Timber plantations in Australia increased in area by 4.5 per cent last year, yet in Western Australia the area devoted to new plantations declined significantly, according to the Bureau of Rural Sciences’ national plantation inventory.
Timber plantations in Australia increased in area by 4.5 per cent last year, yet in Western Australia the area devoted to new plantations declined significantly, according to the Bureau of Rural Sciences’ national plantation inventory.
New plantations of softwood species in WA have been decreasing since 2003, with the 2006 plantation area (573 hectares) dropping to about 10 per cent of that planted in 2003 (5,192ha).
The size of new hardwood plantations more than halved last year to, 10,516 ha, from 21,589ha in 2005, despite hardwoods being WA’s biggest timber crop.
However, last year’s plantation was the third largest since 2002, in which 14,249ha of both hardwoods and softwoods were planted.
Sources within the timber industry say land prices may be limiting plantation expansion, while the maturation and harvest of existing crops is making land available again.
Forest Industries Federation of WA executive director Bob Pearce said companies had been affected by land availability.
“Plantation companies continue to raise money and investment, but they are having difficulty getting suitable land,” he said.
“It has to be a reasonable distance from a processing plant and port.”
Great Southern Ltd public relations manager David Ikin said although finding the right land was challenging, the company was continuing to establish new plantations in WA despite having diversified into other states.
“The percentage is diminishing here, as the other states have come on-stream, but we’re still planting a lot,” he said.
Great Southern increased its hardwood plantations in WA last year, planting 7600ha, compared with 5709ha in 2005.
Great Southern’s WA plantations comprise about 20 per cent of the company’s national total of 35,000ha.
Mr Ikin said some forestry companies, including Great Southern, were at a stage where they could reuse land that had been harvested, which could account for the apparent decline in new plantings.
He also said the company would be likely to have a stronger focus on forestry in the future, rather than its other agricultural interests, following taxation changes to managed investment schemes introduced by the federal government.
Mr Ikin said part of this increased focus would include diversifying into other forestry areas, such as high-value plantations, with the company recently launching a high-value teak and mahogany plantation in northern Australia.
WA has the second largest total plantation in Australia, with 21 per cent of the national total, surpassed by Victoria’s (22 per cent), and greater than that of New South Wales (19 per cent).
WA planted more eucalypts than any other state or territory last year, with 35 per cent of the national total.
Australia’s total plantation estate is 1,817,837ha, of which 388 687ha is in WA.
Nationally, new plantations of hardwood species are far exceeding softwood species, with 86 per cent of the new plantation area in 2006 being hardwood.
Most of the nation’s softwood plantations are in New South Wales.
FIFWA executive director Bob Pearce said the decline in new softwood plantations in WA was part of a longer term trend away from renewing pine plantations, such as the Gnangara plantation.
Mr Pearce said most states in Australia were not renewing their pine stocks, due to the long rotation time required between crops.
