The Australian media has been in a frenzy over a proposed pulp mill for the Tamar Valley in Tasmania. Most recent objections have included the idea that the mill should be located away from wineries. Yesterday, Barry Chipman from the NGO Timber Communities Australia had the following response:
Following claims that the proposed Bell Bay pulp mill could impact upon the Tamar Valley’s valued wineries Timber Communities Australia conducted its own research looking at the economic make up of other major wine producing regions.
“That research commenced at what TCA saw as the top of the tree in wine producing regions; being the Bordeaux region in South West France, The region is promoted as the Fine Wine Capital of the World and our findings where quite amazing in light of what’s being claimed here.” Barry Chipman Tasmanian State Manager Timber Communities Australia said today
The Bordeaux region produces 800 million litres of the highest quality wine annually, the region also attracts 3 million tourists annually.
Along side of this world leading fine wine and tourist industry is a very devise cultivated forest industry producing, Kraft pulp (Smurfit Kappa Cellulose de Pin pulp mill) glazed Kraft paper, Liner Kraft paper, Fluff pulp, and the full range of sawn timber products. (Including many wine crates) This wood products industry generates 2.5 billon EUR annually.
The Bordeaux region is also internationally recognised as a major scientific and technical centre for wood, product research including a major focus upon pulp and paper in particular ECF technology, the centre employs 200 researchers.
Then over in the neighbouring North East is another major fine wine and tourist region of Probence, and within the region surrounded by fine wine vineyards, is the Tarscon-sur-Rhone ECF pulp mill. (This is the same technology as the proposed Bell Bay pulp mill.)
Upon learning how, French wine producers and wood and paper products producers appear to prosper in harmony with each other it is hoped that this can also translate to Tamar Valley.
Perhaps those that seem to have doubts about this could just as a starter follow TCA’s lead and “Goggle” Bordeaux then follow up with ECF pulp mills Bordeaux France
Tasmania should not be left behind by the French we to can be a world leader in demonstrating harmony between all industries. Mr Chipman concluded
The real issue is, how does an internationally recognised forest accreditation scheme come to have one rule for European and North American forests and another, completely different one, for Australian forests?
The only forests that could get FSC certification in Australia were plantations, not native (ie naturally regenerated) forests.
This is quite contrary to the underlying concepts in the quote from Tabor above, and consistent with all notions of good forest management since Evelyne was published 300 years ago - that actually having to plant trees is a sign of failed forestry practice. Planting trees is what urban punters and tax dodgers do. Sustainable foresters regenerate as they work through their rotation, from the species at hand.
Those who do not understand this have no role to play in sustainable forest management. They are the problem, not the solution.
In regards to FSC certification and the role of green politics, Finnish forests are about 75% privately owned. My understanding is that private forest ownership is also high amongst other Scandinavian countries. Such a high level of participation in the forest industry, either directly or indirectly, amongst the general population accounts for a very large deal of political influence.
The greens are simply unable to gain the kind of political traction in regards to forestry issues in those countries as they have here in Australia where the majority of production forests are publicaly owned.
This link in English might be useful:
http://www.sca.com/en/Products/Forests/
Ian,All big Swdish forest industries and pulp mills are FSC-certified. A link here:
http://www.sca.com/en/About_SCA/SCA_in_Brief/
This from one of the big, global companies ( The link in English).
Perhaps as Boxer mentioned why there ain't so many protest about the forestry is beacuse the forestry is FSC-certificated and much of the Swedish economy is based on forestry, like retirement funds etc. It's our " green gold"
This notion of Gavin's that native woods should only be for high value timber is a lot like running cattle for the sole purpose of producing rump steaks. So what do we do with the forequarters, the ribs and the mincemeat?
The same applies to native forests, what do we do with the bent stems? More importantly, a well stocked stand of young regenerated eucalypts will have from 1000 to 4000 poles/hectare, but there is only enough room on a hectare for about 100 high quality sawlogs. So what do we do with the other 3,900 stems? If we leave them in the forest it is absolutely certain that there will be no large trees for 400 years or more.
So until the green movement can provide a market for bent and deficient stems then the greatest value adding process is still woodchip (mincemeat).
The interesting thing about the Swedish certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is that all those forests are "native regrowth" forests just like the majority of Australian native forest. So why did the FSC allow the Australian greens to interfere with the Australian certification process to the point where our native forests were effectively excluded?
The irony is that this favouring of planted forests only flew in the face of all the time tested principles of forestry best practice. As Englishman Raymond Tabor said in 'Traditional Woodland Crafts',
"Good woodsmen rarely planted trees, they had no need, for in regularly managed woodlands oaklings grew and odd gaps could be filled by plashing (air layering from retained coppice shoots)".
He also pointed out that,
"Seedlings often appear not quite where one would wish, in which case use a spade and move them! Oaklings and young hazel are usually rare, for squirrels, mice and pheasents account for many of their large seeds. So do what woodmen always did: collect a pocket full of seeds and heel them in as you walk around the wood".
This is precisely the methodology my own father used when he purchased a completely cleared farm in 1942. And what he produced was a multi aged, multi-species "native forest" with the full original suite of wet forest mosaics.
And the green movement, to their enduring shame, have gone out of their way to restrict our access to markets, in the name of intergenerational equity no less.
Trust cinders to miss the fundamentals of my argument about a period of our P & P history where mills closed and others got their resource. BTW folks some Melbourne machines ran on waste paper.
I recalled Smorgon was one after my previous post. My interest then was about the fate of Burnie in particular and I was long gone from the industry then.
Salvage played a major part in our old philosophy. Papermakers at Burnie had a collection of bits from war time England. Bombed out factories were sometimes rebuilt elsewhere. Upgrades were a big part of the industry world wide as I’ve stated over and over. Watch out when that stops.
The TCA is quite light on the local R & D concept as the background to their new mill.
Gavin brings back memories of the Native forest Networks boycott every thing web site, I think the activist in charge went of to the FSC and his brother the Wilderness Society, the current coordinator is deep in the southern forests trying to weld protest power or is that in a senator's office as a tax payer funded staffer.
If you look carefully enogh on the boycott woodchipping reams of web pages these activists were advocating plantations on cleared agricultural land and the establishment of a pulp industry that didn't produce nasties in the environment. Now we has the super clean ECF pulp mill proposed using a wood source from both plantation and regrowth low conservation value forest, seems the same people and their mates at RAN are demanding a boycott.
You might like to check what these people did to the Tasmanian economy back in the early to mid 1990s at http://www.ipa.org.au/files/review51-1%20Tasmanias%20Green%20Disease.pdf
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