Andrew Hurford is better known for milling durable eucalypts into quality flooring, and selling it into an eager market. But his family company is also creating best-practice timber plantations on the Far North Coast of New South Wales by growing commercial eucalypt species. Source: Fraser Coast Chronicle
One of the company plantations lies north of Kyogle, on the foothills of the Border Ranges, where recent weather has conspired to create some of the most beautiful country around.
Here, on the property known as Warrazambil, the landscape rises quite suddenly from creek bed to ridge top and at the height of the property there is a narrow but rich red soil plateau currently growing commercial blackbutt at the optimum ratio.
And what is that magic number? In fact it is 1:100 and in the case of these blackbutt, that translates to 30cm in diameter and 30 metres in height, which doesn’t sound much until you consider the trees in question are just 10 years old.
Such is the way of the Australian eucalypt, especially one grown in a high rainfall region of the Far North Coast.
The modern Australian timber plantation is actually not so modern, with Andrew describing the practice as akin to wheat grown during the time of Christ. There is much work to do.
While plantation technology for the pulp and paper industry is well understood, Andrew said that the knowledge base for timber plantations is lacking. That’s because 30 years ago timber was a prolific commodity and the Australian market had access to all sorts.
These days the numbers have shifted, with the stroke of a pen, and huge acreage is protected from logging.
Those timber producers interested in staying in business have looked beyond state forests for supply, despite the fact that the very best eucalypt timber in the world – and the best managed – comes from our own state-owned forests.
“We did this to further our knowledge,” said Mr Hurford of the 800ha property between Lynches and Collins Creek near Wiangaree.
“We thought we’d have a go rather than criticise from the sideline.”
The Hurfords bought this property from the Ferris family in 2003 and started planting trees, adding to the stand every year.
Across all the Hurfords’ timber properties the company plants some 20,000-50,000 trees annually, although after the first thinning that number comes down by a third.
Thinning trees is as critical to timber as it is to lettuce and just like the vegetable crop there is often no market for the first pick. But in the case of Warrazambil, growth has been good enough to create logs from 10-year-old thinnings suitable for small power poles, fence posts and poles to support netting over blueberries.
The second round of thinning, at 20 years, will provide more of these products as well as small sawlogs while the final harvest at 28-35 years will produce large high-quality millable timber.
Such young trees from the thinnings operations would have been considered too small by the standards of only a few years ago. But modern equipment, like the double arbor twin and multi saws spinning at the Hurfords’ Kyogle mill, make quick work of small rounds, evenly releasing the stresses in these young trees.
“We have a lot of experience with young timber,” Mr Hurford said. Considering that timber, unlike cattle, keeps better pace with inflation, it makes sense to grow trees over time. “It is a bit like raising a family.
“At first the young kids seem to take up a lot of time but then they are grown and gone. It’s much the same as with timber.”
The Hurfords sourced most of their original seed stock for their blackbutt from Whian Whian, which produces the best of that variety – both quick growing and of high quality.
It is also a similar growing climate to Warrazambil. Ironically, the State Forestry Blackbutt plantations at Whian Whian have been incorporated into national park.
Mr Hurford said they also planted seedlings grown at NSW Forestry’s tree improvement nursery at Grafton and found those seedlings out-performed the Whian Whian variety.
“The science of eucalypt genetics for solid timber products is still in its infancy,” he said.
For their spotted gum stands, seedlings were also sourced from the Grafton nursery. Mr Hurford chose varieties of eucalypt for a reason.
Blackbutt on the North Coast is the dominant commercial species. It grows well on well-drained country with high rainfall. It is structurally durable with good colour and sap wood not susceptible to lyctus borer – better known as powder post beetle. As a result there is always a market for blackbutt.
Spotted gum is another excellent species for market, because its interlocking grain makes the timber strong and flexible. The young timber has a wide band of sap wood, but when poles are treated with copper or boron or CCA there is a substantial amount of treated wood surrounding the impervious heartwood. And that makes for a good and long-lasting product.
The mature spotted gum provides a variety of excellent products from flooring and decking to structural building.
The Warrazambil property also grows Sydney blue gum, with the best variety sourced from the nearby Richmond Range. Mr Hurford and his team planted blue gum on the flats, where they thrive in the wet conditions.
Warrazambil also has trial plots of red mahogany, forest red gum, tallow wood, and ironbark.
