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Victorian Wildfires: Implications for sustainable harvesting of native forests. Presentation to ABARE Outlook Conference Canberra Tuesday 2 March 2010 Michael Ryan Forest Scientist VicForests. Outline of Presentation . VicForests business
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Victorian Wildfires: Implications for sustainable harvesting of native forests Presentation to ABARE Outlook Conference Canberra Tuesday 2 March 2010 Michael Ryan Forest Scientist VicForests
Outline of Presentation • VicForests business • Responsibilities VicForests, Department of Sustainability and Environment • Volumes harvested and silvicultural systems • The Fires • Salvage harvesting and implications • Forest recovery • Conclusions
VicForests business is?? Sustainable harvest and sale of trees like this: Toolangi 1939 Mountain Ashphoto: Michael F. Ryan Into $ for treasury from sale of sawlogs and pulpwood And to regenerate sites afterwards
And this produces… Housing, flooring, furniture, woodchips and paperphotos: Michael F. Ryan
But increasingly it has been salvaging dead timber Big Hill Mt Beauty post 2003photo: Michael F. Ryan
State forest planning harvesting - responsibilities • Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE): responsible for forest management and the regulation of commercial activities and determining the sustainable area for timber production • VicForests: responsible for harvest and sale of native forest timbers and regeneration of the harvested forest in Eastern Victoria. • We are the second largest hardwood producer in Australia • We are certified to the Australian Forestry Standard • We produce a natural product virtually free from pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers • We are heavily influenced by the natural environment – especially fire • We operate on about 10% of Victoria’s publically owned forests
VicForests by Numbers (VicForests annual report) • 132 Staff • $135M Revenue, • 1.7M m3 of log products per annum • 79 Contractor companies 350 employees • 35 Customers 1,300 employees
VicForests by Numbers • 160 Yellow Goods Photos Michael F. Ryan
VicForests by Numbers • 210 Log Trucks Photos Michael F. Ryan
Fires are a natural part of our landscape Wallaby Creek Fire killed Mountain Ash burnt 7th February 2009 – Kinglake National Park photoMichael F. Ryan Control burn Powelltown photoMichael F. Ryan
Fire Impacts 2009 • The most devastating fires in Australia’s history • 173 people killed • 70 Communities affected including the almost complete destruction of the towns of Marysville, Strathewan, Callignee, Flowerdale much of Kinglake and St Andrews • More than 2000 houses destroyed • 430,000 ha forest burnt • Ongoing Royal Commission
Fire Impact on VicForests • Around 50% of VicForests’ staff and contractor workforce was directly involved in fire fighting duties. • About 10% of VicForests timber resources severely burnt (approximately 50 000 ha – 25k Ash Species – 25k Mixed Species of 464 000 ha out of available and suitable forest area). • Affected area was primarily 1939 “Black Friday” fire regrowth • 17 pieces of contractor plant burnt. • 2 sawmills destroyed • 50 000 tonnes (~$2M) of processed pulpwood lost from in-forest log dump in Marysville • Damage to roads and bridges
Business Response Four Projects Initiated: • People – manage trauma and return to work for staff and contractors • Resource – Model impact on future wood supply (80+ years) • Salvage – plan harvesting within fire killed areas • Communication – pro-active, consistent information to all stakeholders
Objectives of Salvage Program • The objectives of the salvage program were to: • minimise the impact of the fire on future supply levels; • minimise impact on existing contractual commitments to customers and contractors; • maximise (given current constraints) the value recovery from burnt forests; • maximise salvage timber harvested instead of harvesting unburnt forests; • Harvest in accord with specific salvage prescriptions and Code of Forest Practice
Sawlog Quality and degrade Salvage ash log – barrel checking Conventional ash log
Post wildfire recovery - Use of Aerial Imagery Figure 5: Coupe off Mt Margaret Keppel’s Creek and distinct “shadow” on North East (upper left) edge evidently burnt after the South Westerly change (photo: Lucas Russell) Figure 6: Keppel’s Creek regeneration from 2004 near Mt Margaret showing distinct “shadow” on North East (upper left) edge. This was burnt after the South Westerly change. (Image VicForests LRI imagery)
Regeneration – existing seedlings plus seed Aerial Sowing following salvage operations of fire killed Alpine Ash 2006/07 Mt Beauty Photos Michael F. Ryan
CONCLUSIONS • The February 2009 fires had a devastating impact on people, townships, the environment and many dependent industries • Much of the existing timber industry is based on harvesting the regrowth from the 1939 Black Friday fires • Timber needs to be salvaged quickly before the sawlog quality degrades • Salvage harvesting helps to meet existing contractual commitments and therefore reduces the impact of catastrophic fires on resource availability in the long term • There is still a strong future for the Victorian native forest industry but there will be some reduction in future timber availability • Catastrophic fire is an unwelcome, but essential, part of the ecology of the forests of south-eastern Australia Silvertop Ash Cotyledons – Moondara photo: Michael F. Ryan
Thank you Information sources VicForests staff for photos VicForests Annual report 2009 VicForests Sustainability report 2009 VicForests annual operations report 2008/09 Bushfire Royal Commission Interim report 17 August 2009 Bushfire Royal Commission Statement of Esplin 2009 A more detailed paper is in preparation for Australian Forestry Contact Details: Michael Ryan 0411-285568 Michael.Ryan@VicForests.com.au Post salvage Regeneration Big Hill Mt Beauty photo: Michael F. Ryan
