Forest Inventory Course 17-29 July 1944 Yalu

Forest Inventory Course 17-29 July 1944 Yalu

Jim McAdam17 in his paper of 1952 titled “Forestry in New Guinea” to the PNG Scientific Society described the basis on which I Aust Forest Survey Group developed its resource inventory techniques and trained its personnel. McAdam found with some training, it was not difficult to pick out from air photos, the vegetative types described below.

Savannah woodland Grassland Swamps

o Mangrove ▪ Before the War bark was exported for its tannin - for leather production but it produced a red leather and for preserving fishing nets.

o Nipa ▪ Used for thatching. o Sac sac ▪ Production of sago.

o Grass and pit pit

o Swampy Rainforests ▪ E.g., terminalia forests of Bougainville for timber production.

Lowland Forest

o Littoral ▪ Beach calophyllum for ship building. o Rain forest ▪ Potentially available accessible millable timber for PNG. Special mention of three sub types. • Kamarere forests New Britain. • Erima forests. • Dipterocarp forest.

Mid -Mountain forest

o Includes the Araucaria forests of Bulolo Wau and the oak forests for timber production.

Mossy forest Alpine Secondary bush

While the Unit was in training at Lae, research was carried out into the uses that could be made of air photos in assessing tropical forests. An area was marked out in the Oomsis forests near Lae and the RAAF made special photos of the area. Every tree on an area of 30 acres was mapped and the air photos correlated tree

17 McAdam J B Paper “Forestry in New Guinea” Annual Report in The Papua and New Guinea Scientific Society 1952 Report