As the traditional owners of the Tiwi Islands gear up for their first woodchip harvest of Acacia mangium trees, there are nearby trials showing what the future of Tiwi forestry will look like. Source: ABC Rural
A variety of eucalyptus trees are showing significant growing advantages to the acacias that currently dot the landscape of Melville Island.
Managing director of Plantation Management Partners, Glen Samsa, said the eucalypt trials covered 150 hectares and were established in conjunction with the CSIRO.
He said the Acacia mangium plantations would soon be harvested and would likely be replaced by eucalypts, subject to an investment decision.
“We’re looking at a number of different options going into the second rotation,” he said.
“There’s a number of areas we can improve, in terms of growing, to increase our profitability.
“We get paid in weight, so we’re trying to grow a tree which is heavier, grows quickly and also has the pulp yield which attracts the market to our product.”
Eucalypts have been trialled on the Tiwi Islands since the 1980s, but the latest trial consists of Eucalypt pellita (red mahogany), Eucalypt urophylla (Timor mountain gum) and Eucalypt brassiana (Cape York red gum) and hybrids thereof.
“There’s an expectation that with these trees, we could achieve in terms of volume growth, about 10% to 15% over what Acacia mangium could do on these sites,” Mr Samsa said.
“The way in which we’re moving forward, we’d definitely be using a eucalypt hybrid in the near future.”
There are almost 30,000 hectares of Acacia mangiums on the Tiwi Islands, with the first harvest due to start in the coming months.
