Feed aggregator

NZDFI has recently produced a new 4-page brochure predominantly for growers, it summarises essential information around choosing a forestry regime, site/species selection, and NZDFI’s improved XyloGene planting stock. Source: Timberbiz New Zealand Dryland Forests Innovation’s tree breeding program has genetically improved two durable eucalypt species: Eucalyptus globoidea (White stringybark) – a species which grows productively across a range of sites and produces class 2 durable timber (expected in-ground service life of 15-25 years) which is strong, versatile, easy to machine with attractive grain. Eucalyptus bosistoana (Coast grey box) – a species which grows best on fertile, sheltered sites and produces class 1 durable timber (expected in-ground service life of 25-plus years) which is very hard and strong. These species provide landowners with the opportunity to start planting the 60,000 hectares of forest required over the next 30 years to establish a sustainable multi-regional hardwood industry in New Zealand. New Zealand Dryland Forests Innovation’s (NZDFI) breeding programis producing the first generation of XyloGene-branded improved seed and seedlings of both species. XyloGene seed lots offer growers a range of genetic improvement in adaptability, growth, form, heartwood volume and durability. To achieve genetic gains, elite trees have been selected for propagation. The trees have been tested in New Zealand environments with varying biotic and abiotic factors. NZDFI’s seedling and clonal seed orchards are designed to ensure outcrossing between diverse genotypes to produce nursery stock adapted to New Zealand conditions. XyloGene seed and seedlings are available to purchase and these offer superior performance to planting provenance collections imported from Australia or collected in New Zealand. Further information about the seed and seedlings available can be found on the XyloGene website. The brochure can be downloaded here.

Recognition of the value of the managed harvested native hardwood timber forests could be the answer to the ongoing efforts to save koala colonies on the Mid and North Coast of New South Wales. Source: Timberbiz This is the proposal the REEF Research Foundation’s (REEF) Forestry Awareness Program has put to the NSW Minns Labor Government as it considers the location, formulation and size of its planned Great Koala National Park in Northern NSW. REEF Forestry Awareness Program Chair Noel Atkins said it has advocated to the NSW Environment Minister the Hon Penny Sharpe MLC in early 2024 that the Great Koala National Park should include significant parts of existing National Park rather than carving out managed forests which are promoting koala rejuvenation and helping with the housing crisis. “The evidence is in that koalas are living well in harvested native hardwood timber forests for the simple reason their colonies are protected by regulation, the animals can easily walk along the managed forest floor and enjoy succulent leaves from new trees,” Mr Noel Atkins said. “Why increase the size of the Great Koala National Park into managed forests when significant numbers of koala live there, are protected, and their colonies are growing according to respected evidence? We believe this is a sensible position the NSW Government should adopt. “There is already 88% of NSW Forests preserved in National Parks and Crown Land available for all flora and fauna. Only 12 percent of NSW forests are available in the Managed Forest Estate, which is also available to flora and fauna. Of this 12%, less than 1% is harvested annually by strict regulation and is subjected to regeneration for our nation’s future timber needs.” The CSIRO’s National Koala Monitoring Program (NKMP), estimate that koala populations range between 287,830 and 628,010, ten times more than the most recent Australian Koala Foundation estimate. The CSIRO confirms that population estimates are larger than in 2012 when koalas were classified as “vulnerable”, not “endangered.” Published research by Dr Brad Law, the principal research scientist at the NSW Department of Primary Industries and supported by Leroy Gonsalves, Traecey Brassil and Isobel Kerr “demonstrate high occupancy (of Koalas) in northeast NSW and no difference in density between harvested forest in the state forest and controlled forest in the national park”. “REEF and its members are totally committed to protecting koalas and believe the Government should be committed to maintaining the managed forests where many koalas roam and call home, rather than turning it into a park that will be costly to manage,” Noel Atkins said. “The native hardwood timber forest sector fosters koala population rejuvenation prevents catastrophic bush fires and supports regional communities. Koalas are a vital part of the ecosystem of native hardwood timber forests on the NSW coast and it will remain so for REEF.” REEF is committed to the native hardwood forest sector and improving its environmental footprint, protecting jobs in the region and delivering economic benefits. REEF represents large and small family businesses that have been working in the forests gathering native hardwood timber for housing, mining, construction and railways for generations.

The Lismore App reported on the NSWRA’s (Reconstruction Authority) plans to recycle and reuse building materials from purchased homes through the Resilient Homes Program. Source: The Lismore App It was announced that a timber recycling trial is taking place in two locations in Lismore, led by Associate Professor at the UTS School of Design Berto Pandolfo, to identify any timber that has the potential to be reused. The Lismore App wanted to find out who Associate Professor (A/Prof) Berto Pandolfo is and what sort of expectations he has for this project and beyond as the removal of buyback houses continues. The latest statistics show that 575 houses have been approved for buyback in the Lismore LGA. “I’m an industrial designer, so I design products,” Mr Pandolfo said, “Over recent years, I’m an academic. My area of research has evolved into recovering materials for recycling, so finding ways not to let materials get lost either through landfill or incineration. “A lot of my work has been with petrochemical-based plastics. We’re running a project in the hospital system right now trying to implement a circular system of material recovery around non-woven polypropylene in the hope that we can collect homogeneous material, process it, and make it into products that go back into the hospital. The hospital has significant waste issues, massive waste issues with massive cost, and so this has huge implications for both the function of the hospital, and also, the environment. “This is project is sort of similar. It particularly struck a chord with me because my history is with timber. My grandfather was a cabinet maker. I’ve worked with timber all my life, so I know the sensibility woodies have. I’m no longer a full-time woody, but I’ve always been a woody with timber, and I’ve collected timber off buildings that have been pulled out. “So, when I was asked to think about what I would like to do in a post-recovery situation, I proposed a number of projects around material recovery, like white goods, for example, I know that in the post-recovery period, lots of stuff was just bulldozed into piles, put on trucks and buried. And that’s fine. There’s a time sensitive moment, and also because there are no systems in place to recover any of that material. “When the opportunity came for me to think about what I’d like to do, and I knew older houses would be made from timber that is hard to get a hold of, I thought, why don’t we try and focus on just that? So again, that homogeneous material focus. Just the timber for now. Let’s try and recover it. “I’m viewing this as a pilot study where we can establish some systems that we can then look at not just timber when we pull down the building, but also the sheet iron, the tiles, the PVC piping, any metals, you know, all of the materials. “Though, my project is only with timber. I should add, however, that the company contracted to assist in the deconstruction is addressing all of the other materials because we understand they already have some systems in place to recover some of the other materials.” Mr Pandolfo is based in Sydney at UTS and has been to Lismore three or four times and visited half a dozen homes listed for demolition. His observations have been extremely positive. “The timber was in fantastic condition. Something that I learnt being up there is that the floodplain, being quite damp, the threat of termite damage is far reduced. It’s up in the dry, hilly areas where the termites run amok. So, these buildings are just in fantastic condition, in terms of the timbers that I could see. So, the piers, the joists, the bearers, the noggins, roofing, it was just amazing,” he said. “We want to take the timber off. We want to deconstruct the building with great care. We’re testing a process by which the first step is an evaluation of the site where hazardous materials are identified and then removed. We need a clearance certificate before we can go any further. “Once the clearance certificate is given, in this pilot study, we are removing all non solid timber material, so tiles, plywood, iron sheeting, plumbing, wiring, that sort of thing. We are then left with the solid timber, after which we will then go in and carefully deconstruct that dwelling to recover as much as possible.” The old homes built from rainforest timbers were clad in weatherboard and painted with lead paint. What happens to the weatherboard? “So, the weatherboards that have been painted are, in every likelihood, painted with lead-based paints, will be removed, will be stacked and collected as is done in many other locations. Then, it will be made very clear to the person who wishes to purchase the timber that the material that’s been painted and potentially hazardous. “Because it’s timber, we’re collecting it, and because it has significant value in a restoration context because a lot of the profiles are difficult to find, we’re holding on to it. Our focus will be on the will be on the non-painted solid timbers, like the structural elements of the dwelling.” Once the timber is carefully dismantled, it is stored in a recently identified yet secretive place. “This is a trial to evaluate the system that we are proposing. After which, we will be able to quantify from the building how much material there actually is and then estimate…..well, if suddenly up to 400 homes that have been identified, 50 come online, then we’ll know what we need to do regarding, deconstructing, transporting to a safe site, storage in a safe location and so on and so forth. But at the moment, it’s all hypotheticals, and this is a small trial.” The process, so far, has been smooth, although behind schedule, with Mr Pandolfo able to view the bare structure and identify those valuable, heritage timbers. “We had an expert go in and identify […]

The Resources Energy & Environment Foundation (REEF) is urging the Albanese Labor Government to consider the environmental contribution to the nation made by those working in the native hardwood timber industry in NSW, when considering any changes to environmental legislation. Source: Timberbiz Workers in the NSW native hardwood timber sector create managed forests which encourage koalas to live and eat in them and prevent catastrophic bush fires. They produce around $2.9 billion of hardwood timber for Australian housing, construction, mining, railway and infrastructure. For every native hardwood tree harvested, more than one tree is replanted or regrown. REEF Forestry Awareness Program Chair Noel Atkins said retaining a sustainable and environmentally responsible native hardwood timber industry is essential for Australia’s future, its sovereignty and rural NSW communities. “Native hardwood timber forest workers are proud environmental custodians, sustaining a precious commodity for future generations. Native hardwood trees take 30-50 years to reach maturity before they can be harvested,” Mr Noel Atkins said. “Native hardwood timber is sustainably harvested in accordance with strict regulatory codes to protect the regrowth of forests for the benefit of flora and fauna. “Harvested trees are replaced with new ones through natural seeding, regrowth or plantation, which provides continual carbon storage. They are the ultimate renewal which can be continually regrown and harvested, reducing the high carbon input where steel, plastic and concrete are used.” A sustainable, responsibly maintained timber industry helps reduce reliance on overseas products. Australia imports more than $5 billion of timber and wood products, particularly from Southeast Asia. Hardwood Timber management in NSW is balanced and is responsibly managed. Decisions are made on how to meet the growing demand in the future. The Forestry Corporation of NSW manages around two million hectares of native hardwood forest, 35,000 hectares of hardwood plantations, and 225,000 hectares of softwood (pine) plantations. The available harvesting area of State Forests in NSW is less than 12%. Of this, a little more than 1% of the forest is subjected to selective harvesting each year, which is then regenerated for future use. Native plantation forests, while essential, are complimentary to the vast area of native hard wood forest currently available and essential to meet the timber resource needs. They have a different forest ecology (mono forest) and are not suitable for several hardwood species that grow in a natural hardwood multi-forest such as Tallowwoods. “It is estimated there are more than 8900 direct jobs in NSW and up to 22,000 people employed across the state considering the supply chain from forest management to retail products,” Mr Noel Atkins said. Tallowwood, Ironbark, Turpentine, Mahogany are only available in native hardwood forests. They are used in structural and infrastructure projects such as railways, mining, wharves, jetties, bridges, fencing, farming. Specialty hardwood native timbers such as Brush Box and Blackbutt are used as feature timbers in iconic buildings and structures like the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Darling Harbour Wharf Precinct at Barangaroo and Federal and NSW Parliaments. REEF is a not-for-profit research-based organisation, made up of people with a range of skills and interests from a diverse group of communities. Their common aim is to improve regional communities through the environment, its people and future growth.  

Forestry Australia has welcomed the publication of an academic paper looking at the issue of active management of forests. The paper, Active management: a definition and considerations for implementation in forests of temperate Australia (Bennett et al. 2024) has been published in Forestry Australia’s scientific journal, Australian Forestry. Source: Timberbiz Acting President of Forestry Australia Dr Bill Jackson said ‘active management’ is a common term in Government and forest stakeholder reports, policies, and strategies in Australia and around the world, but up until now has not been well defined. “The paper explores where active management sits in relation to a sometimes-confusing array of related concepts including passive management and adaptative management,” Dr Jackson said. Dr Jackson said the paper answers questions around active management – and how it relates to forest management – by stating that active management is principally about human engagement in shaping forests and is deliberate tending of forests by humans for diverse purposes and goals relating to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and function including resilience. “The definition reflects the need to ensure forests have ongoing attention and that appropriate management practices are applied,” Dr Jackson said. “The definition allows for broad and inclusive approaches (including more ‘minimal intervention’ approaches) to forest management, which is in contrast to more rigid forest management approaches which may otherwise exclude communities or social and cultural practices. “Australia’s changing social and environmental contexts and the shifting relationships of society with forests calls for a new vision for forests, clear definitions, and fresh, evidence-based approaches to forest management. “This paper and definition will serve as a valuable resource for all forest and land managers, policy makers and stakeholders looking to incorporate active management into their practice. “The authors note the importance of having an adaptive management framework to guide active management, delivering healthy and resilient forests and the environmental, social, economic and cultural benefits they provide in perpetuity,” Dr Jackson said. The paper can be read in full at Full article: Active management: a definition and considerations for implementation in forests of temperate Australia (tandfonline.com)