Southern Tablelands Farm Forestry Network |
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[Print this fact sheet - 100kb] Growing and harvesting trees for firewood is a potential farm forestry option for landholders across the Southern Tablelands. Markets for firewood collected locally exist in Canberra and Sydney. Firewood merchants are increasingly looking to source sustainably grown and harvested wood. The challenge lies with growers to successfully supply the market with a suitable product. Demand for firewood Up to 30,000 homes in Canberra use firewood as a source of heating. This translates to a conservative estimate of firewood consumption of 40,000 to 60,000 tonnes per year. Supply of firewood Firewood to the Canberra market has been traditionally supplied by local remnant stands of timber, which have been cleared for mostly grazing. These days firewood merchants in Canberra market firewood, which has been collected from sometimes more than 500km from the ACT. Many questions are being asked about the impact that this practice is having on woodland and forest ecosystems around Australia. Products The Canberra market is already responding to increasing awareness regarding sustainable firewood harvesting. Retail firewood products now available to consumers include blends of seasoned hardwood eucalypt with ACT Forests softwood residue. Canberra merchants have also indicated interest in sourcing and marketing product that has a label of certification. In this case, certification would indicate that the wood product was harvested and processed in an ecologically sustainable manner. Favoured firewood species amongst Canberra consumers include River red gum, Red box, Yellow box, other box species and Ironbark. These species have wood density properties that make them amongst the highest quality firewood species in the world. As these species are diminishing in the Southern Tablelands, it has become timely to consider alternatives. There are many alternative firewood species that grow naturally throughout the Southern Tablelands. Local trees that have more that acceptable firewood properties include Red Stringybark, Scribbly gum, Snow gum, some casuarinas and numerous wattles. The challenge lies not only in sustainable harvesting, but in engaging consumers to embrace these alternative species. Options for growing firewood 1. Managing existing stands of native timber There is more than 1.5 million hectares
of existing native forest occurring on private land in the Southern
Tablelands. Much of this area of land is accessible for small scale
firewood harvesting operations. Under new State Government legislative
reform regarding private native forests, landholders will be able
to 2. Planting firewood species Planting firewood farm forests can be conducted in many ways. Some of these ways include;
3. Direct seeding Direct seeding is a cheap and efficient method of establishing trees. Choose firewood species that are accept to the market and manage the stand as you would a plantation (thinning and pruning). Ring Greening Australia ACT & SE NSW (02 6253 3035) for direct seeding information. |