The proportion of rain falling in a catchment which flows across the surface rather than infiltrating the soil. A major cause of soil erosion by water.
Harvesting
In the early days of the timber industry, trees were felled from native forests using axes and hand-held cross-cut saws. It was a slow process of hard manual labour. Logs, often of very large dimensions, were dragged by teams of bullocks or horses, and rolled onto bush-trains using innovative equipment and wire ropes.
With the introduction of chainsaws in the 1960s, considerable harvesting time was saved (FEF 2008). Further progress in mechanisation saw early model tractors and tracked bulldozers used. Manpower requirements were high and accidents not uncommon.
These days harvesting is done by small teams of contractors, using modern tracked harvesting machines and rubber tyred forwarders (large articulated tractors), worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Very large trees are far fewer and still fallen manually using chainsaws, but smaller trees are more common and often mechanically felled by machines which grab them, cut them off, and lay them down.
In the 1930s, road transport started to become important for the sawmilling industry. Roads enabled fast and easy access for supervision and fire-fighting, and provided ready extraction routes for forest products. They also had a dramatic impact on the social framework of sawmilling communities. With ready road access to forests, the families of loggers and millers no longer needed to live in remote locations in the forest as they had traditionally done, but could live in townships close to hospitals, schools and other amenities.
Sawmilling
Sawmills were traditionally located within the forests, and the logs often had to be transported over long distances and difficult terrain by convict o or by bullocks. It wasn’t long though before rivers and other waterways were being used to carry forest products. Timber was also transported from the forest to the sawmill along specially constructed tramlines, first by steam-powered log haulers then by steam-powered locomotives, and finally diesel and petrol-powered locomotives (FEF 2008). These advances in technology improved the efficiency of log transport.
The first Australian sawmills consisted of little more than a power source (either a waterwheel or a steam engine) and a single saw. By the twentieth century, there had been advances in saw technology, with traditional vertical saws being replaced with circular saws and bandsaws, creating greater efficiencies and savings (FEF 2008).
Freshly milled timber needs to be dried to prevent it shrinking and warping. Timber was traditionally laid out in racks around the mills to air-dry until by the 1930s some larger sawmills had built drying kilns into which large volumes of timber could be stacked and quickly dried (FEF 2008). Today, timber is still dried in kilns.
Getting timber to markets
In 1854, the first steam railway in Australia was opened in Melbourne. This revolutionised timber transportation and enabled the fledgling sawmilling industry to move inland away from the coast. At the same time, the Australian colonies were expanding rapidly, providing new markets for timber products.
Sawmills could shift further from the coast, and those along connected roadways could move timber out using bullocks or draughthorses. Animals were eventually replaced with steam-powered engines, and then by trucks (FEF 2008). Now large trucks, often B-Doubles transport logs, sawn timber and wood chip from forest to mill to port/retailer.
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Changing technologyCompare forestry technology over time. |
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Evolution of technology and practicesRead about how forest practices and technologies have changed over time. |
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Forest PhotosDifferent photos of forestry and the industry. |
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Forestry Matters!Forestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
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History of Tasmania's forest services Part AFind out about Tasmania's forest service during early settlement, federation and WW1. |
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History of Tasmania's forest services Part BFind out about Tasmania's forest service post WW2. |
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History of Tasmania's forest services Part CFind out about Tasmania's forest modern day service |
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History of forests in South AustraliaThis factsheet talks about the history of forests, from Aborginal history through to today. |
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Forestry Matters!Forestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
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Forests then, now and tomorrow.Investigate the past and ponder the future with this activity sheet. |
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Going Bush - Forest’s role in the carbon equation - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Forest's role in the carbon equation'. Students will learn about equipment used in the field to measure carbon fluxes, and how actively growing forests store carbon and assist in climate change mitigation. They will learn how fires cause net losses of carbon to the atmosphere, and therefore the importance of active management for preventing catostrophic fires. |
To download this file
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Going Bush - Innovative ways of keeping the home fires burning - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Innovative ways of keeping the home fires burning'. Students learn how the forest industry can provide a renewable and low emision source of energy from wood waste in the form of engineered wood pellets for home heating. |
To download this file
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Going Bush - Residue from the one tree goes to make fine copy paper - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Residue from the one tree goes to make fine copy paper'. This video highlights the efficiency of modern forestry whereby all parts of the harvested tree are used in various applications. Low grade wood waste is used to make high value fine copy paper seen everyday in school printers and offices. Wood residues can also be used for renewable energy production. |
To download this file
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Going Bush - South Australia's pine tree experts - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video examining the development of pine tree plantations in South Australia. Planations have helped overcome a lack of supply from native forests particularly in markets that use softwoods, including small diameter sawlogs, pulp and veneer. Students get to see 'fella buncher' harvesting machines in action, and use of high technology techniques for locating, measuring and grading wood, such as GPS and LiDAR. |
To download this file
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Going Bush - Tracing the power poles back to North East Tasmania's forests - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with samples answers to accompany the 'Going Bush' video looking at the origin of wooden power poles in North East Tasmanian forests. Selection features of native forest trees are examined, as well as the process of seasoning the preserving power poles. |
To download this file
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Going Bush - Value adding - Worksheet & answersWorksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Value adding'. When trees are harvested, various parts of the tree are graded for different end uses and various value adding processing then follows. Further, technological advances have helped mechanise harvesting and processing operations to increase efficiency in the value adding chain. On the other hand, tree replanting is conducted after harvest to ensure forests regenerate for future generations. |
To download this file
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Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and ConstructionStudents will learn about the different types of manufactured wood products and about innovative techniques to produce manufactured wood products. After watching the video lesson they will be able to answer questions on the lesson titled “Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and Construction Q&A" |
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Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and Construction - Q&AStudents will learn about the different types of manufactured wood products and about innovative techniques to produce manufactured wood products. After watching the video lesson titled “Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and Construction" they will be able to answer these questions. |
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Make the linksA safe forest visit means being aware and planning ahead. This activity encourages making the links with forest safety. |
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Planet Ark - Schools Tree dayEach year in July, around 2500 schools across Australia take part in Schools Tree Day. Students nation-wide have learnt how to plant, and care for the seedlings they grow. Become involved. |
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Sustaining forestsSee how decisions affect the forest over 100 years. |
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Use Geographical Information Systems sustainable forestryStudents will learn about Geographical Information Systems and how they can be used in forestry. After watching the video lesson titled “Use of Geographical Information Systems in sustainable forestry" students should answer the questions on the question sheet titled the same name. |
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Use of Geographical Information Systems in sustainable forestry - Q&A'sStudents will learn about Geographical Information Systems and how they can be used in forestry. They will answer these questions after watching the video lesson titled “Use of Geographical Information Systems in sustainable forestry” |
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Wild Forest Adventure Activity BookWild Forest Adventure is an activity based companion booklet especially designed for use with the Forests NSW website. |
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Wild Forest Adventure online gameThe Wild Forest Adventure section has been especially designed for students, to provide interesting and relevant information about the forest environment, in a stimulating and fun way. |
To view this link
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Forestry Matters! websiteForestry matters! is a free, comprehensive education resource that provides teachers with relevant, up-to-date information about South Australia’s forests. |
To view this link
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Going Bush - Forest's role in the carbon equationThe boys talk to a trio of carbon specialists about the part forests and its products can play in the fight against global warming. They see how it’s measured in Victoria’s Wombat Forest and hear how storage of carbon in forests should be compared to a dam, with inputs from growing trees and regular withdrawals especially for timber to replace fossil-fuel intensive materials, rather than simply locked away. |
To watch this video |
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Planet Ark - Schools Tree dayEach year in July, around 2500 schools across Australia take part in Schools Tree Day. Students nation-wide have learnt how to plant, and care for the seedlings they grow. Become involved. |
To view this link
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Trees from thin air!A cartoon by Stuart McMillan that provides rich illustrations and an interesting angle on how trees grow and naturally engineer vertial structures using thin air as building material. It provides data on the chemical composition of wood and discusses how trees only use raw materials that they need compared to human industry that creates alot of waste, demonstrating the efficiency and resourcefulness of nature and how we can learn from it. |
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Use Geographical Information Systems sustainable forestryStudents will learn about Geographical Information Systems and how they can be used in forestry. After watching the video lesson titled “Use of Geographical Information Systems in sustainable forestry" students should answer the questions on the question sheet titled the same name. |
To watch this video |
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Forest management goes high techJoin remote sensing specialist Dr Russell Turner as he talks about LIDAR technology in forests. |
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Going Bush - A Northern NSW timber family answering the industry’s challengesMeet a tight-knit timber family from northern New South Wales, which has responded to the vagaries of the forestry industry by getting bigger when the option was to get out and vertically integrating their operation so that in years to come a significant share of their resource will be harvested from their own plantations. |
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Going Bush - Innovative ways of keeping the home fires burningWe investigate the future of timber production . not using a crystal ball but armed with Forestry Tasmania's Innovation Plan. The on-going challenge of getting more from less has Forestry Tasmania looking further into maximising returns from its resource by increasing recovery rates from logs and investigating a range of new engineered timber products and rayon production for clothing. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - South Australia’s pine tree expertsSoftwood plantations have become a staple of the forestry industry and South Australians say no-one does it better than them … They’ve had plenty of practice having started growing radiata pines 130 years ago. |
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Going Bush - A timber product for the future from an antique Newcastle factoryWe visit a factory near Newcastle that looks as ominous as a horror movie set … and that’s just what it doubled as for the filming of Tomorrow when the war began a few years back. But from this archaic looking mill comes an all-natural cladding product fit for the 21st century. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Forest's role in the carbon equationThe boys talk to a trio of carbon specialists about the part forests and its products can play in the fight against global warming. They see how it’s measured in Victoria’s Wombat Forest and hear how storage of carbon in forests should be compared to a dam, with inputs from growing trees and regular withdrawals especially for timber to replace fossil-fuel intensive materials, rather than simply locked away. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Forest’s role in the carbon equation - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Forest's role in the carbon equation'. Students will learn about equipment used in the field to measure carbon fluxes, and how actively growing forests store carbon and assist in climate change mitigation. They will learn how fires cause net losses of carbon to the atmosphere, and therefore the importance of active management for preventing catostrophic fires. |
To download this file
|
|
|
Going Bush - Innovative ways of keeping the home fires burning - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Innovative ways of keeping the home fires burning'. Students learn how the forest industry can provide a renewable and low emision source of energy from wood waste in the form of engineered wood pellets for home heating. |
To download this file
|
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Going Bush - Latrobe Valley environment benefits from factory upgradeAt Australia’s biggest paper mill and only office paper maker in Victoria’s LaTrobe valley everything is on a BIG scale. Andrew and Nick discover that flows through to Australian Paper’s approach to environmental improvement. As part of a $600 million plant overhaul the company not only introduced a bigger proportion of recycled material into production lines but dramatically improved its standard and quantity of effluent and through co-generation produces more than enough electricity to power the plant. |
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Going Bush - Neville SmithNick and Andy take a look at some of the technology Neville-Smith adopt, and how the choice to keep investing in tough times has affected the business. |
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Going Bush - New Forest Technology Part 1Nick and Andrew head to Victoria's Central Highlands to discover how technology has changed the way timber inventory is managed in and out of the forest. |
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Going Bush - New Forest Technology Part 2Nick and Andrew look further into new technologies in the Forest, and discover "The Optimiser" among other new forest hardware. They also discover how technology is helping to keep our foresters safe. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Planning for innovation in Tasmanian forest productsWe investigate the future of timber production not using a crystal ball but armed with Forestry Tasmania's Innovation Plan. The on-going challenge of getting more from less has Forestry Tasmania looking further into maximising returns from its resource by increasing recovery rates from logs and investigating a range of new engineered timber products and rayon production for clothing. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Residue from the one tree goes to make fine copy paper - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Residue from the one tree goes to make fine copy paper'. This video highlights the efficiency of modern forestry whereby all parts of the harvested tree are used in various applications. Low grade wood waste is used to make high value fine copy paper seen everyday in school printers and offices. Wood residues can also be used for renewable energy production. |
To download this file
|
|
|
Going Bush - South Australia's pine tree experts - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video examining the development of pine tree plantations in South Australia. Planations have helped overcome a lack of supply from native forests particularly in markets that use softwoods, including small diameter sawlogs, pulp and veneer. Students get to see 'fella buncher' harvesting machines in action, and use of high technology techniques for locating, measuring and grading wood, such as GPS and LiDAR. |
To download this file
|
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Going Bush - The journey to a safer workplace in Tassie forestsWe visit a Tasmanian harvesting operation to see the massive improvements in bush safety. Forestry Tasmania some time ago now set about changing the safety culture both for its own workforce and contractors with dramatic results, which are demonstrated at an awards day where top performers are rewarded. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Tracing the power poles back to North East Tasmania's forests - Worksheet & answersStudent worksheet with samples answers to accompany the 'Going Bush' video looking at the origin of wooden power poles in North East Tasmanian forests. Selection features of native forest trees are examined, as well as the process of seasoning the preserving power poles. |
To download this file
|
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Going Bush - Tracing the power poles back to North East Tasmania’s forestsYou see them along the roadside throughout the land and they’re an easy fallback for long road trip games of I spy with my little eye … PP? Power poles of course. We go bush to find where the tallest and straightest trees grow and how they’re handled with kid gloves to provide the poles to carry electricity cables. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Value addingThis series of 'Going Bush' presents valuable information on value adding to our native forest resource from harvesting, through processing the various grades of saw logs and defect wood, to end uses in high value flooring and furniture, and low value pulp wood and waste for paper and electricity production. It highlights the valuable contribution the native forest industry makes to supplying hardwood solid timbers in Australia, and the importance of sustaining this industry into the future. |
To watch this video |
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Going Bush - Value adding - Worksheet & answersWorksheet with sample answers to accompany the Going Bush video 'Value adding'. When trees are harvested, various parts of the tree are graded for different end uses and various value adding processing then follows. Further, technological advances have helped mechanise harvesting and processing operations to increase efficiency in the value adding chain. On the other hand, tree replanting is conducted after harvest to ensure forests regenerate for future generations. |
To download this file
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Going Bush- DronesNick and Andy have come to check out how Forestry Tasmania is testing remote controlled drones to map the forest and it's content. |
To watch this video |
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Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and ConstructionStudents will learn about the different types of manufactured wood products and about innovative techniques to produce manufactured wood products. After watching the video lesson they will be able to answer questions on the lesson titled “Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and Construction Q&A" |
To watch this video |
|
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Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and Construction - Q&AStudents will learn about the different types of manufactured wood products and about innovative techniques to produce manufactured wood products. After watching the video lesson titled “Innovation in Manufactured Wood Products and Construction" they will be able to answer these questions. |
To download this file
|
|
|
Use Geographical Information Systems sustainable forestryStudents will learn about Geographical Information Systems and how they can be used in forestry. After watching the video lesson titled “Use of Geographical Information Systems in sustainable forestry" students should answer the questions on the question sheet titled the same name. |
To watch this video |
|
|
Use of Geographical Information Systems in sustainable forestry - Q&A'sStudents will learn about Geographical Information Systems and how they can be used in forestry. They will answer these questions after watching the video lesson titled “Use of Geographical Information Systems in sustainable forestry” |
To download this file
|
|
|
Wild Forest Adventure online gameThe Wild Forest Adventure section has been especially designed for students, to provide interesting and relevant information about the forest environment, in a stimulating and fun way. |
To view this link
|
 |
Forest management in Tasmania - The truthReport highlighting the management of Tasmanian forests for multiple values, supported by a commitment to sustainable charter and certification process for harvested timber. |
To download this file
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