Fast salvage of logs can save industry

THE bushfires have resulted in huge losses of valuable native forest and eucalyptus plantations in the southern forests, thereby threatening the future viability of the sawmilling and veneer industries. It is critical to the future of the industry that as much of the destroyed forest is salvaged.

There are two good examples of industry being saved by the timely salvage of logs following such disasters. Following the 1939 Victorian wild fires which destroyed vast areas of forest in eastern Victoria a huge salvage was mounted over two years. The logs were stored under water sprinklers and kept the industry in logs for 10 years.

The 1983 fires destroyed one third of the pine plantations of South Australia. The industry was saved by the salvage of fire-killed timber over a period of two years before the logs were affected by blue stain. Several Tasmanian harvesting teams had their equipment shipped to South Australia and made a big contribution to the salvage effort. Some of the logs were stored under sprinklers while the remainder were dumped into Lake Bonny. Storage under water stops drying and cracking, and after a period the charred bark is shed. By salvaging the pine, the South Australian timber industry survived until the remaining forest was mature.

Don Frankcombe Lindisfarne