KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Content Forests, forestry and silviculture 0.0 title ! www.csaw.utas.edu.au • Introduction to forests and forestry • Forests and forest types • Forestry and forest management • Native forestry for wood production • Plantation forestry Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Definitions Definitions • Forestry is the art & science of tree resource and associated land management • It generally aims to implement systems that allow forests to sustainably provide environmental supplies and services • Forest management is applied: • Forests are ecosystems with a high density of trees • As forests differ from place to place, they are categorized into forest types including: – Rainforest (temperate and tropical – Wet Sclerophyll – Dry Sclerophyll – Mixed Forests – Plantations Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au – at varied scales • national, regional, local – on varied tenures • public, free hold, lease hold – for varied objectives: • conservation, wood production, water quality, tourism, etc www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Spatial and temporal aspects Forest cycle www.csaw.utas.edu.au • As a living ecosystem, forests are dynamic components of the natural world • They are not separate entities but, with humans, are integral parts of the landscape • Forests are not static Their shape and profile changes with: – Spatial aspects (size, climate, orientation, soil type, etc) – Temporal aspects (time, age, disturbance pattern, etc) Wet schlerophyll cycle Source: Forestry Tasmania Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au 1! KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Forest cycle: Paddock to forest Forest and forest types Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Forests internationally Forests in Australia by type and tenure Australia’s land area Total forest area – Plantations Source - WCFSD 1999 769m hectares 149.4m hectares (19.4%) 2.02m hectares • softwood • hardwood – Native forests • • • • • • Forests cover about 30.3% of the world’s land area, roughly billion hectares – Ten countries account for two-thirds of the global forest cover – More than half of all forests are found in the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, USA and China combined • Sixty-four countries have less than 10 percent of their total land area forested, mostly in North Africa, West Asia and small islands Source:and FAOsilviculture Forest Resources Assessment 2005 Forests, forestry www.csaw.utas.edu.au 1.0m hectares 1.02m hectares 147.4m hectares leasehold land private land cons reserves multi-use forest other 65.1m hectares (44%) 38.1m hectares (26%) 22.3m hectares (15%) 9.4m hectares (6%) 2.4m hectares (9%) Source: ABARE Australian Forest & Wood Product Statistics Nov 2010 – Figs 08/09 Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Forests in Australia by tenure Native forests www.csaw.utas.edu.au Tenure of Australia’s Forests (million hectares) • • Source: ABARE Australian Forest & Wood Product Statistics Nov 2010 – Figs 08/09 Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au These forests have grown (and regrown) naturally from seed after a major disturbance, such as a fire or harvest The majority of Australia s native forests are dominated by eucalypt species and these are generally fire regenerating species Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au 2! KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Rainforest Wet sclerophyll forests • Rainforests grow in areas of high rainfall and few disturbance events • Rainforest species not need a disturbance to regenerate generally • They account for 2% of Australia’s forests with: • These are eucalypt forests of plants adapted to a good but occasionally limited water supply • They feature large eucalypts at canopy level and a dense understorey component • They are generally evenaged, reflecting the occurrence of fire events – tropical rainforests in the north and – temperate rainforests in the south Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Dry sclerophyll forests Plantations • Dry sclerophyll forests are dominated by eucalypt species that depend on regular disturbance or fire to regenerate • They have short to moderately tall open canopy of eucalypts with a multilayered shrub under-storey • While they are less dense than wet sclerophyll forests, they have a greater floral diversity www.csaw.utas.edu.au • Plantations are intensively managed stands of hardwood or softwood trees (either native or exotic species) grown from regularly placed, selected seedlings or seed • In 2010, there were about 1.02 m hectares of softwood and 0.99 m hectare of hardwood plantations in Australia Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Plantations Forestry and forest management Unthinned and unpruned E nitens Thinned and pruned E globulus Management action is planned at national, regional and local scales • Plantations can be managed primarily for: – Fibre (the most biomass in the shortest time) – Sawlog, with fiber as a byproduct Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au www.csaw.utas.edu.au 3! KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Forests as a sustainable resource Forest management objectives • Nationally, forestry policy aims to capture these benefits while maintaining a sustainable resource • It focuses on: Forests can be a vital sustainable resource for human society, providing: • Environmental benefits including clean water, carbon storage and biodiversity preservation; • Community benefits including cultural heritage, landscape delight, recreation; and • Economic benefits including employment, timber and other forest products, and tourism – Broad resource and legislative planning; – Projecting future supply from plantation and native forests; & – Ensuring there are adequate profile of forests of the correct type and location for biodiversity protection • Policy impacts on the forests are measured and compared to internationally-developed criteria Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Policy potential and constraints Australia’s management regimes • Australia s forest management regimes are generally based on 20 year regional forest agreements (RFA), established between the federal and some state governments in the 1990s • As part of the RFA’s, CAR forest reserve systems were established Water course in production forest Water course on private land • While forest policy is developed nationally, land management is a state prerogative • States directly control large areas of forests and can implement (or ignore) detailed, nationally agreed policy and processes • States have limited control over private free-hold and lease-hold land They are generally unwilling or unable to force action Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics % of native forests ACT 108 81% NSW 5,148 23% 16 0% QLD 4,576 8.7% SA 4,029 45.5% TAS 1,121 36% VIC 3,505 44.7% WA Australia 3,868 21.8% 22,371 15.1% Australia s total formal forest reserves cover about the same area as Victoria Forests, forestry and silviculture – This including national parks, and state-managed forest reserves Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Areas of reserved forests Formal (‘000 ha) NT • This significantly increased the amount of reserved forest KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Areas of reserved forests State/Territory – Comprehensive: including the full range of forest communities; – Adequate: ensuring sufficient size to maintain ecological viability; – Representative: reasonably reflect the biotic diversity of the areas communities www.csaw.utas.edu.au Area of old-growth forest in areas surveyed for RFAs (‘000 hectares) Native forest in region Area of old-growth identified Area of oldgrowth in reservesa Proportion in reserves % NSWb 989 536 742 69 Qldb 230 270 196 73 Tas 116 229 973 79 Vicc 774 673 460 68 WAd 909 331 331 100 Total 23 018 039 702 73e Source: BRS 2011 Forests at a glance Note: Old-growth forest has not been assessed in the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and South Australia a Includes nature conservation reserves and formal and informal reserves on Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au other tenures b Area surveyed in Queensland did not lead to establishment of a RFA New reserves have been established in New South Wales and Queensland since this information was prepared The ‘area in formal and informal reserves’ is therefore an underestimate c The area of old-growth was reduced because of conversion to regrowth by fires, predominantly in 2003 d Original RFA old-growth mapping e Proportion of total area for the five states listed 4! KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Multi-purpose native forest • RFA’s also established areas of multiple-use forests, managed for: – water production, – recreation, – beekeeping, and – timber production Native forestry for wood production Multiple use forest, NSW Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Forest planning and activity Regional forest planning and activity • Regional forest management requires detailed planning that involves: • In public forest estates, planning occurs on a state, regional and site scale • The time scales for planning range from ~ 50 years to several centuries Forests, forestry and silviculture – Mapping and protecting local wildlife, plant populations and water courses – Accommodating multiple economic activities over time such as harvesting, beekeeping and tourism over time • Coupes are selected for harvesting and assessed for likely log output www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Coupe planning Coupe planning www.csaw.utas.edu.au • Harvesting practice is tailored to the coupe with the most appropriate harvesting and regeneration methods determined – Most eucalypts are fire regenerating species • Approval of a harvesting plan is required for both public and private sites • Assessment process varies between states Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au • Coupe planning is often to a code of Practice that require consideration of streams, special wildlife provisions, heritage areas and other key Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au 5! KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Trees are felled and logs cut and graded Wet forests are often clear-felled Forests, forestry and silviculture Forests, forestry and silviculture This is to mimic a catastrophic fire event www.csaw.utas.edu.au www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Regeneration is by controlled burning Other forests are partially harvested Seed collected from the site is used to regenerate the site Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Selective logging, Tasmania Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Regeneration is through low-intensity burns Regrowth is monitored for success www.csaw.utas.edu.au Regeneration burn, NSW Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au 6! KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Plantation policy: The 2020 vision Plantation forestry Wood production is the major objective of plantation forestry www.csaw.utas.edu.au The Vision The Target The Strategy The sustainable expansion of the plantation forest estate will be achieved with significant private sector investment By 2020, the expanded plantation forest estate will provide Australia’s plantation-based processing industries with the capacity to: • operate in the global marketplace; • be internationally competitive; • be commercially oriented— market driven and market focused Returning trees to the landscape as a profitable crop can also significantly benefit rural and regional communities and the environment The Vision has a notional target of trebling the effective area of Australia’s plantations between 1997 and 2020 (to million hectares) It is noted that plantation area is only one measure of the success of the Plantations 2020 Vision The quality, product mix, location and effective management of the plantation resource will also be vital to the delivery of maximum social, economic and environmental benefits to Australia The Vision partners will collaborate in facilitating an environment that will attract the private investment necessary to develop a significant plantation resource, which will: • enhance the growth in Australia’s forest industries; • enhance the contribution made by plantations to the Australian economy, rural communities and regional development; and • enhance the contribution made by plantations to solving natural resource management problems, including climate change and salinity Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Plantation increase Plantation are transitory Source: BRS ,2010 Plantation Inventory Update Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Plantations can be established on cleared forest or farmland Once harvested, the site may continue to be a plantation or be turned to some other crop Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Species mix Plantation management involves • Softwoods • • • • • • • – Predominantly P radiata • Hardwoods – About 65% is E globulus – About 85% is managed for fiber Site preparation Weed control Browsing control Planting Fertilising Pruning Thinning Source: Hynes Timber Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au 7! KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Sawlog harvest cycle Harvesting is largely mechanized 25-30 year rotation Forests, forestry and silviculture 30-35 year rotation www.csaw.utas.edu.au Source: Hynes Timber Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Sawlog output Summary • Forests are ecosystems with a high density of trees • Forestry is the art & science of tree resource and land management, operating at varied scales, on varied tenures, for varied objectives • Forestry policy aims to capture environmental, community, economic benefits while maintaining a sustainable resource • Harvesting practice is tailored to the coupe with the most appropriate harvesting and regeneration methods determined, planned and approved • Wood production is the primary objective of plantation forestry • The area of plantation estate is currently stagnant but this can easily change • National log supply is constrained by the extent of both the native forest and plantation estates • The plantation estate can provide a resource regular in – species, – diameter class, – length, – other physical characteristics • These may or may not be desirable characteristics • This allows considerable optimisation in the production process Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au www.csaw.utas.edu.au Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics Thanks to Patrick Cook Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au 8! ... Proportion in reserves % NSWb 989 536 7 42 69 Qldb 23 0 27 0 196 73 Tas 116 22 9 973 79 Vicc 774 673 460 68 WAd 909 331 331 100 Total 23 018 039 7 02 73e Source: BRS 20 11 Forests at a glance Note: Old-growth... hectares (26 %) 22 .3m hectares (15%) 9.4m hectares (6%) 2. 4m hectares (9%) Source: ABARE Australian Forest & Wood Product Statistics Nov 20 10 – Figs 08/09 Forests, forestry and silviculture KDA503/335... Forests, forestry and silviculture www.csaw.utas.edu.au KDA503/335 Timber, its origin and characteristics % of native forests ACT 108 81% NSW 5,148 23 % 16 0% QLD 4,576 8.7% SA 4, 029 45.5% TAS 1, 121