WA’S finest jarrah trees are being cut down and sold for railway sleepers by the State Government’s logging agency despite a policy banning the practice, according to insiders. Source: Perth Now
Jarrah in WA is harvested by the Government-run Forest Products Commission, which rates logs as first, second or third-grade. Only lower-quality logs are allowed to be used for railway sleepers, while higher-grade jarrah must be “value-added” and used for high-quality products such as furniture or floorboards.
But sections of WA’s freight rail lines are being re-sleepered, fuelling a big rise in demand. To meet the orders, the FPC stands accused of downgrading top-quality jarrah.
It logged more than 170,000 tonnes of jarrah in the past financial year and the demand for third-grade logs used to make the sleepers was double the previous year at 20,000 tonnes.
Al Corbet, former owner of the Australian Craftwood Timbers mill near Manjimup, claimed fine jarrah was being used for sleepers in a “rampant waste of WA’s finest timber”.
Other mill workers in the Southwest also said the FPC appeared to be supplying top-grade jarrah for sleepers.
WA Forest Alliance spokeswoman Jess Beckerling said she, too, had testimony from those working in the industry of fine jarrah being turned into sleepers a practice “straight out of the Dark Ages”.
“We’re talking 200-year-old logs, prime grade something you’d make a beautiful dining room table with,” Corbet said. “Most Third World countries have a better harvesting regime than WA. It’s appalling.”
Forestry Minister Terry Redman said the claims were a matter for the FPC. A spokesman for the agency said as much profit as possible was derived from harvested timber. He said timber sleepers were eco-friendly because they stored carbon, while concrete “requires large quantities of energy to produce”.
“Accusations that logs are deliberately downgraded for any reason are false,” he said. “Those making such claims should be asked to provide evidence. It is too easy to make such statements which are aimed at damaging the integrity of FPC’s staff.”
