Prolonged drought conditions in the Green Triangle are killing pine trees and increasing disease risks, threatening long-term timber growth, according to the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub. Source: Timberbiz
South Australia’s South East and Victoria’s neighbouring Western District are experiencing their driest conditions on record, which forestry industry representatives have told the ABC is now taking its toll.
Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub general manager Tony Wright told the ABC forestry pine plantations were planted on a 30-year rotation.
He said the current drought damage had stunted tree growth, which was unable to be recovered throughout the trees’ life cycle.
“Trees that would tend to shut down, particularly softwood, they take the water that’s available to them in the environment, but they obviously have a limitation about how deep [their roots can go],” he told the ABC.
“They will start to shut down their growth and these are 30-year crops.
“So, an impact on growth in any particular year will affect the yield at the end of that rotation and that then will affect the entire supply chain around that.”
University of South Australia Forestry Centre of Excellence director Professor Jeff Morrell told the ABC that due to the long lifespan of plantations; it could take months or years for damage or disease to become noticeable.
“We’re looking at trees that are stressed and it will take a while for some of that to really show up,” he said.
“The other part of that will be because those trees are stressed, we’ll start to see some insects and diseases start to become a problem and that can build on itself.”
Mr Wright said with warmer and drier climate conditions expected in the future, the industry was running a number of studies to drought-proof timber plantations.
He said the Green Triangle region remained a viable place for timber plantations, despite the drying climate.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work as an industry, through Tree Breeding Australia, improving their genetics every year,” he told the ABC.
“But this particular season is one of the driest on record and also there’s been a shift in the season as well.
“So, we don’t have any science or data that is of a comparable period.”
The Green Triangle region supplies around 34% of Australia’s structural timber for housing construction.
Master Builders Association SA chief executive Will Frogley told the ABC that current timber supply was meeting demand, but he wanted Australia to stay self-sufficient.
“A lot of Australians would probably be shocked to know we import a lot of timber for industry, it also comes from other states,” he said.
“Most people would think in a country like Australia it’s quite incredible we haven’t been able to develop enough supply for our local building industry.
“It probably highlights some problems and mistakes that have been made over the years.”
An SA government spokesperson told the ABC that the forestry industry had been in-volved in discussions ahead of the government’s $55 million drought support package announced on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said the forestry industry had advocated for increased mental health support for producers and local business programs, which were included in the drought funding.
