Plantation Forestry in the South West Slopes Region (NSW) Presentation by Christopher Adams General Manager Tumut Shire Council

Tumut Shire Statistics Area 4600sq km Population Towns are Tumut, Batlow, Adelong, Talbingo, Cabramurra, Brungle Council budget in 2006/07 $30M. Economy based on plantation timber, power, water, horticulture, tourism, sheep/cattle 62.3% of the Shire is non rateable

Overview of the Plantation Industry Mainly Pinus Radiata 116,300 hectares on SW Slopes 62,500ha Murray region of Victoria 74% publicly owned, 26% privately owned Plantations in Tumut, Tumbarumba, Greater Hume and Gundagai Shires Processing centres in Tumut, Wagga Wagga, Tumbarumba, Albury. Only fully integrated timber industry in Australia. Direct employment – 1680 jobs Indirect jobs – 3,250

Processors Tumut – Visy (paper), Weyerhaeuser (sawn timber), Carter Holt Harvey (panels) Tumbarumba – Hyne (sawn timber) Wagga Wagga – Ausply (ply and laminated beams) Albury – Norske Skog (newsprint)

Areas of Softwood Plantation in 2004

Volume of timber transported in the SWS (‘000 tonnes or cubic metres) est. Logs1,0002,0502,455 Wood products and residue 7101,6121,966 Total1,7103,6624,411 Note: includes a small proportion of native forest timber Source: PEECE Consulting (2005)

Employment Has remained relatively steady, despite increases in production Over 95% full time employment 5% part time or casual 2003 – 2004, 66% direct employment 90% of direct jobs in the region Tumut – over 900 jobs Tumbarumba – over 200 jobs One new job in region for every 63ha of new plantation

Socioeconomic Change and the Plantation Industry

Socio-Demographic Change and the Plantation Industry Small towns with strong timber presence had higher population growth Stronger growth in working age population More consistent growth in household income Communities were becoming more highly qualified

Forest Production Vs other Agricultural Production Plantation Pine 20 t/ha/a Plantation hardwood 22 t/ha/a Rice (irrigated) 9 t/ha/a Wheat (dryland) 5 t/ha/a Apples 25 t/ha/a Grapes 15 t/ha/a Milk 14 t/ha/a Sheep 0.7t/ha/a Cattle 0.75t/ha/a

Production from hypothetical 1000 ha plantation First thinning, age 13 years 132,000t all pulpwood Second thinning, age 23 years, 165,000t mix of pulp wood and sawlog Harvest, age 33 years, 363,000t, mainly sawlog Total production from plantation 660,000t

Forest Resources in the South West Slopes Softwood plantations - 116,323 hectares Timber production - 68,000 ha of native forest Forest resources in the South West Slopes region (2002 / 2003) Forest TypeArea (ha) PublicPrivateTotal Softwood Plantation85,07831,940116,323 Native forest 68,2560

Forest Product Processing in the South West Slopes Region Direct and indirect economic impacts of the forest sector in the South West Slopes (2002 /2003) SectorValue of production ($ million) Employment (number) DirectIndirectDirectIndirect Plantation Softwood , ,7483,496 Native Forest Total , ,8283,656

Resource Utilisation (present) South West Slopes: Total of 1.87 million m 3 forest resources 964,450 m 3 of sawlogs 907,000 m 3 pulpwood Outside Region 266,750 m 3 of sawlogs and pulpwood and 87,250 m 3 of sawmill residues

Current and Planned Investment in Wood Processing Current raw material intake Future raw material intake Value of future investments ($M) Sawlog (’000m 3 ) Hyne & Son4501,054$127 Weyerhaeuser530650$40 Woodchip (’000m 3 ) Norske Skog320384$130 Visy7952,000$460

Regional Plantation Development Availability of softwood resources expected to be inadequate to meet the demand for wood resources New plantings required of 2,500 – 3,500 ha over the next 10 – 15 years across public and privately owned plantations Plantation owners: Forests NSW, Willmotts, Gunns, Hume Forests

Future Timber Demand Vision 2020 – trebling of Australias plantation timber resource by 2020 Current softwood supply 8M cu m rising to 10 M cu m by 2020 Domestic demand is expected to be 12 M cu m by Shortfall met by imports

Asia/Pacific Demand for Timber Products Paper products increasing at 3.8% pa Panels increasing at 3.1% pa Sawn timber increasing at 1% pa

Asia/Pacific Supply Currently a 21M cu m shortfall in production Deforestation occurring at 3.9 to 4.5 M ha pa

Australian Softwood Sawlog Availability

Projected Softwood Timber Consumption One Radiata Pine Rotation

Other Future Changes? Climate change Carbon trading/sequestration Salt credits Mass limits on transport vehicles Configurations of transport vehicles

Strategic Road Network

Detailed Road Network

Transport Impact of Visy’s Expansion Plans Tonnage, tonnes per annum Loaded B-double trips per annum Stage Tumut to Gundagai Gundagai to Tumut Tumut to Gundagai Gundagai to Tumut Current52,000148,0001,4864,229 Redirection of export to Sydney 202,000148,0005,7714,229 Stage 2 Development 450,000838,00013,77123,943

Actions to Date Softwoods Working Party been going for over 20 years – log haul strategies, socio economic studies, economic studies of transport routes. Roads to Recovery applications for projects across the region Lobbying - $5M from Feds in 1999; $4M from State in 2003 Auslink application for reopening of Rail Seats membership?