More than six million seedlings are being dispatched from the Forestry Corporation’s Blowering Nursery near Tumut during a three-month operation. Source: PS News
Strategy and Risk Manager at Forestry Corporation, Gavin Jeffries said the carefully measured radiata pine seedlings were being distributed to State-owned plantations near Bathurst, Lithgow, Oberon, Tumbarumba, Bombala, Orange and Tumut.
“Each of these seedlings is going to be hand planted in a State-owned pine plantation that has been harvested for timber last year, so we need to be meticulous to ensure each seedling has the best chance of survival,” Mr Jeffries said.
He said Forestry Corporation’s pine plantations produced enough timber to construct about a quarter of the houses built in Australia each year.
“In 35 years, these seedlings will mature into healthy timber crops, ensuring our 219,000 hectare radiata pine estate continues to supply the community with essential timber and wood products for the next generation.”
Mr Jeffries said only the highest quality seedlings made it out the door and into the ground for the annual plantation establishment program.
“Every single one of the 6.4 million seedlings leaving Blowering Nursery was grown from a specially selected seed sown in an individual container that has been carefully weeded, fertilised and watered over the past eight months,” he said. “But only those making the grade make it out the gate.”
Mr Jeffries said that over the past eight months, staff had regularly measured the stem diameter, height and nutrient status of seedlings in sample plots throughout the nursery to ensure they were robust and had the best chance of growing into strong, straight, timber-producing trees.
He said with the 1.45 million seedlings dispatched from Grafton in northern NSW and the million seedlings sourced from private nurseries, the 6.4 million seedlings at Tumut would bring the annual planting quota to around nine million.
“These seedlings will be planted across more than 8000 hectares, which is about the equivalent of 16,000 football fields, in more than 40 State-owned plantations across NSW,” Mr Jeffries said.
The Forestry Corporation has taken on more than a dozen new staff at its Blowering Nursery to assist with the annual seedling dispatch.
The appointments double the nursery’s seasonal staff to 26.
Nursery Operations Coordinator at the Forestry Corporation, Dean Page said the new recruits would be grading, packing and loading seedlings bound for state-owned pine plantations around NSW from now until the end of August.
“Blowering Nursery is Forestry Corporation’s largest production nursery,” Mr Page said.
