Special Timbers: a response

Woodworker aka George Harris
In response to PB,(#17), ‘I agree Pensive’, Here , I offer the following paragraph by paragraph refutation:
Paragraph 1: This much is actually correct, but then again, he did obtain it from Forestry Tasmania’s Annual Report.

The annual export shipment of woodchips is about 2.5 to 3 million tons, and it has in the past been as high as 5 million tons. The annual cut of eucalypt hardwood logs (for scantling, construction grade timber, etc, ) has been about 350,000 tons, and there is a legislated minimum of 300,000 tons that has to be supplied. (This is contained in the Forestry Act, which dates from the 1920’s, and I cannot imagine a state government that would repeal that one. Example: the current state government of 25 members equates to 21 in favour of forestry, and four against. A couple of years ago, the Legislative Council went on a two-day tour of forestry operations around the state, and, on their return, re-affirmed their support for the Regional Forest Agreement by a margin of 15-0!).

The annual harvest of Special Timbers ranges from 18,000 to 22,000 tonnes per annum. Three quarters of this is Blackwood, which is actually not a slow-growing timber. This means that all the other Special Timbers amount to about 5,000 tonnes. This includes Blackheart Sassafras, Myrtle, Celery-top Pine, Musk, Horizontal Scrub, and of course Huon Pine. Huon Pine has a maximum annual supply limit of just 500 cubic metres, and at about 750 kilograms to the cubic metre, that is about 375 tonnes. A significant portion of this is sourced from the stored stockpile, and about 200 tonnes of it is limbwood. There has been very little live Huon Pine cut in the last 20 years. There is still a lot of material to be salvaged from residue left by logging operations in the past. A hundred years ago, the piners used to cut Huon high above the ground, and leave the stumps. These are now prized, because they contain highly figured timber, whereas the piners sought the straight-grained boat-grade timber. The unique qualities of Huon Pine, such as its defence against decay, together with its usual location in cool, damp, shady circumstances help ensure that it can survive in a useful condition. Blackheart Sassafras, on the other hand, has high starch content, and is susceptible to staining and insect attack. You should get it to a mill within a day or two of falling it. A couple of months, forget it.

The Special Timbers sector could not survive on its own. Those who say OK, only harvest for Special Timbers don’t realize that, on its own, they could not even pay for the road network. The only source of funding for forestry roads is the royalty on the timber harvested. This also foreshadows the refutation of paragraph 2, as aggregated retention provides for a range of timber to be removed, including Special Timbers, Eucalypt sawlogs, as well as logs that are not suitable or viable as sawlogs, but which earn an export income as woodchips. All these contribute to the economic performance of the coupe, and in the overall balance, are assisted by the performance of other coupes that may be much more profitable. The balance of the coupe left unharvested in aggregated retention provides a seed source into the future, with seedstock known to perform well in the vicinity. It also provides a sanctuary for immature trees to continue to grow, and having got a head start, they can progress towards a harvesting opportunity in the future. (and remember, trees are not sentient beings!)

It is true that without Special Timbers, myself and others like me would be out of business. We rely on the price premium that items made out of Special Timbers can command. It is based around the colour, the grain, the aroma, the uniqueness, the scarcity, the link to specific geography, the ambience of the craft shop retailing experience for visitors to the state, the purchase of a tangible object to help relay the experience when visitors return home, etc, etc. It is the sort of thing that just does not work with other materials. A well designed bread board in a stunning piece of Huon Pine might sell for $135.00 and the identical design in plantation radiate pine would be lucky to sell for $35.00, if at all. Both have a materials cost, a retailer’s mark-up, and manufacturing input costs, but I know which material I would rather work with. If you can’t relate to that, then I fell bloody sorry for you!

Re paragraph 3, I would not pay $3,000 per tonne for sawn timber that would have come from material that Gunn’s obtains on the ground at a royalty cost of $15 per tonne, for several reasons. Firstly, the timber that they pay $15 per tonne royalty for is just not viable to run through a saw mill. If you were mad enough to try and mill it, the recovery rate would be so low, and the timber that did come off the saw would tear itself apart in the drying process. I suggest you go and have a look at the logs that get graded as chip logs. In fact, I suggest you visit a sawmill, and have a look at how much fun they have trying to saw what is graded as a good eucalypt sawlog. Secondly, the royalty on the types of logs that I am interested in is much higher than $15 per tonne, and the harvesting contractor gets significantly more for each Special Timbers log he harvests. Then you can add the sawmilling costs, examine the percentage of return from each log, and include the kiln drying costs. If you then contemplate the time involved, especially in seasoning, and add an interest rate component, and insurance, and all the other associated costs, you will realize you have been talking a load of shit.

As for paragraph 4, I say again that I am a completely independent self-employed person who answers to no-one but myself. All the tarnish you display is that which you have drawn upon yourself, and as for being a dangerous subversive, that is more a case of self aggrandisement and self-deception. I suggest more accurate self-descriptors in your case would be pathetic bludging parasite.

In paragraph 5, as for seeing yourself as part of a portion of the Tasmanian community that is a lot smarter and more unified in a particular resolve, I say peanuts! Forty times more people went to the one-day cricket at Bellerive Oval than went to the Upper Florentine for a stroll in the forest. The full electoral might of the anti-forestry voting block still gets way less than 20% of the vote! Pull the other one! And, I detect the weight of public opinion has started to swing against the protests, and the protesters.

In times past, and in the parlance of the street, I would have given you a two-worded instruction pertaining to sex and travel, but I have adopted a new year’s resolution….

Re #32 ‘I agree, Pensive’

I would like to put a few things straight here. Yes, there is a study into Special Timbers being prepared. Yes, I have been involved in it. In fact, it was my idea. That’s right! My idea!

I am a self-employed woodworker, and have been for the last 26 years. I work almost entirely with Tasmania’s Special Timbers, (Huon Pine, Blackwood, Blackheart Sassafras, Myrtle, Celery-top Pine, Horizontal Scrub, Musk, and etc.), and I am very concerned for the prospects of the woodworkers, artists, boat builders, and musical instrument makers of the future, and everyone else connected with this sector of the timber and timber products industry, such as contractors, sawmillers, botanists, ecologists, forest managers, craft shop and gallery proprietors, arts administrators, and those in related areas of the tourism industry. This is the scope of those crucially connected to the on-going debate over the supply of our unique and treasured Special Timbers.

The Tasmanian Special Timbers Study is still a work in progress, but I will get to that in a moment. I want to tell you about how the study came about. I was having a conversation with a close friend as to how concerned I was about the lack of recent and reliable information about the numbers of people involved in woodworking (value-adding) with Special Timbers, the employment and economic characteristics, the value of wholesale and retail turnover, and the like. My friend is an accomplished cabinetmaker and woodturner, (he still teaches woodturning), but he is also a qualified forester, (now retired), and has worked as an industry research officer, and as a private forestry and forest industry consultant. Between us we wrote a proposal for a research project, and set about asking around the various associations for support to undertake and fund such a research project. We got plenty of encouragement, but no funding support.

I happened to mention it to Steve Whiteley of Forestry Tasmania, who is manager of the Derwent District, (which takes in the Styxx, the Upper Florentine, and right across to the east coast, and Wielangta), and he also has statewide responsibility for Special Timbers. Steve is number three or four in Forestry Tasmania, and has on occasions been Acting General Manager, and is a thoroughly decent bloke. Several months passed, and out of the blue I got a phone call from Steve. He said “Don’t bother talking to anyone else, we’ll fund the project.” In fact, the funding was sourced from the Federal Government, through the allocation made under the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement, and administered by Forestry Tasmania. A Steering Committee was set up, comprising myself and my woodworking colleague, and Steve Whiteley and a project officer from his staff. We refined the terms of reference for the study, and advertised for expressions of interest from suitably qualified consultants to conduct the study. About a dozen responses were received from both within Tasmania, and interstate. We formed a shortlist of two standout responses, conducted interviews, and appointed consultants. All this was done in a thoroughly scrupulous and completely defensible manner.

At this time, a final draft report is yet to become available for the Steering Committee to review, so sure it is yet to be released. It remains a work in progress. I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t care how long it takes. In fact, I would rather have a more complete and useful document than nit-pick over some arbitrary deadline. Can you relate to that?

As for the suggestions that the figures uncovered were not to Forestry’s liking, that is just plain wrong. Sure, we would like to feel confident that the results returned are an accurate picture of the industry that we are interested in, but it is a work in progress, for goodness sake!

It is true that this study was venturing into areas where candidates for interview and research are extremely reluctant to volunteer details of personal and business finances and trading, no matter what assurances are given about confidentiality or the destruction of source data. That is completely understandable. Businesses such as craft shops are worried that details of turnover and profitability could be discovered by a competitor, and small time manufacturers or hobbyists on part pensions are paranoid about bureaucratic aggression. I would be worried about the same thing myself, if some unknown researcher came knocking on my door. Also, I don’t doubt that some people would say they don’t want to be ‘used’ by Forestry Tasmania. That to me is a symptom of the extent to which some people have worked hard to poison the relationships between people, industries, institutions and government on this beautiful island.

I love woodworking, and our beautiful timbers, with a passion, but I am saddened and distressed by the extent to which my engagement in this activity is intruded upon by the pathetic and misinformed bullshit that is thrown around by so many people who haven’t got a clue what they are talking about.

Finally, I would like to say that I have participated in this Special Timbers study freely and voluntarily, and I have not been paid one cent for my contribution. I have downed tools and left my workshop to participate in deliberations at some personal cost, and loss of income, but that was my personal choice. I’m actually proud of it. I encourage you to wait patiently for the report, and I urge you to read it carefully when it is released.