In Tasmania there are several forest research organisations. The headquarters of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Production Forestry is located in Hobart. This is a collaborative venture between major Australian forestry companies, CSIRO, State Governments and universities supported by the Commonwealth Government. The centre conducts research and education programs for those in the business of growing trees. Efforts are focused in three main areas: genetic improvement, sustainable management and resource protection.
CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products has a research centre in Tasmania and Forestry Tasmania has a large research division. The Forests and Forest Industry Council of Tasmania also plays a role in research support.
The Warra Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site is situated in the Southern Forests of Tasmania. It is a sister site to dozens of LTER sites across the world and provides an experimental research base to underpin forest management for conservation and sustainable wood production.
Trials by Forestry Tasmania, and an increasing number by other agencies and individuals, at Warra included:
- testing sivicultural alternatives to clearfelling in wet Stringy-bark (Eucalyptus obliqua) forests;
- analysing the effects of sivicultural practices on mosses, lichens, invertebrates and other organisms;
- developing sustainability indicators for soils and water;
- conserving decaying log habitats; and
- understanding social perceptions of forestry activities at the Warra site.
Other native forests research included economic evaluation of thinning regimes in regrowth eucalypt forests, and development of methods for producing fast-growing blackwood within eucalypt coupes.
Eucalypt plantations were also a major research focus for Forestry Tasmania. Projects included refining the methods for selecting suitable plantation sites, developing fertiliser prescriptions, and establishing seed orchards for high-quality genetic material for future plantations.
FORESTRY TASMANIA, FOREST RESEARCH FUNDING |
|
 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 |
|
$'000
|
$'000
|
|
| University of Tasmania | 16 | 16 |
| University of Melbourne | 10 | 10 |
| Forest Practices Board (class 4 streams) | 30 | 25 |
| Forest Education Foundation | 173 | 146 |
| Warra LTER projects | 9 | 15 |
| CSIRO Spot Fires Project | 32 | - |
|
| Source: Forestry Tasmania, Annual Report 2002-2003. |
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