Laminated timber panel project makes the most of plantations
Panels use lowquality hardwood plantation logs, writes Tim Payne
RARELY do the stars align where regional Tasmania has such a promising economic and environmental outlook as with one of the 41 projects listed (“Reboot the state,” Mercury, July 14).
The Hermal Group Hardwood project would manufacture laminated timber panels from low-quality hardwood plantation logs. Extraordinary strength from glued layers, where the timber grain is at right angles, provides a cheaper and environmentally favoured alternative to concrete and steel in the construction of domestic and commercial buildings. Structural timbers retain carbon collected while growing, whereas steel and aluminium release carbon in production, exacerbating global warming.
The company is also to build a bioenergy unit both to power the laminating plant and provide baseload renewable energy into the state grid. Biomass energy has two pluses environmentally. First, worldwide research demonstrates forest fuels release less carbon into the atmosphere than wild fire or regeneration burning. Second, full disposal of trees at harvest reduces the fuel load in the bush, and mitigates against the horrific impact of wildfires.
The company seeks to harvest only large hardwood plantations near Burnie, but great environmental, fireprotection and economic benefits would ensue were that harvest extended statewide.
The federal government accepts tree plantations mitigate against carbon release and pays landowners carbon credits for their establishment. Because plantations represent just 9 per cent of Tasmania’s commercial forests, that impact is minimal. In contrast, 69 per cent of its natural vegetation area is covered with closed canopy forest. Tasmania’s potential to store carbon would rise significantly were those forests to be carefully managed. Conservationists say oldgrowth or undisturbed forest is optimal for carbon retention and have conflated the two. Research has established this nexus is false because in undisturbed forests, where trees reach maturity, carbon storage capacity of young trees is neutralised both by a decline of storage in older trees, and by release of carbon from rotting trees, emphasising that maximum carbon retention depends not just on existence of forest but, more essentially, on age and vitality of the trees.
Thus, native commercial forests can absorb much more carbon if 1) sensible harvesting of mature trees releases space in the forest for younger ones, 2) timber from that harvest be used in products that store carbon indefinitely, and 3) the biomass residual be collected to generate electricity.
Compared to plantation returns, yield from selective harvesting is significantly less. But the advantages to society are several. One, carbon retention is maximised and all of us benefit. Two, wildfire management is vastly improved. Finally, a rigorously
supervised timber harvest from private forests would redress the absurd reality where timber is imported into Australia under dubious control re carbon release and sustainable forest management.
Landowners with native forests should be equally rewarded with carbon credits along with plantation developers, provided they enter a professionally managed tree harvesting, reestablishment and fire management program.
Instead, as forest is seen as worthless, 40ha of forest per year per landowner can be converted to agricultural profitability. This policy is counter-productive because, although limiting on an individual farm basis, its alienating impact over many farms over years is inexorable. Landowners must be offered carbon credits equivalent to an assessed annual agricultural value as an alternative. That cost would be borne by miners and heavy industries now seeking to enhance their reputations by offsetting carbon emissions.
Part of the mentioned aligning of the stars is the current shift to judicious politics, occasioned by COVID-19, impelling our state representatives to forgo with great success the posturing and procrastination that normally bogs down our parliamentary processes. Peter Gutwein and Rebecca White must be congratulated on their astute handling of that issue.
It will require this leadership style, with its reliance on objective advice of scientists, to implement urgent harvesting of our forests to protect us from the fires that ravaged NSW and Victoria. It was purely by chance that we escaped, and unless we take constructive action to protect our people, environment and domestic and native animals, it is not a matter of if we experience such holocausts, but simply when.
The Hermal Group must be induced to expand the scope of their resource as outlined, and if they choose not to, other companies should be offered the opportunity. We can’t delay.