NewsBite

Forestry

June

The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are located in the United States, along the coast of northern California.

Why we should embrace tall-tree tourism

Only 34 per cent of the world’s surviving forests are old-growth ones, and many are under threat. If California’s Redwood National Park is anything to go by, there is hope, however.

  • Ute Junker

April

Sequoia Lewien holds a mycorrhizal fungi extracted from soils in the east Otway region of Victoria.

Why Mike Cannon-Brookes invested in this mushroom

A tree-planting boom is required to get the world to net-zero, and the billionaire is betting mushrooms and fungi will be a crucial enabler

  • Peter Ker and Lap Phan

January

Workers process a log at the Dwellingup Sawmill.

Timber workers remain in the dark on first day of WA forestry ban

The West Australian native forestry industry is bracing for more job losses as a historic decision by the state to ban commercial logging takes hold.

  • Tom Rabe

December 2023

Jay Branson, owner of the Dwellingup Sawmill, sitting among some of the last commercially harvested Jarrah logs in WA.

WA’s historic timber towns brace to be dead wood

Family-owned sawmills in Western Australia’s south-west were promised a future ahead of a state ban on native forestry, but say the transition has been bungled.

  • Tom Rabe
New Forest is one of the world’s largest timber plantations owner.

Green Bank, global investors pile into $450m forestry and ag raising

The CEFC has put $75m into a new forestry and landscape fund that intends to generate a chunk of its return from carbon and renewable energy.

  • Larry Schlesinger
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October 2023

The 173,000 hectares being acquired by UniSuper and its partners is the biggest freehold land estate in Tasmania.

UniSuper buys former Gunns timber plantation in Tasmania

The superannuation giant, along with two European pension funds, will consider building wind farms after buying the biggest freehold land asset in the state.

  • Jenny Wiggins

September 2023

David Brand, founder of New Forests.

Meet the Aussies aiming to turn forests into a magic money tree

Forestry is a $156 billion asset class, and net-zero is turning it into a growth story. But the industry fears it will miss out unless it helps write the climate rule book.

  • Hans van Leeuwen

August 2023

Labor has committed to revisiting the historic 1992 Keating government forestry platform.

Labor’s green lobby demands Productivity Commission forestry review

Concerns about declining plantations, species extinctions and a need to sequester carbon have rendered a multi-decade forest system outdated, says Labor’s green lobby.

  • Jacob Greber
Old growth forest in Western Australia.

Careful harvest of native forests is key to carbon capture

There is no rational reason to shut down native forestry – and a big bonus in carbon sequestration.

  • Joel Fitzgibbon

February 2023

The so-called “green triangle” spanning South Australia and Victoria hosts sustainable forest investments.

Decarbonisation lures investors to sustainable forestry

The long-term investment fundamentals of forestry should ensure the asset class continues to shine in 2023, despite economic headwinds.

  • Dave Gardner

October 2022

Stafford Capital Partners chairman Brett Himbury can see the forest beyond the trees.

Forests turn a new leaf to emerge as a growth asset

Institutional investors are increasingly tipping money into timberland assets, either through pine plantations or environmental planting.

  • Tony Boyd

September 2022

Mark Rogers (left) and Bruce King at New Forests’ North Sydney offices.

$8.7b forestry manager turns to agriculture

Agriculture provides greater scope for growth than forestry, says New Forest Australia and New Zealand managing director Mark Rogers.

  • Larry Schlesinger

May 2022

Hume Forests, in southern NSW, has been owned by a Global Forest Partners fund since 2004.

Timberrrrrrrrrrr! Global Forests ready to unload NSW assets, Resolute hired

The forestry investment giant appears poised to harvest another big Australian asset, this time calling in advisers to sell some of its holdings in New South Wales. 

  • Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood

April 2022

CFMEU manufacturing secretary Michael O’Connor said the funding failed to immediately address the timber shortage crisis affecting the industry.

Union says Morrison’s forestry plan won’t cut it on jobs

The forestry workers’ union has slammed the Prime Minister’s plan for the sector as “doing nothing” to address its biggest challenges.

  • David Marin-Guzman, Michael Read and Tom McIlroy

February 2022

Dubbed Australia’s longest “shortcut”, the Outback Way would link Perth to Townsville with a continuous sealed highway through Australia’s centre.

Coalition’s $678m outback road plan links Perth to Townsville

It will seal vast stretches of remote dirt roads to create a 2730km link between the east and west coasts for tourism, cattle, gold and rare earths.

  • Jacob Greber
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October 2021

The blue gum plantations will be cleared by Midway in seven or eight years.

Forestry plantations near Melbourne tipped to sell for more than $20m

The Wandong Plantations about 50 kilometres north of Melbourne could yield about 37 rural residential lots in about 10 years time.

  • Larry Schlesinger

July 2021

AXA IM logs into biggest forestry deal in more than a decade

The $775 million acquisition is the first investment into Australian timber for the company, which manages plantations across France, Ireland and Finland.

  • Nick Lenaghan

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/forestry-1nr2