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Timber Queensland has announced the recipients of the 2024-25 Growth Scholarship Awards Program. Timber Queensland’s Strategic Relations Manager Clarissa Brandt said the judging committees had been impressed by the range of applications received from every part of the industry supply chain. Source: Timberbiz “Given we receive applications from people in academia to those working on the tools, our judges have to carefully choose recipients that demonstrate a strong sense of purpose, are focused on their career development and have designed a learning activity that will be beneficial individually and for Queensland’s forest and timber industry,” she said. The recipients of the 2024–2025 Awards are: $10,000 Kennedy’s Timber Award Trinh Huynh Learning Activity “Silvopasture study tour in the Southeast Climate Hub in the US” $5000 AKD Award Matt Kavanagh Learning Activity “Growing Mechanisation Planting Study Tour” $5000 HQPlantations Award Bianca Andreis Da Cunha Learning Activity “Forestry’s Future: Women’s Protagonism in leading Sustainable change – Yale School of Management Executive Education’s online Women’s Leadership Program” $2500 DTM Timber Award Kristiina Marquardt Learning Activity “Training to obtain a Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) – Multirotor 25kg” The recipient of the Kennedy’s Timber Award, Trinh Huynh, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Forest Research Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast. She has planned a learning activity that will create strong bonds between Queensland and the United States Department of Agriculture. Ms Huynh has a busy program of webinar presentations, field visits and knowledge acquisition that will assist both her career trajectory and make a significant contribution to the development of silvopastoral practices in Queensland. “Silvopastoral systems integrate trees, pasture and livestock, providing environmental and economic benefits,” she said. “The aim of my learning activity is to acquire practical knowledge and first-hand experience to enhance the development of silvopasture in Queensland, drawing on practices from the South East Climate Hub in the United States. During field visits to North Carolina, Florida and Texas, Ms Huynh will observe diverse silvopastoral models, ranging from intensive pasture systems to tree plantations. These visits will provide a deep understanding of silviculture techniques, integration practices and management strategies of silvopastoral systems. “By comparing the US government’s support for graziers in drought-prone areas with Queensland’s policies, I hope to understand which government initiatives are most effective in supporting silvopasture adoption and resilience,” she said. Judges were impressed with the hands-on nature of HQPlantations Award recipient Matt Kavanagh’s application.  Mr Kavanagh is a contractor who has been undertaking mechanical planting trials with support from Risutec and Randalls equipment. “Working in our industry is just so enjoyable, there is always something different with new challenges,” said Mr Kavanagh. “Mechanical planting has been another great experience, but I believe there is a lot more to learn to make it cost effective and provide efficiencies across different types of plantations we have in Queensland.” Mr Kavanagh’s learning activity will see him travel to Finland to visit Risutec to view the forwarder based planting machine currently being developed and trialed called the Forest Maker. “This machine is designed to scarify, plant, fertilise and map seedling locations in one action while having a higher seedlings per hour productivity over an excavator,” he said. “I’m excited that I will be able to see how the forest maker machine works and how it may be adapted to operate in Queensland’s southern pine plantations. “There are many challenges for mechanical planting such as harvest residue, already formed mounds that must be replanted or ploughed, stumps from previous crop and varying soil types that are very susceptible to seasonal conditions, which puts an emphasis to get the planting quality right.” Attracting more women to work in Queensland’s male dominated forest and timber industry is an associated benefit of the learning activity to be undertaken by AKD Award recipient Bianca Andreis Da Cunha who works as Planning and Development Lead Forester at HQPlantations and has a lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable development. “My learning activity aims to leverage the insights and training from the Yale School of Management Executive Education’s online Women’s Leadership Program, providing me with the tools to address the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles and the substantial benefits of diversity and inclusivity in management,” said Ms Da Cunha. “By completing this leadership program, I will enhance my professional potential and help include and develop more woman to work in forestry. This transformation will not only improve business outcomes but also enrich the organizational culture and challenge the existing gender biases in the sector, setting new benchmarks for environmental and community engagement standards.” Having recently completed a Master’s Degree in Forest and Nature Management and now working at ecological engineering firm Verterra, Kristiina Marquardt aspires to become an expert in working with different stakeholders to find ways to restore, conserve and sustainably manage forest for multiple objectives. Ms Marquardt applied for the DTM Timber Award and will undertake a Remote Pilot Licence Multirotor 25kgs course to obtain an initial Remote Pilot Licence. “Through this training course, I will gain both theoretical and legal knowledge and practical competencies in operating multirotor remotely piloted aircraft applicable to forest management and I will gain the licence to operate the appropriate drones,” she said. Increasing her skill set will be of benefit to Ms Marquardt as her career progresses and she expands her interest in the science of forest restoration and reforestation, and how different ecological and socio-economic factors can affect the success of a project. Ms Brandt said there was a commonality in this year’s scholarship applications – passion for the industry. “Passion and persistence are integral in growing a satisfying career,” she said. “This year the winners include a person that has been persistent, it hasn’t been the first time they’ve applied, so we strongly encourage those who may have missed out in this round to revisit their application and participate in the application development workshops that we are planning to host in early 2025,” she said. “Similarly, the ongoing support and commitment of our Foundation partner Kennedy’s Timber, […]

A motion supporting the timber industry in New South Wales passed at the July State Labor Annual State Conference has been warmly welcomed by the industry. Source: Timberbiz The NSW Labor Party adopted the new forestry policy put up by the CFMEU Manufacturing division, which will see an increase the volumes of timber for residential housing, the size of the plantation estate expanded, and deliver support for the future of native forestry and sustainable forest management. It is understood the ALP NSW policy becomes binding on the Party’s parliamentary wing. It also reinforces the policy the Labor Party took to the last State election, which was to maintain a viable, sustainable timber industry. Australian Forest Contractors Association general manager Tim Lester said that on face value, “it looks awesome”. “As is always the way with most of these things there can be a lot of interpretation, and is there wiggle room,” Mr Lester said. But he said that given the move towards the Great Koala National Park, the decision by the party to accept the CFMEU’s motion was very important. “One of the things about the Great Koala National Park is the notion that the State Government had, in its election commitment, a sort of a twin priority. “One was to create the Great Koala National Park. “The second was to maintain a viable, sustainable timber industry. “The position of the environmental movement is there is no place for a timber industry,” Mr Lester said. “And the base proponents of the Great Koala National Park are also very explicit in saying they don’t believe that the timber industry and the national park can coexist.” But Mr Lester said recent science-based evidence indicated that there is no reason koalas and greater gliders, and other biodiversity attributes, can’t successfully coexist with a timber industry. “That doesn’t mean that the timber industry should get just free rein, or that there aren’t special places that need to be protected. “Of course there are special places that need to be protected, and the industry needs to be managed and regulated.” But Mr Lester said that on balance not all forest is “Daintree or Tarkine”. “A lot of it is scrub on rough country that needs to be managed. “Pretty much the only thing that it’s good for is trees.” Mr Lester said that if this rough country was managed for productive trees and forest, then industry, through the supply chain, actually ended up paying for a lot of the management of State forests and national parks. “We accept that the government has made an election commitment, that the government thinks that creating a Great Koala National Park is actually something that it should do. “And we accept that we are actually negotiating what that looks like in practice. “And that comes back to what does it actually mean to be a sustainable and viable timber industry.”

‘Survive to ‘25’ seems to be the new catch phrase around New Zealand, especially in the primary sector. It probably wouldn’t have made a great political campaign slogan, but it does sum up the general feeling around the traps. July hasn’t delivered any surprises in terms of export prices with another minor lift of around NZ$5/JAS across the board. This brings the A grade price at Southern North Island ports to around $117/Jas, a few more dollars for Napier and Marsden, and those unfortunate folks that supply Lyttleton are not quite in triple figures yet with NZ$99/JAS. There’s nothing new in the news from China. The property market is still as bigger a problem to the CCP as Darleen Tana is to the Greens. New house prices fell for the 13th consecutive month which has dragged the country’s economic growth down from a growth projection of 5.1% to 4.7%. This highlights the unwillingness of the Chinese populus to invest in property even though the government has released a hoard of stimulus packages including lower interest rates and reduced minimum deposits. It is expected that policies will continue to be relaxed but, with around 80% of the country’s household wealth held in in property, and enough empty, newly built floorspace to rehome the entire country and still not touch the sides, it’s unlikely that we’ll see any significant increase in construction in the short to medium term. It’s becoming more obvious that China’s fibre demand is shifting to furniture and packaging as traditional construction markets disappear. Southern China has previously consumed NZ supply at around 3.5Mm3 per annum, however, this has dropped to well under 1Mm3 as the region switches to more manufacturing and usage of the region’s short rotation Eucalypt species. The changing utilization of our product is resulting in tightening of log specifications and less demand for the lower grades of KI and KIS. NZ supply into China has dropped significantly in the past month however, this is only having a minimal effect on port inventories as uplift has tanked to around 55,000m3 per day from 65K in June due to flooding in South China compounding what is a usual off-season. Current inventory is sitting at around 3.2Mm3 which hasn’t dropped as quickly as expected giving sellers less leverage for price increases. Shipping rates continue to be stubbornly high and there’s not much sign of easing with the continued ruckus in the Suez Canal. Even though supply has dropped, it is still higher than what would usually be expected with current price and cost levels. Over the past 18 months, longer-term fixed price contracts between exporters and forest owners have been gaining momentum and support. This has enabled many of us to keep producing, albeit at reduced levels, with prices that are NZ$10-15/JAS ahead of current spot prices. The advantage of this is that exporters have a more predictable supply and forest owners have a known price and hence return, however, the disadvantage is that it supports a supply base which is artificial and doesn’t react to the traditional supply/demand model. This is likely one contributor to the stubborn spot price increases. India has had an influx of volume from Australia and South America which have both freight and fumigation advantages over NZ. There has been a notable increase in phone calls and emails from all sorts of Indian buyers but it’s unlikely to result in any significant increase in supply. To add insult to injury, Napier port has added an additional charge to all trucks of NZ$15 per load which is further squeezing forest returns. This charge is purely a money grab to increase shareholder return on investment and does not reflect any additional service delivery, even though it was initially couched as a cost of administering the new and contentious truck booking system. Industry has rightly pushed back on the charge, but protests have not been fruitful, and the port has barrelled ahead with the implementation. Increasing port costs nationwide is nothing new, whether it’s on-port charges or increased wharfage costs, some port companies are making the most of their regional monopolies at the expense of the primary industries that have no choice but to support them. Nothing to see here with carbon. The current NZU price is sitting at $54 which has very slowly inched its way up from sub NZ$50 in May. The market is still waiting for some clarity from the government around policy and consultation and at this rate will likely be waiting a while. NZ’s residential construction costs have decreased for the first time in 12 years with a 1.1% decrease in the quarter to June. This may help alleviate the slide in new dwelling consents which, according to CoreLogic, are down around 30%. Domestic sawmill demand is still buoyant in the face of lower construction levels, and it is important to note that pruned log mills are much less affected by the NZ construction sector than their sawlog sawing cousins. In summary, the market is still as unpredictable as a Biden speech however, until the inventory in China dips below 3Mm3 or the Houthi’s put their missiles away, we’re unlikely to see any significant increases in export prices. Survive to ’26 doesn’t have the same ring to it, so let’s hope the current catch phrase proves true. Marcus Musson is a Forest360 Director. He holds a Bachelor of Forest Science with Honours from Canterbury University, New Zealand, and specialises in steep slope cable harvesting, marketing and value recovery initiatives.

A new environmental organisation focussed on restoring degraded forests in partnership with Traditional Owners has been established, headed up by former VicForests CEO Monique Dawson. Source: Timberbiz Ms Dawson said the Healthy Forests Foundation, which is currently in “start-up mode” would be professionally led, science based, and action orientated. The foundation also has Deb Kerr, the former CEO of the Victoria Forests Product Association on board. The foundation’s board includes Pentarch chairman Malcolm McComb, Ian Sedger from Allied Natural Wood Enterprises, Richard Conheady, the corporate governance manager at Pentarch, and David Bartlett who was the premier of Tasmania from 2008 to 2011, The board however is only interim, and the organisation is considering further interim appointments. Ms Dawson said she had been frustrated by the lack of awareness about what was really needed to make Australia’s forests healthy and resilient. “The misinformation, mischief and malice in public debate is exhausting and dispiriting,” she said. “At the same time, Australia is wasting opportunities to get on with the work that is needed to address the real threats to forests and biodiversity – pests, fire and climate change. “We’ll be providing information about what our forests need and getting on with fixing them. “We would love for members of this community to sign up as volunteers with the Foundation. “We’ll do callouts to our volunteers to get involved with our projects including through citizen science activities. “We’ll also be interested in volunteers who will champion our new positive form of environmentalism.” According to its website the Foundation will establish and maintain a web-based, publicly accessible library of research and knowledge about forest health, management and repair. By providing a central repository of accessible information, it will facilitate collaboration between knowledge holders and those wanting to take active steps in restoring forest health. The Healthy Forests Foundation will work with Traditional Owners, scientists, and local communities to identify priority places that are unhealthy or vulnerable and then design and deliver projects to improve the health and resilience of these places. “We want forests to be healthy,” Ms Dawson said. “We believe that humanity has a duty to actually take active steps to look after forests. “We don’t we don’t believe that we can stand by and watch forests become more and more degraded, burned down, overridden with pests and invasive species. “We believe humans have a duty to do something about it.” The Foundation will also become a trusted partner for researchers, knowledge holders and with all levels of government. Through these partnerships the Foundation hopes to provide a test bed for researchers working on finding solutions to restore forest health. “We want to work with other organizations that are like-minded to form a partnership. Essentially, we want to be part of a network of organizations, because we think there are plenty out that are committed to active forest management and are committed to positive environmentalism, not negative environmentalism,” Ms Dawson said. The Foundation web site says it is committed to resurgent Indigenous conservation and recognises the deep connection between Indigenous peoples and their ancestral lands, as well as their traditional stewardship practices that have sustained ecosystems for generations. For more information go to https://healthyforestsfoundation.org/