Division of Forest Research & Development 2011 Annual Report
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Division of Forest Research and Developmentt annual report 2011 stewards of the forest Division of Forest Research and Development Forestry Tasmania is a REGISTERED RESEARCH This work is copyright. Apart from any use AGENCY (RRA) under the Commonwealth permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may Mission Industry Research and Development Act 1986, be reproduced by any process, or any other To provide research, development and for the purpose of performing contracted exclusive right exercised, without permission information services to support Forestry research and development (R&D) for eligible of Forestry Tasmania, 79 Melville Street, Hobart, Tasmania and clients companies claiming the 125% R&D tax Tasmania, Australia. Vision concession under Section 73B of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. Research is carried To be recognised for excellence in forest research Cover Photo: Pruned E. nitens logs being loaded out in the forestry, botanical, zoological, and development at Meunna for delivery to Britton Timbers in horticultural, soil and water sciences. For more Smithton for evaluation in a processing study. information, please refer to the Commonwealth Pictured above: Pruned logs stockpiled for the Government Ausindustry Agency website at Britton Timbers E. nitens milling study. www.ausindustry.gov.au CONTENTSC O N T E N T S Forestry Tasmania Overview – Forestry Tasmania 4 Divisional Services to External Clients GPO Box 207 Hobart, Tasmania 7001 Library and Information Services 39 Phone 1800 - FOREST Overview – Division of Forest Research and Research Services 40 www.forestrytas.com.au Development 5 Tasmanian Forest Insect Collection 41 [email protected] ABN 91 628769 359 Laboratory Services 42 ISSN 0818 4797 Chief Scientist’s Report 6 Published October 2011 Collaborations and Linkages 43 Research Highlights Forest Carbon 8 Published Papers, Reports and Presentations Selective harvesting of myrtle-rich blackwood 9 Refereed Journals 46 swamps Reports and Other Publications 48 Old trees: the elderly at the heart of the forest 10 Field Days and Presentations 51 community Lunchtime Talk Series and Forest Tours 53 Managing leaf beetles: how well are we doing? 12 Can we improve? Divisional Publications 54 Predicting Eucalyptus nitens plantation water use 13 using growth parameters Divisional Management Structure and Key Staff The relationship between genetics, silviculture, 14 Overview 55 wood quality and wood products Key Contacts 56 Research Branch Reports Biology and Conservation 15 Native Forests 25 Plantations 33 Warra Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site 38 produced by the Corporate Relations & Tourism Branch of Forestry Tasmania 3 overview: FORESTRY TASMANIA Tasmania Forestry Tasmania manages its operations with four Forestry Tasmania administrative Districts across the State, and headquarters Tasmania is an island of 68,331 square kilometres and in Hobart. As of 30 June 2011, Forestry Tasmania employed outstanding natural beauty located 240 kilometres Forestry Tasmania is a Tasmanian State Government 350 personnel and 975 contractors. below the south-east corner of the Australian mainland. Business Enterprise. The business manages 1.5 million It is Australia’s southernmost state. Tasmania has a hectares (ha) of State forest for multiple uses, an area There are some 108,000 ha of plantations on State forest, population of around 500,000, and benefits from a that contains 39 per cent of Tasmania’s forests. Just less comprising: temperate climate. than half of the area of state forest is available for wood - 52,700 ha of softwood - Pinus radiata production, with the remainder being set aside for other Tasmania is rich in natural assets, including forests and values such as conservation and recreation. Forests - 55,700 ha of hardwood - predominantly Eucalyptus a diversity of minerals, and is the most forested state in on other public lands, mostly national parks and other globulus and E. nitens Australia. Its relatively unspoilt beauty attracts visitors conservation reserves, are managed by separate agencies. from all over the world. A portion of this plantation estate is in joint venture with private investors or customers, including buyers of finished forest products. Forest Tourism Forestry Tasmania also manages world-class tourist destinations in the forest, such as the Tarkine Forest Adventures, the Eagle’s Eyrie and this year opened the AirWalk Lodge as an addition to the Tahune AirWalk. The AirWalk Lodge is nestled among the trees at the Tahune AirWalk offering visitors an opportunity to ‘sleep among the giants’ of the southern forests 4 overview: FOREST RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Forestry Tasmania manages State forest for the production Forest Management Objectives, Targets and Indicators Our strategies of timber, water and other products, and for conservation therefore guide the Division’s research planning. The Division Forestry Tasmania is internationally recognised as a leader in of biodiversity. The Division of Forest Research and is also committed to communicating research results and research on the management of native forests and eucalypt Development undertakes research to improve the the scientific basis for forest management within Forestry plantations. Our activities towards organisational and sustainability, productivity and profitability of this Tasmania and to the wider community. community objectives are managed across three Branches management. These three goals – productivity, sustainability The Division has been in existence for over 30 years and within the Division: Biology and Conservation, Native Forests, and profitability – and Forestry Tasmania’s Sustainable is headed by the Chief Scientist. A significant investment and Plantations. The Division’s key strategies are to: of approximately $3.5 million per annum from Forestry tVOEFSUBLFSFTFBSDIJOUPOFXTJMWJDVMUVSBMUFDIOJRVFTGPS Tasmania’s funds is directed to in-house research and native forests and for improved operational performance; extension, out-sourced research and collaborative programs, and is augmented by competitively gained research funds tEFWFMPQTVTUBJOBCMFNBOBHFNFOUUFDIOJRVFTBOE and other State and Commonwealth funding. improved genetic material for plantations, focusing on profitability and high-value products; Forestry Tasmania is a core member of the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Forestry, and is also a participant in tFOTVSFDPOTFSWBUJPOPGCJPMPHJDBMEJWFSTJUZBOEIBCJUBU the Bushfire CRC and the Landscape Logic Commonwealth within production forests, and sustainable management of Environmental Research Facility. Forestry Tasmania also carbon, water and other values; leads the long-term research at Warra in Tasmania’s southern tVOEFSUBLFIFBMUITVSWFJMMBODFPGOBUJWFBOEQMBOUBUJPO forests. forests, and develop integrated protection Key challenges and remediation strategies. The Division’s key challenges are to make available to Forestry Tasmania the most up-to-date knowledge in Many of these strategies make use of the Warra Long-Term forest science; to conduct focused research for strategic Ecological Research site in southern Tasmania: and operational implementation, thereby maintaining the http://www.warra.com scientific basis for forest management; and to conduct research efficiently, making maximum benefit of in-house scientific knowledge and external collaboration. Dr Paul Adams measuring the large-end diameter of a Eucalyptus nitens log which is being used in a processing study with Britton Timbers. 55 chief scientist’s report Dr Steve Read [email protected] Research has been described as the conversion of dollars Research programs that have strategic benefit, or maintain of mature-forest biodiversity, facilitates recolonisation of into knowledge, whereas innovation is the subsequent access to forest resources, are of course not as amenable harvested areas by mature-forest species, and provides conversion of that knowledge into a greater amount of to this kind of analysis, so alternative ways of determining connectivity across the developing forest stand: it dollars. The research and development group in any their impact need to be developed, but the ability to show complements the reservation of forests elsewhere in the commercial organisation will thus thrive only while it savings greater than the research spend is an important landscape. can successfully argue that its work has positive impact incentive to maintain research and development capacity. More than 50 aggregated retention coupes have been on commercial outcomes. The front cover of this report Another exciting achievement this year was seeing the harvested in mature forest across Tasmania in the last illustrates a collaborative project in which the Forestry Tasmanian Forest Insect Collection website (www.tfic. few years, and Robyn Scott is continuing to describe the Tasmania plantation research team is following a plantation net.au) go live. Beetles have a key role both in forest nature of the regenerating stands. Combining the Warra stand and genetics trial though timber milling to the biodiversity and as forest pests, and the TFIC, a satellite Silvicultural Systems Trial with analysis of ecological metrics final product and then its market uptake. With increasing collection of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, in operational coupes has provided Forestry Tasmania with volumes of plantation timber becoming available, the was developed by Forestry Tasmania because of the a fresh and practical approach to adaptive management. links