Victoria’s Shadow Assistant Minister for Forestry Gary Blackwood wants the Victorian Government to engage logging contractors to assist with the salvage of fallen trees within the storm ravaged areas of the state. Source: Timberbiz
Mr Blackwood said currently logging contractors were not fully occupied and could be engaged to help clear and process the trees to minimise waste.
Some of the trees in question are very high quality Mountain Ash and the products these could provide are in very short supply.
“We have a ready to go workforce with exceptional expertise, the skills and most importantly the equipment that can assist not only with the clean-up following these devastating storms but can also make use of these fallen trees rather than sending them to be burnt off or destroyed,” Mr Blackwood said.
“Surely it makes sense to engage these professional operators, use the appropriate equipment to do a proper clean up, remove the future fire risk and utilise a resource to provide timber products to a market that is in short supply,” he said.
“This is more responsible than leaving it to rot and release carbon, in-stead of being processed into products that store carbon.”
Mr Blackwood said there was a misconception in the community that because a tree had been storm damaged it was in some way less valuable to the industry or could not be used to make timber products.
“Victoria has a proud history of using every piece of our harvested material in an effective sustainable way,” he said.
“Why let this resource go to waste, which if anything is an unsustainable use for it. Allow our contractors to support the recovery effort, to support homeowners and help clear this mess for local communities to get back on their feet sooner.
“If the Government was serious about providing assistance to the affected landowners they could provide the products produced from this timber to home owners as they rebuild or repair, as part of a support package.
“This would be a win-win for our contractors and affected Victorian home owners,” Mr Blackwood said.
“I call on the Victorian Government to take action urgently to ensure this product is not wasted and left to increase the fire risk in already fire-prone areas,” Mr Blackwood said.
