The Age reports a loss of interest from plantation growers in Victoria …
Plantation drop spooks industry:
Maris Beck
November 1, 2010
A SHEER drop in the area dedicated to new timber plantations is threatening thousands of Victorian jobs already targeted by an emboldened environmental movement.
The timber industry is warning that plantings in Victoria plummeted in 2009 after the collapses of Great Southern and Timbercorp, which attracted investors to plantations through a series of managed investment schemes (MIS).
Only 2950 hectares of new plantations were established in 2009, down more than 70 per cent from the 10,230 hectares planted in 2008. The situation has not improved in 2010, according to the Victorian Association of Forest Industries (VAFI).
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The trees are mainly 10-12-year hardwood plantings for woodchips. None are for hardwood sawlogs, which require at least 25 years to grow to reasonable quality.
The industry’s struggle to recover is exacerbated by an assault from environmental groups invigorated by their victory in Tasmania, where they forced timber giant Gunns to end logging of native forests. They have now set their sights on Victoria.
Wilderness Society forest campaigner Luke Chamberlain said new business models were needed so that plantations could replace native logging.
Meanwhile Forestry Tasmania’s latest Stewardship Report (available online, HERE ) revealed that someone had forgotten to tell them of the New Plantation Paradigm…
Only 1,370 hectares of plantation eucalypts were planted in 2009/10.
Well done fellas.
Meanwhile, Gunns Share Price: HERE
Libs urge caution over mill deal
Tasmania’s Liberal Opposition says it is concerned by a plan for Forestry Tasmania to take over the Gunns woodchip mill at Triabunna.
Gunns plans to pull out of native forest logging by next year and has confirmed it is negotiating about the future of the mill with the State Government.
Gunns would like Forestry Tasmania to take it over and keep the present workforce.
However, the Liberal leader Will Hodgman says the plan raises conflict of interest issues.
“We’re troubled by the notion of our forest manager suddenly becoming part of the processing chain,” he said.
“This would in many respects be a retrograde step and one that should be taken as a last resort.”
Forestry Tasmania last month confirmed plans to potentially take over the woodchip mill.
FORESTRY TASMANIA MUST ABANDON WOODCHIP MILL FANTASY
Before More Public Dollars Wasted
Kim Booth MP
Greens Forestry spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today re iterated their call for Forestry Tasmania to abandon their plans to buy Gunns Ltd’s dilapidated woodchip mill at Triabunna, and that instead efforts go into restructuring a viable industry and revitalising regional communities.
Greens Forestry spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that the timber industry collapse in Tasmania had been largely caused by interference in the market by the government owned Forestry Tasmania and that it was way past time that the industry stood on it’s own feet, just like other businesses.
Mr Booth also said that given that Gunns have announced plans to exit their native forest operations due to their unviable long term economic future and to aid in their attempts to achieve accreditation and a social licence, demonstrates just how out of touch Forestry Tasmania’s move is.
“Forestry Tasmania has already contributed to the industry collapse by interfering in the market,” Mr Booth said.
“All effort instead should be focused on restructuring the industry so that it can be viable, as well as revitalising a robust regional community.”
“This is a key opportunity presented by the talks between industry and environmental groups, to provide for robust local communities and local economies, by breaking free of a reliance upon unworkable ‘cargo-cult’ approaches such as this latest scheme by Forestry Tasmania.”
“Forestry Tasmania has depressed the value of wood products in this state to below the cost of production and the inevitable demise of the industry has followed.”
“No private grower can compete with Forestry Tasmania’s special access to the public purse.”
“This Government Business Enterprise lost another $9 million last year, despite the fact that they paid nothing for the land and trees that they log plus access to the public purse through the Community Forest Agreement.”
“This is just another attempt by Forestry Tasmania to provide a golden parachute for Gunns Ltd and an attempt to scuttle the current forestry ‘peace’ talks.”
“Gunns Ltd’s mills are dilapidated and unviable in the long term, and public money should be prioritised for the public benefit’s such as hospitals and schools, not used for corporate welfare to bail out the likes of Gunns or to maintain the lifestyle of Forestry fat cats.”
“The current clamour by some native forest sawmills that they will be unviable unless they can chip their waste is both an indictment on their business model and somewhat disingenuous.”
“An industry that bases its survival on the value of the waste it produces is quite obviously in trouble and needs to move with the times and get accreditation to access high value markets.”
“Large scale wood chipping of native forests is not part of that future which is why North got out and why Gunns is getting out now.”
“Sawmill residue can easily be chipped on site or used for other processes such as pellets, pyrolysis and bio char to name a few.”
“Triabunna is a mill designed for logs, not mill waste and should be sold for scrap as part of a new viable forest industry,” concluded Mr Booth.
