Minister praises Tumut fire recovery efforts
From the Spring 2007 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.
L-R: Darren Dowling (Weyerhaeuser); Lex Kingma (Visy);
NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald;
Chris Skeel-Piggins (Hyne and Son); Rob de Marco (Ausply);
and Bob Germantse (Forests NSW) at Tumut for the fire
recovery award presentation. John Brown (Carter Holt Harvey)
was unable to be present to accept the award.
Photo by Sarah Chester
NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, has paid tribute to the successful efforts of the timber industry to minimise the impacts of a fire which ravaged pine plantations near Tumut last December.
“The post-fire recovery program has been a huge success due to close cooperation between all sectors of the timber industry to achieve maximum recovery of timber from the burnt areas,” Mr Macdonald said at a visit to the region in July.
“Forests NSW, the local mills and more than 20 harvesting and haulage contractors have all worked together to ensure the success of the recovery plan.”
More than 75 per cent of the recoverable timber had been salvaged at the time of the Minister’s visit.
“This is a magnificent recovery from a disastrous fire and I congratulate all those involved,” Mr Macdonald said.
The minister said Forests NSW revenue had suffered to some extent because of the extra cost of managing burnt logs, but the speed of the harvesting operation to get logs before they deteriorated had averted a potentially much greater financial impact.
“Most importantly, however, the successful implementation of the recovery plan has minimised the impact of the fire on the plantation-based timber industry – the economic mainstay of communities around Tumut and Tumbarumba,” Mr Macdonald said.
“Excellent progress has also been made on preparing areas burnt in the fire for replanting. This is another key part of the overall recovery plan.
“The government and Forests NSW are committed to replanting the burnt areas as quickly as possible to ensure continuity of timber supply into the future.
“Due to the scale of the task of replanting almost seven per cent of the region’s plantation area, this project will take some years to complete.”
Public Affairs & Media, Sydney
