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South West Slopes now Murray Region Forestry Hub

After consultation with its members, the South West Slopes Forestry Hub has announced that it will now be known as the Murray Region Forestry Hub (MRFH). Source: Timberbiz

“This name change better reflects the geographical boundaries of the Hub region which extends from Gundagai in the north to Lake Eildon in the south. The MRFH has a total area of 3.5million hectares and encompasses around 170,000 ha of public & privately owned softwood plantations. This makes it home to one of the largest softwood-plantation forestry industries in Australia,” Murray Region Forestry Hub Chair, Peter Crowe, said.

The Hub was initially established as part of the Australian government’s National Forest Industries Plan to support the forest & timber industry to:

  • meet the challenges of the future and minimise constraints restricting industry growth
  • underpin growth in the renewable timber and wood-fibre industries
  • innovate and use our forest resources smarter
  • assist industry to realise its ambition to plant a billion new plantation trees during the decade to 2030.
  • The plan reinforced the Australian Government’s commitment to securing a strong, sustainable forestry industry. It outlined a suite of key actions that:
  • lay the foundations for the industry to grow
  • assist with strategic planning in key forestry regions
  • help to reduce barriers to investment.
  • identify the constraints limiting forestry and timber industry growth within the Murray region.

Mr Crowe concluded by saying that the Hub was looking forward to making progress on the projects identified under the Hub’s strategic plan that will address the national objectives at a regional level.