The West Australian timber industry may face a supply shortage in 10 to 15 years as the effects of recent major bushfires are realised. Source: ABC Rural
Thousands of hectares of state-owned timber plantations have been lost in major bushfires since November, with trees up to 40 years old possibly destroyed.
About 3300 hectares of Forest Product Commission (FPC) pine plantations were engulfed by bushfire in the south-west of the state.
A further 150 hectares of timber plantations were affected during a bushfire in Esperance in November.
FPC manager of operations Gavin Butcher said the short term disruptions to the industry had been minor.
But Mr Butcher said there may be issues with long term timber supply in Western Australia.
“The longer term issues obviously will be in terms of 10 to 15 years time,” he said. “Whether that level of timber can be supplied into the future.”
Mr Butcher said the immediate focus of the FPC was to assist firefighters still fighting to keep the blaze contained.
He said the FPC would then look to salvage timber from bushfire-affected areas.
“Once the fire is controlled we will assess the level of damage,” he said.
“To see which areas of forest need to be harvested and then it will just be that process of salvaging that timber.”
Mr Butcher said the FPC commended the work of firefighters during the most recent fires in the south-west of the state.
