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NSW’s forest sector is this week celebrating timber – the ultimate renewable product. Tuesday marked National Forestry Day recognising Australia’s forest sector while celebrating the natural advantages of wood and the contribution timber makes to reducing the effects of climate change. Source: Timberbiz Timeless in its building appeal and universal in its application, timber produced from our sustainably managed forests is a strong pillar of the national economy driving employment. Forestry Corporation Chief Executive Officer Anshul Chaudhary said forests also store carbon from the atmosphere for life and create the essential and sustainable products Australians love, need and use every day. “In producing sustainable timber products, forests are nature’s carbon store meaning the forestry sector is hugely important as a climate change solution,” Mr Chaudhary said. “Quality of life in Australia is improved by timber products, from housing frames, furnishings, timber flooring and decking, to the electricity poles powering our homes and the climate-friendly packaging, paper and cardboard products that we cannot live without. “Timber products are also evident in public infrastructure from the stunning timber interior of the Sydney Opera House to the marine piers around Darling Harbour and the historic Pyrmont bridge – that’s the lasting contribution the NSW timber industry makes to our state,” he said. Forestry Corporation, as the manager of two million hectares of NSW state forests, has joined with the Australian Forest Products Association to also highlight the importance of timber to the national economy. “As a land manager we oversee the industry’s sustainable harvest of timber in NSW,” Mr Chaudhary said. “Our staff manage wood products from the planting phase right through to timber harvests operating under the world’s strictest forestry laws and guided by 100-year timber supply projections. “Forestry Corporation’s nurseries each year grow around 11 million hardwood and softwood seedlings, which are replanted in state forests,” Mr Chaudhary said. “It’s a cycle where every tree harvested is replanted. “In an average year state forests produce enough timber to build a quarter of all new home constructions across Australia. “Sustainable wood comes from biodiverse forests, which are environmentally managed with the future in mind,” he said. Forestry is Australia’s sixth largest manufacturing sector, providing 80,000 highly skilled and direct jobs across Australia’s workforce, along with another 100,000 indirect jobs, many of which are based in rural and regional areas. The sector contributes $24 billion to the national economy, and there are forecasts that timber and wood fibre demand will quadruple by 2050. To find out more about Forestry Corporation’s operations visit www.forestrycorporation.com.au

The Federal Government has announced funding worth $5.65 million for eight new plantation projects through round two of the Support Plantation Establishment program. Source: Timberbiz The projects will provide long-rotation softwood plantation forests, bolstering Australia’s future timber supply while contributing to meeting Australia’s carbon emission targets. The projects will establish softwood plantations ranging from 40 to 1671 hectares in size located across NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. “Ongoing investment in Australia’s forest industries is critical for the sector to realise its potential for the decades ahead. We are responsible for essential and high quality, sustainable products, provide highly skilled jobs across Australia, and are a big part of Australia’s climate change solution and path to net zero emissions,” Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA), Diana Hallam said. “We welcome the Government and Minister Collins using National Forestry Day to recognise the broader sector through the plantation establishment and workforce training announcements.” These eight new projects are in addition to the 19 projects from round one worth over $10 million, bringing the total funding awarded to date through the program to more than $15.7 million. The Government also announced yesterday that ForestWorks Ltd will deliver the Forestry Workforce Training Program. The Government has invested $10 million to deliver the Forestry Workforce Training Program. ForestWorks Ltd will deliver a suite of activities over the next two years to improve access to required qualifications and credentials for the forest and wood products sectors. The program will include a number of pilot projects and trials including developing and applying stackable micro credentials, a new school-to-work traineeship transition program, creation of specialised mentorship for Indigenous Australians and women, and improved ways to deliver training to employees in remote and regional Australia. The government is providing this new support to help grow the plantation forest estate after more than a decade of reduction. Recently, there have been signs of renewal in Australia’s plantation forest estate. In 2022–23 new plantation establishment doubled when compared with the previous year, with 4,500 hectares of new plantations established. “Australia’s forestry industry is a key part of the Australian economy, providing jobs and development for people across the country,” the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins said. “Nationally, the forestry industry employs around 52,000 people, with many of these workers living across rural and regional Australia. “National Forestry Day is an excellent time to highlight the importance of our forestry workforce for the economy, as well as remind us that timber is the ultimate renewable and has an important role to play.” Ms Collins said the funding package was part of the suite of initiatives, totalling over $300 million, that the government was delivering to support Australia’s forest industries. For more information on the Forestry Workforce Training Program, visit: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/forestry

The Green Triangle’s hardwood plantation sector is proving it could have the solution to meeting Australia’s future structural timber needs. Source: Timberbiz Celebrating National Forestry Day yesterday, hardwood plantation companies Australian Bluegum Plantations, Midway Limited, and New Forests, supported by plantation managers PF Olsen and SFM, showcased the industry’s new engineered wood product – a Glue Laminated Timber prototype made exclusively from Eucalyptus Globulus (Bluegum) grown in the Green Triangle. The collective has revealed its plan to evaluate the viability of building an integrated timber manufacturing hub in the Glenelg Shire, close to its hardwood resource to commercialise the first-of-its-kind product, working in partnership with the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub (GTFIH) and Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA). The mass timber product is an output of the GTFIH’s Splinters to Structure project, delivered in conjunction with Forest and Wood Products Australia, which used both softwood and hardwood fibre, with no specific domestic application as the core product base. Generated after two-year manufacturing trials, the new hardwood product is equivalent to structural steel in building construction, with work currently testing the product durability and domestic and export market opportunities. With global demand for timber set to quadruple by 2050, Australian Bluegum Plantations CEO Russ Hughes said the new product would support the imbalance between supply and demand, supplementing the reduction of Victoria’s native hardwood market. “A portion of our existing resource would be utilised in this potential new product, which would support highly skilled jobs, increasing local and export income, ultimately strengthening the forestry sector value chain,” he said. “Importantly, this product will provide additional domestic timber supply, supporting the Victorian State Government in its plan to supply more housing stock. Our early research suggests the development of a hardwood timber manufacturing hub could generate up to 110 jobs in construction with 40 ongoing.” Midway Limited managing director Tony McKenna said the hardwood product would diversify the market base, providing a new domestic product with a low carbon profile. “While our core business will remain export, mass timber has grown from being an emerging technology to a structural building solution. Importantly, this is a sustainable building product which can be used in place of steel or concrete to create durability with less embodied carbon,” Mr McKenna said. PF Olsen managing director Nathan Windebank, representing New Forests, said the proposed feasibility study would support a comprehensive business case to understand how to best commercialise the product and attract investor attention. “This study would evaluate how to best construct an integrated manufacturing facility, considering both physical and logistical infrastructure needs. It will identify the best location near existing complementary industries, where space can be shared amongst industry partners, to support this new and sustainable hardwood timber product market,” Mr Windebank said.