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Poles add extra income to landowners

Property owners in New South Wales are being offered the chance to find out if logging timber on their land may be possible to meet a growing demand for new power poles. Source: The Coffs Coast Advocate

The initiative has been introduced by Australian utility pole suppliers Koppers Wood Products and offers landowners the chance of earning extra income.

Koppers’ forestry resource manager Michael Combe said that farmers are showing an interest in maximising the income they can derive from their land.

“We’re finding that land owners are interested in knowing more about the worth of the timber on their property and about the logistics of sustainably harvesting some of it under the NSW Private Native Forest Code,” Mr Combe said.

The reason for the initiative is because a large percentage of the electricity network was built in the 1950s and 1960s and the industry is now engaged in a substantial utility pole replacement program to renew ageing infrastructure and upgrade supply capacity.

The company’s sales and marketing manager Damian McCue said that this provides a potential golden opportunity for select landholders.

“Demand for timber power poles is greater than ever due to the sheer numbers required to upgrade our electricity distribution networks,” Mr McCue said. “Timber power poles offer a cost effective, reliable and sustainable long term solution for these important projects.”

Interested landowners invite Koppers to undertake a professional assessment, taking full account of environmental considerations, to help them determine if their private forest is suitable for harvesting of such high value forest products as poles, piles and girders.