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Forestry Facts: An Overview Statistics Old Growth Forests Biodiversity Bushfires Australia's changing forests Native forests Forests and the Economy Eucalypt (Hardwood) Plantations Pine (Softwood) Plantations Multiple use forests Woodchips Pulp and Paper Regrowth forests The World's Rainforests The Greenhouse Effect Glossary of Terms Timber construction in bushfire areas |
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Eucalypt (Hardwood) PlantationsAustralia's 389,028 hectares of hardwood plantation is almost all eucalypt species (National Plantation Inventory 2000). The rate of hardwood planting increased rapidly from about 2,500 hectares a year in the late 1980's to almost 100,000 hectares a year in 1998 and further increases are likely.
Source: National Plantation Inventory March 2000 Eucalypt plantations are generally grown on short rotations (10 - 25 years) to provide an excellent source of wood fibre for producing pulp and paper. Most of the current investment in eucalypts is being undertaken by the private sector for either domestic production of pulp and paper or woodchip exports. Eucalypts have become a major crop worldwide because pulp makes an excellent quality printing and writing paper (Centre for Economic Education 1988). Over 6 million hectares of plantations have been established worldwide in Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Portugal and a number of other countries. Interestingly, there is mounting opposition to the plantations because eucalypts are 'exotic' in these countries. The main types of eucalypts grown in plantations are Tasmanian bluegum (E. globulus), shining gum (E. nitens), mountain ash (E. regnans), flooded gum (E. grandis), blackbutt (E. pilularis) and karri (E. diversicolor). While different species are suitable for different areas because some are sensitive to frost, drought and particular soils and terrains, Tasmanian blue gum is being widely planted in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria. In 1997 the Federal, State and Territory Governments joined with industry and launched The Plantations for Australia: 2020 Vision which aims to treble Australia's hardwood and softwood plantation forest estate from about 1 million hectares to 3 million hectares by 2020. Some $3 billion would need to be invested in new plantations, mainly by the private sector, to achieve the vision. Expansion of investment in hardwood and softwood plantations would lead to further investment by Australia's forest industries, stronger rural economies, conversion of Australia's trade deficit in wood and wood products into a trade surplus and up to 40000 new jobs in forestry, logging, wood processing and transport industries. Further information on Plantations for Australia: The 2020 Vision is available on the Internet at: www.plantations2020.com.au. Although the area of Australia's hardwood plantations are expected to continue to increase rapidly it is expected that most will be managed to supply pulplogs rather than sawlogs as:- Conservation groups argue that governments should remove the forest industries from native forests and only harvest trees from plantations. Such action would drastically reduce the supply of hardwood sawlogs and pulplogs to existing manufacturing facilities, devastate the economies of many rural communities and significantly increase Australia's trade deficit in forest products. Eucalypt plantations are an important and necessary complement to native forests. References Centre for Economic Education 1988, Australian Study Topic: Forests, p.10. Cromer, R. N. 1990, The role of eucalypt plantations in timber supply and forest conservation in Australia, Paper prepared for the 19th IUFRO Congress, Montreal, Canada. National Plantation Inventory 1999, National Forest Inventory and Bureau of Resource Sciences, Canberra. |
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