It was a race against time to get the Forest Products Commission’s (WA) newest pine plantation planted. Manager silviculture Graeme Hobson said that the 1300 hectares of plantation was planted with around 1.7 million seedlings. Source: Timberbiz
“We were trying to get it all planted before the middle of August, any later than that and we risked seedling losses if spring is dry,” Mr Hobson said.
At the same time as the planting, 1000 hectares of site preparation and 1000 hectares of weed control spraying also took place.
“Silviculture hadn’t been challenged by a time frame like that before,” Mr Hobson said.
Planting began the week of 23 July and continued for three weeks.
“We had 30 planters working around the clock to put our best foot forward and try to meet the deadline,” Mr Hobson said.
The plantation was partially funded through compensation received from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development for the burnt Myalup plantation area.
