Forests NSW plants more than 4 million seedlings across South West Slopes

Forests NSW is busy planting more than four million pine seedlings across the South West Slopes region of NSW in areas previously planted to pine around Tumut, Batlow and Tumbarumba.
Forests NSW Hume Region Operations manager, Charlie Taylor, said the planting program at Bondo State Forest near Tumut, Green Hills State Forest near Batlow and Carabost State Forest near Rosewood was progressing well.
Forests NSW manage 90,000 hectares of plantation in the region and the replanting program is part of a longer-term program, which includes the re-establishment of almost 9000 hectares burnt in the Billo Road Fire in December 2006,” he said.
Mr Taylor said due to the scale of the operation, additional seasonal labour has been employed to ensure planting could be completed in a tight timeframe.
As well as Forests NSW crews, we are employing six contract planting crews, which involves about 100 personnel,” he said.
As part of the plantation life cycle of Radiata pine, which is approximately 30 years, areas are harvested to provide sawlogs for the local timber industry.
“Following the final harvest these areas are re-established by planting approximately 1000 trees a hectare.”
Planting should be completed by mid August.
“Most of the seedlings being planted have been produced by Forests NSW state-of-the-art nursery near Blowering Dam,”
Mr Taylor said.
“The planting season endeavors to make the most of the colder and wetter months, as soil moisture is very important when establishing the seedlings.
“Traditionally, radiata pine has been planted as bare root stock, however, during recent years, production has moved to planting about half of the trees as container stock.
“The beauty of containerised stock is that if conditions are not perfect, the seedlings are hardier and have a better survival rate after planting”.