phasing out plastic straws in certain countries Airlines taking steps to reduce single-use plastic on flights, such as plastic stirrers and spoons.

Amazon banning plastic straws at Whole Food stores across the U.S., the United Kingdom and Canada.

Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble are among brands partnering with environment solutions NGO TerraCycle to eliminate single-use plastic.

Coca Cola Amatil will have 70 per cent of its bottles using 100 per cent-recycled plastic and its board has discussed moving to 100 per cent-recycled packaging.

Government action Spearheading the government response to community concern is the banning of some single-use plastics in various jurisdictions across the world.

As of April 2019, plastic bag bans have been introduced in 63 countries.

Legislation requiring 100 per cent post-consumer plastic in beverage containers is being debated in California.

In the EU a ban on single-use plastics will be in place by 2021.

Plastic bottles sold in the EU must contain at least 25 per cent www.timberbiz.com.au

recycled material from 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030. Member states will have to collect 90 per cent of single-use plastic drink bottles by 2029.

Incoming change In Australia, governments are moving rapidly. The appointment of Sussan Ley MP as Minister for Environment and Trevor Evans MP as Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction represents unprecedented national leadership on recycling – it’s the first time in Australia and possibly the whole of the OECD where recycling is now accountable at Ministerial level.

With reviews of waste policy now complete they are poised to implement initiatives that drive major change. A key factor in the rapid initiation of action is the China recycling crisis; China will no longer accept exports of contaminated recyclables and other Asian countries are following suit.

Last year the federal government held a review of the Product Stewardship Act and released its National Waste Policy. A focus on product stewardship schemes was included, seen as a necessary tool to help address the recycling crisis. The new federal government is expected to follow through on its $100 million upscaling of commitments made to waste and recycling strategies.

Following the election the Coalition will be providing $1.6 million for a circular economy hub, to be developed in conjunction with Planet Ark and the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, which will establish an online marketplace to match buyers and sellers of waste.

Meanwhile, state and territory governments are redefining their actions on waste policy: NSW is following its public discussion paper on the circular economy with wide stakeholder engagement and a 20-year waste strategy.

Queensland is acting on its directions paper, “Transforming Queensland’s Recycling Waste Industry”.

Victoria has reacted quickly to the recycling challenge and has focused on several grants programs for transitional support and resource recovery infrastructure.

South Australia has published widely on the benefits of a circular economy for the state. In February this year, SA undertook consultation and engagement to understands attitudes towards turning the tide on single-use plastics. It is about to publish its feedback.

South Australia phased out of lightweight, checkout-style plastic bags in 2009, and now most other states and territories are on board with legislation or voluntary bans by major supermarkets. South Australia is also discussing a ban on all single use plastic products.

Australia’s newspapers provide a standout example of how an industry can bring about positive change through self-regulation and voluntary product stewardship.

Product stewardship is an industry accepting responsibility for the environmental impacts of what it produces. For publishers, it forms the basis of the National Environmental Sustainability Agreement, which has been in action since 1991. The Agreement is administered by NewsMediaWorks in partnership with Australia’s newsprint manufacturer Norske Skog.

Australian publishers were among the first to recognise the need to shift to sustainable manufacturing, transitioning to using recycled fibre in new Australian-made newsprint in 1995.

This was possible with the construction of Norske Skog’s $133 million newspaper de-inking and recycling plant at Albury in NSW, a massive financial investment that secured the manufacturing capability for recycled newsprint in Australia.

The National Environmental Sustainability Agreement is widely viewed as a success story, helping raise Australia’s newspaper recycling rate from 28 per cent in 1989 to 74 per cent

in 2018. This whole-of-industry agreement was a world first due to its voluntary status and national scope.

It has enabled Australian publishers and newsprint producers to tackle environment issues in the most efficient and effective way, while simultaneously building community trust.

By taking a proactive approach, publishers have avoided costly mandated recycled content regulation. It contrasts with the imposition of recycling legislation on publishers in 13 states in the U.S., which achieved lower recycling rates and imposes higher costs on industry.

The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, a voluntary, co-regulatory not-for-profit industry group, is partnering with government to reduce the negative impacts of product packaging on the environment.

The REDcycle Program is an Australian product stewardship model where manufacturers, retailers and consumers are shar-

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

ing responsibility in addressing plastic waste. Red Group partnered with some of Australia’s major brands to keep soft plastic out of landfill.

You can see their soft plastic collection bins as Coles and Woolworths. The collected plastic is made into products here in Australia. A partnership with Downer and Close the Loop means that soft plastic is now also a component in some new municipal roads.

As consumers worldwide become increasingly concerned about sustainability, they look to brands, industries and governments for guidance. Leading brands are embracing this concern voluntarily and will reap the benefits of consumer trust and respect, along with the potential to avoid outside regulation. Some, such as Unilever, are also driving growth and profit as a result.

Dr Tony Wilkins is Executive Director with NewsMediaWorks.

23

Biofuels

New development pathway for Canada’s forest industry ANDREW LANG

I

N contrast to the present situation all over Australia regarding native forestry and plantations, it helps bring some perspective to look at some countries where forestry is a central part of both their energy supply, the development of a bioeconomy and in being connected in some way to a large fraction of their exports.

In these countries the fact that forestry is often conducted on a smaller scale and the products have to sell into an open market flooded with similar softwood lumber, is more than balanced by the fact that all fraction of forest products have a market (even including stumps in Finland), and the timber processing companies are increasingly also producing energy and producing value-added products including microcellulose, biocomposite materials, and transport biofuels including renewable diesel and bio-ethanol.

Obviously it helps greatly to have native forestry managed under a set of long-term coherent and intelligent government policies, and this is the case in Austria, the Nordic countries, and a number of smaller wellforested countries like Slovenia and Japan. Some other countries have invested heavily in development of a major plantation forestry sector (often based on Australian Eucalypts), and Brazil, China, Uruguay, Portugal and New Zealand are some examples of this.

But there are other countries where the forestry industry has been struggling, resulting in closure of mills and high unemployment in traditional forestry areas. This is the case in parts of USA and Canada, despite the fact 24

that the quality of accessible forests and the range of quality milling species are good.

Canada is one country that has taken a long look at its forest industry and has seen the possibilities of moving it more towards the model that is successful in leading European countries. This is where forests are mapped and studied, thinned appropriately, harvested efficiently, and where all products have some market, including for energy. And where forests are highly valued for their environmental values, including for water and biodiversity, and

tion through collaboration, engagement, and mobilization’.

Canada has the largest volume of forestry biomass per head of population and is the world’s second largest exporter of forest-based products. At the same time, concerns about climate change are leading Canadian consumers to ‘seek clean technologies, energy sources, and manufactured products that limit or reduce carbon outputs while preserving biodiversity.

By leveraging its efficient biomass supply chains and robust innovation ecosystem, Canada

leader in the use of forest biomass for advanced bioproducts and innovative solutions. There are multiple sources of clean energy in Canada— hydroelectric, wind, tidal, geothermal, solar, and bio (for electricity, heat, and fuels)—yet biomass is the only renewable source that can substitute the carbon from fossil fuels found in chemicals, plastics, and composites.

‘The framework is built on four pillars to enhance policy coherence and collaboration across jurisdictions.

Pillar 1 is Communities and

"

Canada can meet part of its future energy, chemical, material, and advanced building system needs with renewable forest biomass.

are re-established properly.

Canada has been active in developing policies to better utilise its massive forest resource, including increasing energy production from forest residues and timber industry wastes. It now has policy at a national level to develop a bioeconomy and a circular economy. Forestry is recognised as playing a major role in this and one key body developing forest policy is the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers CCFM, which consists of the 14 forestry ministers from the federal government, the provinces and territories. This body was formed in 1985. Since its inception the CCFM has ‘provided a forum for discussion and a vehicle to work cooperatively on common forest and forest-related issues. In 2015, the CCFM released the Kenora Declaration on Forest Innovation, which committed to advancing forest sector innova-

can meet part of its future energy, chemical, material, and advanced building system needs with renewable forest biomass.

Shifting toward a bioeconomy, coupled with innovative forest management practices, will help Canada meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets under the Paris Agreement.’

In 2016 the CCFM started a new process to move Canadian forestry management and policy forward, and this involved work with about 350 stakeholders to come up with the mass of input that would form the basis for the proposed Forestry Bioeconomy Framework. 2017 the CCFM developed and then launched A Forest Bioeconomy Framework for Canada (https://www.ccfm. org/english/) At the start of this document is the vision statement: The vision behind this framework is simple yet bold: Canada will be a global

Relationships, which focuses on creating green jobs, offering opportunities for rural communities through education and skills training, improving overall quality of life, and enhancing partnerships with Indigenous peoples.

Pillar 2 is Supply of Forest Resources and Advanced Bio-products. The future demand for forest biomass and biomass projects can only be met with a predictable, stable, and secure supply.

Establishing effective standards will enable the purchase and trade of forest biomass and advanced bioproducts, including for the construction of tall wood buildings. Modelling tools and better data management of forest biomass supply are needed to help researchers and investors understand and quantify the bioeconomy’s opportunities and derisk projects.

Pillar 3 is Demand for Advanced

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

Forest Bioproducts and Services, which recognizes that public perception of the sustainability of the forest bioeconomy is imperative for growth. Coordinated outreach and marketing can actively engage consumers and businesses to make more sustainable choices. Governments can be proactive by instituting procurement programs that influence markets and stimulate demand for green products, including those derived from forest biomass. Governments also have a role in developing effective and updated regulations to reduce barriers to entry and stimulate demand for projects, including for advanced bioproducts and bioheat production.

Pillar 4 is Support for Innovation, which focuses on facilitating a healthy and vibrant innovation eco-system to expand the pipeline of projects. A seamless array of mechanisms is needed to achieve success for the research, development, demonstration, and deploy-ment of new technologies, which includes embedding innovation systems within regional land-use planning processes. Financing these efforts requires significant capital and knowledgeable strategic partners. Updating tax measures to reflect the beneficial outcomes of forest bioproducts and leveraging carbon pricing mechanisms that support the forest bioeconomy are important as-pects in sustaining the forest sector’s competitiveness.’

Australia needs to look at the option of developing a similar development pathway of a forest bioeconomy.

Andrew Lang is chairman of Farm Forest Growers Victoria and a senior consultant with World Bioenergy Association www.timberbiz.com.au

Biofuels

Biomass-fuelled plants producing industry heat

■■ A 35 MW-th district heat plant in SE Sweden, a size suitable for a regional city industry park in Australia.

Industry keen but economics remain complicated ANDREW LANG

P

LANTS for production of heat from biomass fuels for use by industry or institutions are already showing fast payback times on the investment cost and reduction in costs of fossil fuels. Depending on cost of biomass delivered the payback time can be as short as 18 months and usually under six years.

However, while the industry may be wanting to also get power produced by the energy plant the economics of this is more complicated.

Usually for adding power generation there has needed to be an adequate scale – usually where a boiler is producing 5 MW-heat or more.

However, this is beginning to change as innovative systems are being developed that are relatively small and lower cost.

These include biomass gasification combined heat and power (CHP) systems of 20 -300 kW-e, small organic rankin cycle (ORC) systems of 50 kW-e and up, and wet steam turbines that operate on much lower temperatures and pressures than the turbines found in larger plants.

Two systems being piloted at different woody biomass-fueled district heating plants in South Eastern Sweden are successfully demonstrating the potential of such systems.

The first of these is a 50 kW-e ORC system made by the innovative Swedish company Againity. This system, mounted on a small skid in a corner of the boiler hall of this 5 MW-th plant, comes at a cost of 1.5 million Swedish www.timberbiz.com.au

Kronor (A$227,000), with this cost including the two heat exchangers and the control box.

One of the most interesting features of this system is that its hot side is only 1070 C and cold side of about 530 C. This system is now into its second year and showing a reliability or availability of 98 per cent. This capital cost translates into A$4.54 million per MW-e produced, which is significantly below the capital cost per MW-e produced for wind or solar PV which usually is A$6-6.5 million/MW-e.

The other system being assessed that allows a heat plant to become a combined heat and power plant is a wet steam turbine.

This second biomass to heat plant with its 35 MW-th output has had a 0.5 MW-e turbine generator added costing 8 million SEK (A$1.2 million). This requires steam at 1950 C and 14.4 bar steam pressure. The whole installed system includes a German M+M turbine, German-made Rank gearbox and French-made Leroy-Somer generator.

The cost included the necessary steam condenser.

The capital cost of A$2.4 million per MW-e produced is under half the capital cost of wind and solar PV per MW-e produced, and most importantly it is as dispatchable power, available on demand with availability of nearly 100 per cent.

Andrew Lang visited these plants as a guest of the Energy Agency of SE Sweden. He is World Bioenergy Association senior consultant and acting secretary of Victorian Bioenergy Network Inc.

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Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

25

Scanning

■■ JoeScan’s new JS-50 sawmill scanner on display to potential customers. The final commercial version of the unit will be available later this year.

Demonstration of simple technology

Industry approval for new scanner

J

SAY HI TO THE BEST JOESCAN YET.

THE 3D SCANNER FOR YOUR WHOLE SAWMILL  two cameras nd steep wane and see around ights  single cable PoE connection  smaller, faster, and simpler to use

NEW JS-50 WX 26

OESCAN has taken its new JS-50 sawmill scanner to the world, and after enthusiastic approval from industry figures in Europe and North America the final commercial version of the unit will be available for purchase in later this year.

“We got a lot of great feedback from mill owners at the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association spring meeting and the Hardwood Manufacturers Association annual conference,” says JoeScan president Joey Nelson.

“Sawmills love the idea of having a single scanner model for their entire line. It really simplifies things for management and employees.”

“People got to see the JS-50 scan logs at TP&EE in Portland last year,” Mr Nelson said.

“We’re already known for lineal and log scanning, so the chance to show off the performance for trimmers and transverse edgers is a great step forward for us. This really is a scanner that can do it all for sawmills.

“We’ve made it a big priority to get out there and have conversations with the sawmills that are using our products,” he said.

“We only make scanners for sawmills, so their input is invaluable to us. It’s these relationships that allow us to generate innovations like the features in the JS-50.”

By leveraging sixteen years of sawmill industry engineering, as well as the latest advances in hardware technology, JoeScan says it has built their best 3D scanner yet. The new JS-50 scan heads bring twice the speed, resolution, and data density, all in a package ¼ the size and weight of earlier models.

Performance benefits were demonstrated on a log supported by two flights that visitors pushed through a towering scan arch. The on-screen visualization laid bare the improvement in data density. Visitors also commented on how the dual camera design produced data around the flights that would be missed

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

by single camera scanners.

The second demo offered a hands-on test of the JS-50’s new dovetail snapmount and single cable connector. Untrained visitors were able to remove and replace scan heads in less than ten seconds with this intuitive new system.

Using a power-over-ethernet architecture cuts the number of cables needed in half. For instance, a large system would go from 48 cables down to just 24. This cable uses a single industrystandard RJ45 ethernet plug, making for extremely tidy junction boxes. It also removes the need for a dedicated power supply, reduces cable management complexity, and dramatically improves troubleshooting time.

“Our inspiration for the snap mount was the repeatability of picatinny rail systems used by the military for rifle optics,” says JoeScan mechanical engineer Vadim Kovalev. “We wanted to create something that was very easy to use, and that would allow for heads to be swapped without recalibration.”

But perhaps the most visually stunning feature of the new JoeScan is its size and shape. The JS-50 comes in at a slender 48.26cm by 7.63cm by 3.8cm and sports a sleek, bow-like style. This makes it significantly easier to handle and install than earlier models. The smaller package also opens it up to applications without much room for scanning hardware.

Overall the JS-50’s new features proved to be very popular with show attendees.

Both sawmill operators and optimization experts agreed that the new model will raise the bar JoeScan has already set for simplicity and reliability in sawmill scanning.

“We are pleased with the positive response the JS-50 is generating,” said Jason Farmer, JoeScan’s vice president of engineering. “But we aren’t surprised.

We’ve built a compelling technology roadmap, focused exclusively on the sawmill industry, and the JS-50 is our first step down that path.’’ www.timberbiz.com.au

ReLIABILITY

IN ACTION SDLG WHEEL LOADERS

“Our SDLG machines are value for money with simple mechanics and are very reliable. Our production has increased with our new mill commissioned and they have been a great asset due to the reliability to date.”

- Jason File Joint Owner

Mary Valley Timbers

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Instagram.com/cjd_equipment Images are for illustration purposes only.

Mills

Rich timber history in the Mary Valley Mill one of the few remaining working sawmills in the region

T

2019 NOMINATIONS OPEN Key Dates 2019 Get involved, nominate today and step up.

Check out our website for nomination category criteria and details www.gttia.com

28

17 June

Nominations Open

16 August

Nominations Close

September

Judging Process

1 November GREEN TRIANGLE TIMBER INDUSTRY AWARDS

HE Mary Valley near Gympie has a rich history in the timber industry, dating back to the mid 1800’s.

This area of South East Queensland was the first part of Queensland to be settled on by Europeans and is known for its successful logging and agricultural industries.

Operating from the site of the original Dagun Sawmill that was built in the 1920’s, Mary Valley Timbers is one of the few remaining working sawmills in the region.

The Dagun sawmill was constructed in the late 1920’s by Jack Orms as proprietor with his brother-in-law Billy Kidd as offsider.

The sawmill has passed through different hands in the community over the years and in 1988 was taken over by Wayne and Kaye Morris and their friends Ken and Maree Walker.

Mary Valley Timbers began operations by sending sleepers and posts back down to Melbourne where the Morris family was originally from.

The business has continued to grow significantly over the past 30 years with daily operations now managed by Wayne’s daughter and son-in-law Sara and Tom Hooper and partners Jason and Annika File.

Today Mary Valley Timbers is an eminent name in the Timber Industry in Queensland. Servicing Gympie and the Mary Valley all the way out to Noosa, Cooroy and the Sunshine Coast, as well as a regular customer base in Melbourne.

Being such a reliable company itself it is no surprise that Mary Valley Timbers looks for reliable machines to operate its busy sawmill, which is why the company has chosen two SDLG wheel loaders as the equipment of choice.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

When asked why they chose SDLG Jason said, “The machines are value for money with simple mechanics and are very reliable. Our production has increased with our new mill commissioned and they have been a great asset due to the reliability to date.”

Mary Valley Timbers run an LG938L and a LG946L with log grapples, forks and the Volvo quick hitch which they say has been a valuable attachment.

The 11 tonne LG938L wheel loader is designed for optimum break-out force improving productivity and efficiency.

The machine’s long wheelbase and high tipping load mean it stays stable – even on rough terrain. The LG938L also features a reliable Cummins 6BTS.9-C130 turbocharged engine, which is perfectly matched to the hydraulic pump for further enhanced performance.

The 13 tonne LG946L Loader is Australia’s favourite SDLG loader for versatility and performance. Ideal for loading and unloading loose materials, it is widely used in timber plant applications. The 946L’s Planetary power-shift transmission is heavy duty, smooth and reliable and incorporates a kick-down function for superior productivity.

Mary Valley Timbers service their SDLG wheel loaders in-house and daily checks are made simple with easy-access service points.

The team at Mary Valley Timbers say while they conduct minor services themselves, they have had tremendous warranty service from CJD Equipment’s Field Service Technician, Warren Oelofse, and Parts Representative Paul Lowe is always there to help with parts requirements. www.timberbiz.com.au

Machinery

Randalls fill a void in Tasmania A

S most would be aware, Tasmania’s forestry industry has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Demand for wood products is strong and there are abundant amounts of timber to be cut. It’s the perfect scenario for the Tasmanian forestry industry and it looks set to continue.

Randalls, with their high quality and unique mix of forestry products and services, combined with their personal and urgent approach to customers and their needs, have made an impression in Tasmania. Particularly those customers who have a desire to be looked after and be more than just a number www.timberbiz.com.au

to those who they purchase machines and services from.

“We’ve filled a void in the market in Tasmania”, said Davin Frankel of Randalls Equipment Co. “When I returned to Randalls in 2016 as the Sales and Service Manager it was instantly clear through conversations with customers in Tasmania that their needs were not always being satisfied and there was a tremendous opportunity for us to provide great quality products and higher levels of service without really trying that hard.

In saying that, we do try very hard and the results are there to be seen”.

Over the last 2 years Randalls have delivered 16 new machines

to six different customers in Tasmania, working in both pine and hardwood plantations. These machines are being supported

by Randalls’ Tasmanian service representative, Anthony Williams. Anthony has many years experience in the Tasmanian forestry industry and has a wealth of knowledge about forestry machines and attachments. Anthony’s commitment to providing the very best after sales support is unmatched. Parts for Ponsse, Sany and SP products are stocked at Randalls Tasmanian branch in Legana, just near Launceston.

Ponsse harvesters and forwarders have proven highly suitable for the steep and often wet conditions down in Tasmania. The lev-

els of comfort, machine stability and power have proven to be winning features in the eyes of operators who have found themselves fortunate enough to occupy the seat of a new Elephant King forwarder or Scorpion King harvester.

Sany forestry excavators continue to impress whether set up as a harvester or log loader. The product is extremely well built however lacks much of the electrical and emissions technology taken up by most of the competitor machines sold in Tasmania. This is beneficial for those customers who appreciate being able to undertake their own maintenance and repairs with ease. They just work.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

SP harvesting heads for debarking hardwood are fast and robust alternatives to other brands. One very attractive aspect of the SP heads is that they can be set up on a Sany carrier

by Randalls at a very competitive price point and delivered as a complete package from a single supplier with full support and warranty or they can be fitted to any other brand of carrier.

“Randalls are proud to be providing a very real and personalised alternative to forestry contractors in Tasmania when they need to purchase new equipment and we take their trust in us very seriously”, said Davin Frankel.

29

On the road

■■ Tabeel driver Boris Luus with his R 620 V8 XT. Scania has delivered its 20th truck to Tabeel Trading in Mount Gambier. The trucks are used in log and wood chip haulage and have proven to be tough enough for the demanding working environment. The R 620 V8 XT model is one of the first of this type delivered in Australia.

Scania goes a shade of green for award win

A

SCANIA truck has been voted Green Truck of the Year for the third year in a row, underlining the company’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact.

The Scania 450 hp six-cylinder engine, held off rivals to secure its title, based on its low fuel use and emissions, using technology that Scania applies across its range of vehicles.

Many Scania trucks sold in Australia can run on biodiesel, while a compressed natural gaspowered truck was shown at the recent Brisbane Truck Show.

Scania is also bringing ethanolpowered trucks to Australia.

“Irrespective of the application, Scania can deliver a low emission solution available across the range of trucks offered in Australia, for operators who are keen to reduce their exhaust emissions,” says Anthony King, Scania’s Sustainable Solutions Manager.

“All of our diesel-powered trucks can be specified with Euro 6 exhaust emissions, and our gas-powered trucks have vastly reduced CO2 emissions, up to 90 per cent lower than conventional diesel engines,” Anthony says.

30

“We have signed MOUs with alternative fuel suppliers across Australia to be able to deliver convenient refuelling options for operators who have taken the decision to switch to low emissions vehicles. Scania is the leader in driving the shift to a sustainable transport solution in Australia, and more and more operators across a wide variety of applications and industries are turning to Scania to help them drive down their emissions,” he said.

All New Truck Generation Scania vehicles are designed to reduce diesel fuel consumption by between 5 and 10 per cent compared with the models they have replaced, and V8 powered trucks have been consistently delivering 10 per cent savings for Australian operators over the past year since launch.

Scania is the only heavy-duty truck supplier in Australia to continue with V8 engines, firmly focused on the low-down torque available that suits extra-heavy jobs such as logging.

With a heritage in logging that goes back close to 100 years, be-

ginning by hauling heavy lumber out of frozen forests of Scandinavia, Scania has designed its logging specification trucks to deliver excellent traction in mushy, slippery or uneven surfaces, while the new XT model comes with a solid steel protruding front bumper complete with a 40-tonne tow-point.

“

These are fitted as standard to all Australian models on both sides of the cab.

“Driver safety is one of the core elements of the design of any Scania cab,” says Paul Riddell, Scania’s Account Manager for New Truck Sales based in South Australia who has been supplying many trucks to the logging industry over the past 5 years.

“Our all-steel cab has been impact-tested and exceeds the most stringent requirements in Europe. The new cab design delivers even better visibility for the driver by moving the seat closer to the windscreen and door, and repositioning the door mirror arms provides an improved view at intersections,” Paul says.

“In addition, we have fitted active and passive safety systems to the trucks to ensure as far as possible the driver is able to retain control in emergency situations. Should the worst happen, the side curtain roll-over airbags provide an unheard-of level of protection for the driver and passenger.

“When you consider the scale of

Adding the Green Truck of the Year label once more to Scania’s New Truck Generation is just the icing on the cake.

The XT also boasts an elevated ride height as well as front bash plate to protect the sump and suspension components, and stout grilles to protect headlights.

Scania has also focused a lot of attention on protecting the driver from injury in roll-over accidents, being the only truck supplier in the world to offer side curtain roll-over airbags.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

improvements in safety, efficiency and driver comfort engineered into the new Scania trucks, not to mention the positive impact these bring to productivity, it is clear to see just how suitable the Scania XT is for operators in logging across Australia,” Paul says.

The Green Truck of the Year Award The Scania R 450 won the Green Truck 2019 award, being named the most fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly commercial vehicle in its class.

This victory gives Scania a hattrick of victories in the competition.

Green Truck 2019 is a German comparison fuel test sponsored by trade publications ‘VerkehrsRundschau’ and ‘Trucker’ which focuses on the lowest fuel consumption.

Thirteen vehicles competed for the title and the best economic value.

The Scania R 450 won with the lowest average fuel consumption of 23.25 l/100 km of diesel and the lowest greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) of 738 grams per km, and the highest average speed of 80.42 km/h over the same 353 km test track. www.timberbiz.com.au

On the road

New safety solution from Volvo Trucks V

■■ Volvo Truck’s Distance Alert is designed to avoid nose-to-tail accidents

OLVO Trucks has introduced a new safety function, Distance Alert, which makes it easier for drivers to keep a safer distance from the vehicle ahead to avoid critical situations. Accidents where one vehicle runs into the back of another currently account for around 20 per cent of all serious collisions involving trucks.

“Often accidents of this kind are caused by inattention and travelling too close to the vehicle in front. Distance Alert warns drivers with a red light in the windscreen as soon as the truck gets too close to the vehicle in front,” Traffic and Product Safety Director at Volvo Trucks Carl Johan Almqvist said.

Distance Alert is included in the latest version of Volvo Trucks’ driving support system, Forward Collision Warning with Emergency Brake, which is designed to help drivers to

prevent accidents in several stages.

If Distance Alert does not have the intended effect, forward collision warning is engaged with a flashing head up display and audible alarm to warn the driver.

If the driver does not react the advanced emergency brake is activated. All of this happens within just a few seconds.

“By continuously improving the active safety systems in our trucks, we are giving drivers better ways of reducing the risks that they and other road users are exposed to.

Distance Alert is one of many examples of how technology can help to make good drivers even better,’’ Mr Almqvist said.

The new function is designed for use on major roads and freeways outside cities and is switched on at speeds over 60 km/h unless the adaptive cruise control system is in use.

Distance Alert uses a combi-

nation of camera and radar technology to calculate the distance and identify objects on the road in the same way as the forward collision warning system’s other functions.

“By continuously improving the active safety systems in our trucks, we are giving drivers better ways of reducing the risks that they and other road users are exposed to,’’ Mr Almqvist said.

“Distance Alert is one of many examples of how technology can help to make good drivers even better.

“For haulage companies, investing in safety makes sense not only to protect people, but also to save money. Reduce insurance and repair costs and less unplanned downtime are some of the arguments. In addition, a safe driving style is generally fuel-efficient. The combination of well-trained, safety-conscious drivers and safer trucks benefits everyone,” Mr Almqvist said.

■■ The Volvo EC250DL excavator in action in New Zealand.

Excavators speed up forestry ops in NZ T HE forestry industry is expected to be New Zealand’s leading export industry by 2025, according the country’s Forest Owners Association.

The association said that would make New Zealand among the top five global suppliers.

Currently, most of the timber is harvested from natural forests. As supplies diminish, according to the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association, the country is turning to plantation forests, which occupies about 7 per cent of the land.

To support the country’s growing forestry industry, ATS Logging Limited is using Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) excavators at three plantation forests across New Zealand. Together, the six excavators are helping the industry to meet its target of $12 billion in forest and wood product exports by 2022, set by the Wood Council of New Zealand.

“Timber harvesting is exciting but challenging.

Trees are large and heavy and for cost-effective harvesting, the machines must be able to handle them quickly, efficiently, and safely. Volvo machines do exactly that,” ATS Logging Ltd owner Toby Satherley said.

The six Volvo excavators – EC240BL, FC2924CL,

www.timberbiz.com.au

EC250DL, EC300DL, EC380DL, EC290CL – work between nine and 11 hours daily at Bayview, Glenview and Eskdale forests, which are all situated within 30km from Napier on the North Island. The excavators are expected to remain on site for at least five more years.

Among ATS Logging’s fleet, one of the most important excavators is the EC300DL forestry carrier.

With its high and wide under carriage, it cuts down about 200 trees daily. In timber harvesting, processing is a very important step in keeping the tree’s value.

This makes the EC300DL vital to Satherley as it processes the fallen tress into about 350 tons of log daily.

Equipped with a smart electro-hydraulic system, the EC300DL provides increased power, digging force, faster cycle times and greater control. It is equipped with a Volvo D7 diesel engine that delivers up to 170kW of power and 11 per cent more fuel efficiency compared with previous models.

In June 2018, Satherley purchased the EC250DL crawler excavator with the complete forestry package including the newly designed forestry cabin, which offers superior visibility and comfort with very low noise levels.

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

Designed to meet the tough conditions of New Zealand forests, the EC250DL is a master at shovelling and loading. On site, the EC205DL moves an average of about 300 tons of logs and works about nine hours per day.

In 2013, Toby and Amy Satherley purchased their first Volvo excavator, the FC2924CL, which loads logs onto the trucks. This machine was equipped with a live heal and a forestry grapple. Most of these logs (95 per cent) are exported while the remaining 5 per cent are sold domestically.

To help transport these logs, the company relies on the EC240BL to build roads for the trucks and the EC290CL as a back line machine for the log hauler. The long undercarriage provides good stability, making it reliable for use in the tough forest conditions.

The latest addition to Satherley’s fleet is the EC380DL. This is the factory-built forestry machine that sits on an EC480DL undercarriage. The forest machine processes up to 500 tons of logs per shift.

Established in 2010, ATS Logging Limited focuses primarily on the logging business and has ongoing contracts in forests close to Napier. All the company’s Volvo machines are purchased and serviced via Transdiesel, Volvo CE’s distribution.

31

Trees on the farm

Trees and sheep in right mix Major carbon swap solution PHILIP HOPKINS

T

REES are good for farms – and for forestry. That’s the clear conclusion from a Melbourne University scientific study of a big sheep and cattle property, which shows that trees can sequester most of the enterprise’s carbon dioxide emissions.

In doing so, the trees also create a variety of productive, biodiversity and economic benefits. “Carbon definitely makes economic sense,” said Mark Wootton, whose family property, Jigsaw Farms, was the guinea pig for the study.

The farm, run by Mark and his wife Eve Kantor, is a sprawling 4900 hectares consisting of 10 properties – hence the name - just north of Hamilton in Victoria’s Western District.

The results of the study come as the forestry and agriculture industries aim to make agroforestry a key plank in Australia’s drive to plant one billion trees by 2030.

Trees - both environmental and commercial plantings – make up 18 per cent of Jigsaw Farms; they are strategically planted and form an integral part of the property jigsaw large connected tracts of revegetated waterways, wetlands and accompanying paddocks that are home to 35,000 sheep and lambs and 1800 breeding cattle. “Stock are not allowed into plantations, and very rarely in permanent vegetation,” said Mark.

The average annual rainfall in the region is 670 millimetres, although Mark, speaking to Australian Forests & Timber, said the rainfall had been 625mm in recent years. “The average has been reached only

four times in the past 20 years,” he said.

The 2015 study, by Melbourne Uni agricultural scientists, with input from Mark, appeared last year in Animal Production Science, published by the CSIRO. The challenge was to sequester enough carbon to offset emissions from livestock on the farm.

Carbon offsets required by farms with higher stocking rates (more than 20 dry sheep equivalents per hectare - more than 20 DSE/ha) had not yet been studied in Australia. Two sections of Jigsaw Farms were selected for the investigation.

The study calculated the carbon (C) balance of wool, prime lamb and beef using a range of stocking rates (6-22 DSE/ha) and levels of tree cover. Emissions from livestock, energy and transport were offset by carbon sequestered in trees and soils. Farm emissions were from livestock, fuel, energy, production of fertiliser and supplementary feed.

From 2000-2014, Jigsaw Farms cut its emissions by 48 per cent through sequestering in trees and soil, the study found. Most of the stocking rates were carbon positive over a 25-year period when 20 per cent was covered with trees.

The farm registered a 20-year average annual carbon sequestration of 2.5 tonnes of carbon per hectare in trees. The soil carbon in long-term pastures was stable and was excluded from the comparison of stocking rates and tree cover.

“This study demonstrated that substantial reductions can be made in greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration, particularly in trees,” the scientists said.

■■

Mark Wootton in a commercial spotted gum plantation in the property.

Despite the site not being C neutral from 2000-2014, nearly half the farm’s emissions were offset in 2014 and almost 70% offset by 2020. “This was a significant accomplishment, given that most livestock mitigation options reduce greenhouse gas emissions by less than 20%,” the study said. “The carbon balance changed depending on whether the trees

had staggered plantings (as actually occurred) or if all the trees were planted in 2000.”

Most of the original farmland was cleared in 1880.

Since 1997, Jigsaw Farms has revegetated more than 600 hectares with indigenous trees and shrubs or timber species.

These include more than 500 ha of spotted gum and small areas of southern mahogany,

Information.

Intelligence.

Insight.

• • • • • •

32

Sydney blue gum, sugar gum and red ironbark.

Permanent farm forestry make up 45 per cent of plantings, and is managed on a cycle of harvest and replant. The timber is processed and dried on-farm. Mark estimated that he could earn $20,000 per hectare from spotted gum plantings, which could be sold for products such as veneers. Tree

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production, imports, exports prices, volumes, trends housing & other markets logs and woodchips sawn wood wood panels

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Trees on the farm ‘thinnings’ could be used for firewood, but for that a local market was needed. “We can’t make money driving it all to Geelong (more than 230 kilometres),” he said.

Apart from income from wood products, Mark said the trees had multiple benefits. They provided shelter for stock. “This reduces animal stress in winter and summer,” he said, leading to improved calving and lambing results.

The positive micro climate produced in the paddocks from the shelter also created less spray drift.

“Soil temperature also increased 12 per cent from the plantations. There are warmer soils near the plantations,” he said. “The increase in cool season temperature results in an increase in pasture/crop yields, but it does depend on the width, shape and variety of plant species.”

Mark said other benefits from the trees were climate change mitigation and adaptation, habitat for wildlife, prevention of nutrient build-up in water ways, control of salinity and control of diseases that can spread via waterways.

“There are also biodiversity gains, plus the integrated use of potential pest management and potential natural biological controls,” he said. “Fire breaks - the wind reduces speed by 35 to 50 per cent if 10 per cent of trees are planted strategically on farm.”

Lastly, Mark said there was also the economic benefits of using less arable land, and increased land values and landscape amenity.

www.timberbiz.com.au

Jigsaws’ large-scale integrated revegetation corridors are usually more than 60 metres wide.

Mark said seasonal bird surveys by a local ornithologist since 1999 had confirmed that, using birds as an indicator, biodiversity was improving.

“Over 158 bird species have been observed on the farm compared to the 45 that were originally observed when the properties were purchased,” he said. “The overall numbers of birds have multiplied manyfold.”

The study calculated the property’s carbon balance by subtracting the carbon in the trees and soil from on-farm and prefarm emissions (fertiliser and supplementary feeds). This was calculated over 35 years from when the trees were planted to the peak rate of sequestration - about 25 years after planting - and then incorporating the declining rates of carbon sequestration beyond 25 years.

Tree plantings of both the year 2000 environmental and commercial plantings allowed a comparison from staggered plantings versus a single planting.

On-farm carbon modelling allowed for methane from livestock; nitrous oxide from soil cultivation, dung and urine deposits, and indirect nitrous oxide from leaching, runoff and ammonia volatilisation; and CO2 from diesel, petrol and electricity. Pre-farm emissions were feed barley and superphosphate fertiliser.

Greenhouse gas emissions were projected forward to 2035 using average annual emissions from 2007-2014.

The main results of the study were: • A similar pattern for wool, prime beef and lamb, with stocking rates of up to 22 DSE/ha were Carbon (C) positive when more than 20% was under trees over 25 years. When 10% was under trees, only the lowest stocking rates of 6 DSE/ha were as C positive. The net C balance fell from 2000-07 while the trees were being established and remained relatively constant from 2008-30 – 35,000 to 45,000 tonnes of CO2.

• In 2014, 48% of emissions was

“In reality it may be difficult for farmers to plant large sections of land in the same year instead of staggered plantings due to the labour and capital expense,” the authors said.

“The different levels of emissions offset over time highlight the importance of selecting an appropriate time period to analyse.”

• About 37,000 tonnes of CO2 was sequestered in trees between 2000-2014. Over this period, CO2 in the soils remained relatively stable with a modest

“

This study demonstrated that substantial reductions can be made in greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration, particularly in trees.

reduced through sequestration, increasing to 67% in 2020.

• In 2014, trees stored about eight times more carbon than soils.

• If all trees had been planted in 2000 instead of staggered plantings from 2000-2006, then 75% and 79% of emissions would have been reduced through C sequestration by 2014 and 2020 respectively.

• The effect between staggered plantings and single plantings levelled out over time; by 2035, there were 70% and 74% of emissions offset through C stocks in staggered and single plantings, respectively.

increase of 200 t of CO2equivalent (CO2e).

• At 77,800 t CO2e, total farm emissions were higher than C stocks over the same period, producing a C balance of minus 40,600 t CO2e from 2000 to 2014.

If all trees had been planted in 2000, the C balance would have been minus 19,600 t CO2e.

• Commercial plantings slightly outperformed environmental plantings – the average C sequestration rate over 20 years for commercial (spotted gums) was 2.7 t of CO2e annually compared with enviro 2.3 • Farm emissions were mainly driven by livestock numbers

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

and thus fluctuated. Most farm emissions (69-77%) were methane. Pre-farm emissions were mostly small, with most (6899.5%) from production of supplementary feed.

• Analysing individual years, the years from 2010 were carbon neutral due to increased rates of carbon sequestration that occurred about eight years after tree planting. The cumulative C balance levelled out from about 2008 to 2030.

“As carbon sequestration rates decline in trees after 25 years (the species in this case study), more trees would need to be planted at Jigsaw Farms to maintain a carbon balance of about minus 40,000 t CO2e beyond 2030,” the authors said. The amount of carbon sequestered by trees depended on the species, the rainfall and the fertility of the soil.

The study said from a mitigation perspective, the findings, based on actual farm data, were very promising.

However, a full cost-benefit analysis would have to be done before planting trees to offset greenhouse gas emissions.

This would include the carbon balance, taking into account stocking rates and levels of tree cover, particularly if agricultural land is taken out of livestock production. “Future research could include the ecological value of environmental plantings, as well as the economic potential of harvested forests, including the storage of carbon in harvested wood products,” the study concluded.

33

Sawmill Profile

■■

Paul Madden at the entrance to the 130 year-old Arbuthnot Sawmill.

■■

Staff unite for the 130 year celebrations

Milestones and honours put Koondrook on the map KEITH SMILEY

R

EGAL milestones place Koondrook on Victoria’s map, as Paul Madden receives an OAM for his work at Arbuthnot sawmills and support of his local community; as the mill celebrates its 130th anniversary.

An unassuming man, he describes himself as an ‘average guy, having a crack’, doing the best he can for the sawmill and community. The Queen recognised Paul’s sterling contribution to the red gum timber industry and Riverina community over the past 35 years.

Koondrook is 300 kilometres from Melbourne and 74km from Swan Hill, on the Murray River, known for its citrus fruits, migratory birds and abundant red gum timber, a stone’s throw from Barham across the water in New South Wales.

As shareholder, managing director and chairman of the Ar34

buthnot Board, Paul is happiest when he is busy, but spending the latter years grappling with government and green politics, has been an uphill battle, taking a toll on Paul and the wider community.

“Timber is the ultimate renewal resource because our State forests regenerate and are managed sustainably,” said Paul, in response to ongoing Green hostility.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store carbon so effectively that about half the dry weight of sawn timber is stored carbon. This carbon is locked up in the timber product whether it is used for building or furniture. And the regeneration forests continue to absorb carbon from the atmosphere creating a positive renewable cycle.

During the last 30 years Arbuthnot Sawmills has continued to grow value-added products to their business while maintaining a steady through-

put in the green timber mills, despite the prevailing political environment.

They installed a walkway above their processing plant for school, community groups and tourists to view.

They plan to connect a river walk straight to the factory instead of going through the timber yard. The attraction works in tandem with the paddle steamers which ply their tourism trade along the Murray.

In 1889 the original founder, Alexander Arbuthnot, began building paddle boats and barges out of red gum, and one bearing his name, is still in operation at the port of Echuca.

They would tow the logs downstream on outrigger barges to the sawmill, and crane them on shore. The enterprise employed over 200 workers, across sawmilling, ship building, and logging.

Today the visitors can see the timber being milled, the kiln drying operation and see the

finished product in furniture and gift items at the showroom, located in close proximity to the sawmill.

By installing kiln dryers for tertiary product such as furniture, flooring, decking, and bench tops, Arbuthnot’s are adding value to an impressive green product range of bridge, rail, stumps and posts and one-off special timbers.

Waste residues are used in firewood, garden mulch and saw dust is used on dairy farm laneways and cattle yards.

“Nothing is wasted, so we have 100 percent utilisation,” said Paul.

He believes timber is a ‘terrific industry, especially in the hardwood sector’, and reassuring to small communities, providing them with economic prosperity.

“People who work here are the salt of the earth. You actually produce something in this business,” Paul was eager to disclose. Arbuthnot employs 41 people including the mill and

Australian Forests & Timber News August 2019

harvesting operations, and a total in excess of 100 are employed in the Koondrook-Barmah area which relies heavily on the sustainable red gum Industry.

Sensible and sustainable harvesting of the regenerated red gum forests of the Murray Valley, together with the continued sound management of the mill, will provide an enduring legacy first created by the Arbuthnot’s 130 years earlier.

While able to get up each morning with a smile, Paul will retire next year but remain as chairman of unfinished business and witness the fulfilment of a succession plan.

From a tree change 40 years earlier, he and wife Lyn enjoy country living.

As president of the golf club, and member of Lions, and various timber associations and civic-minded groups, fishing for Murray cod and yellow belly is one issue he is ready to tackle with ease.

An OAM well earned. www.timberbiz.com.au

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