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Sustainable Timber Tas tables annual report

Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s Annual Report for 2018/19 was tabled in parliament recently. CEO Steve Whiteley said Sustainable Timber Tasmania had a solid year with favourable market conditions and as a result the total comprehensive income was $34.9 million. Source: Timberbiz

“We paid a special dividend of $15 million and have recommended to Government a $2 million dividend based on the 2018/19 result,” he said.

“The organisation was significantly impacted by the 2018/9 bushfires and we thank the efforts of all employees and contractors who worked hard to protect forest values and communities over a long period.

Sustainable Timber Tasmania contributed over 66,300 hours fighting bushfires on the 200,000 hectares impacted across the state.

“Our employees did a fantastic job in getting all our harvesting contractors impacted by bushfires back to work within a fortnight and maintaining wood supply to our customers,” Mr Whiteley said.

“We supplied 53 Tasmanian businesses with forest products and paid $53 million to harvest and haulage contractors, supporting regional communities.

“Regrowing the forest is one of the most important things we do. We prepared over 4,700 hectares for regrowing with 160 million seeds sown on harvested areas and over 65 million seeds sown on fire impacted areas. In 2018/19, all our regrowing efforts were successful in establishing forests for future generations.

Sustainable Timber Tasmania highlights for the 2018/19 financial year included.

  • 5 million tonnes of wood produced including 116,000 cubic metres of high-quality eucalypt sawlogs and over 9,700 cubic metres of specialty timbers.
  • Over $150 million of forest product sales.
  • $53 million paid to Tasmanian harvest and haulage contractors.
  • Attended 57 bushfires with over 66,300 hours of firefighting activities.
  • Over 4,700 hectares prepared for regrowing with 160 million seeds sown on harvested areas and over 65 million seeds sown on fire impacted areas.
  • Maintained over 4,100 km of roads for forest operations and to provide access to Permanent Timber Production Zone land for multiple use.
  • Focus on People and Culture development including an inaugural employees conference, the launch of reframed values and independent recognition as an ‘Employer of Choice’.
  • Strong commitment to safety, including managing one lost time injury for staff.
  • Maintained Responsible Wood forest management certification, safety and environmental systems certification and completed an FSC® certification audit.
  • Completed 1300 hectares of fuel reduction burning and provided over 1,100 person days to other statewide fuel reduction agencies.

To download a copy visit

https://www.sttas.com.au/sites/default/files/media/documents/annual-reports/190339%20STT%20Annual%20Report%202019_WEB_1%20OCT%202019.pdf