Category Archives: Forests

This was found in the shed at Powelltown recently. The hammer has a brand on one side and a magnetic face on the other to pick up the metal numbered tags that are held inside the tubular magazine and then belt them into the end of logs. Google tells me that system was developed byContinue reading “Signumat log branding hammer.”

Timber pricing evolved over more than 150 years, from a rudimentary licensing system which gave unrestricted access to the forest for very little payment, through to current market pricing, involving competitive processes and mill door sales. The evolution of pricing was in four distinct phases. Licence system – this entirely inadequate scheme applied to timberContinue reading “Timber Pricing.”

The 1986 Timber industry Strategy (TIS) required hardwood sawlogs to be licenced and allocated to the highest value end use. In general, each tree harvested produces a range of wood products from high grade sawlogs through to material only suitable for pulpwood. Once felled, logs were to be crosscut in such a way as toContinue reading “Hardwood Log Grading.”

Sphagnum moss is highly absorbent and can hold up to 20 times its weight in water. It is widely used in horticulture as a soil conditioner and for growing orchids, and terrariums, as well as for lining hanging baskets. In Victoria, it was once harvested from State forests, mostly in the Central Highlands. In theContinue reading “Sphagnum Moss.”

The Forests Commission purchased two Bedford RLHS cab/chassis trucks that were imported into Australia from England in January 1959. John Phillips and Syd Bloxidge were flown to Sydney by GV Clarke Motors to drive the vehicles back to Melbourne. They were assembled as tip trucks for use on the Tamboritha Road project north of Heyfield.Continue reading “Bullnose Bedford Tanker – 1964.”

During the late 1960s, recreation and conservation on State forest was receiving greater community focus.  A key moment for the Forests Commission came in August 1970, then under the new chairmanship of Dr Frank Moulds, with the creation of the Forest Environment Branch. This initiative was a first for any Australian Forest Service, and itsContinue reading “The Living Forest – 1973.”

The first personal bushfire survival shelter in Australia was developed by the CSIRO in 1958. The main issues to overcome were protection from radiant heat, avoiding smoke and any toxic fumes from the tent materials, and being able to breath cool air. The bell-shaped tent was made of laminated aluminium foil and was tested inContinue reading “Fire Shelters.”

The idea of an Aerial Drip Torch (ADT) was first conceived in Canada in the 1970s by the legendary forester, firefighter and inventor, John Muraro. The drip torch was further developed in 1982 by the New Zealand Forest Service and became known as the Ashley Aphid Helitorch.  In February 1987, Forestry Tasmania acquired one ofContinue reading “Return of the Dragons.”

A single mountain ash log on Geoff McPhee’s truck at the FCV East Warburton checking station. 5004 super feet – Hoppus (15 m3). December 1970. Photo: Gregor Wallace collection

At many places across the State forests of the Central Highlands there were large and dense stands of silver wattle (Acacia dealbata) which had replaced the original mountain ash (E. regnans) forests because of repeated bushfires in 1926, 1932 and 1939. By the early 1970s, silvicultural knowledge had grown after the pioneering work by forestersContinue reading “Burning at Night.”

Librarian, Dr Fiannuala Morgan, recently used historical newspaper records held in Trove to reconstruct and map bushfire occurrence from 1850 to 1900. The major bushfires in colonial Victoria in 1851 and 1898 are well known but there is not much information for the periods in between. Trove holds millions of digitised pages from old newspapersContinue reading “Mapping colonial bushfires using historical newspapers.”

It’s been said many times before, that internationally, south-eastern Australia is considered one of the three most fire-prone landscapes on Earth. The other places being southern California and the southern Mediterranean. Bushfires have undoubtedly always been a feature of Australian summers. In an average year, between 600 and 1000 bushfires occur in Victoria’s National ParksContinue reading “Fire Management – 101. Eastern Victoria’s Recurring Bushfires.”

Many seasoned firefighters advocate for a return to the methods used in the 1960s and ‘70s when the Forests Commission lit small spot fires on main ridges in the back country during autumn and let them trickle down the slope and go out overnight, or in a day or two. These small, widely spaced spotContinue reading “Fire Management – 101. The case for landscape burning.”

Fuel Reduction Burning / Mosaic Burning / Landscape Burning / Asset Protection Burning / Hazard Burning / Slash Burning / Patch Burning / Ecological Burning / Back Burning / Cool Burning / Indigenous Cultural Burning… are all these terms more or less the same thing? Well… it depends on the objectives of the burn… FuelContinue reading “Fire Management – 101. Fuel Reduction Burning (FRB) – Part 2.”

Put simply – less fuel equals less fire. Reducing the overall fuel load, particularly bark fuels, together with changing near surface and elevated fuel arrangement by burning or mechanical treatments like slashing or mulching are the only large-scale techniques that forest managers have available to them of lessening bushfire behaviour. Fire weather cannot be controlled,Continue reading “Fire Management – 101. Fuel Reduction Burning (FRB) – Part 1.”

By the early 1960s, there was a growing recognition by Australian foresters of the need for large-scale controlled burning to reduce fuel loads. Alan McArthur published his landmark paper, “Controlled burning in eucalypt forests” in 1962. Leaflet No. 80 proved a turning point for forest and fire managers across Australia. It also became evident thatContinue reading “Fire Management – 101. Aerial Ignition.”

One lasting consequence of the 1939 Stretton Royal Commission was a revision of the Forest Act in 1939 which  handed the Forests Commission the additional responsibility for bushfire protection on all public land including State forests, National Parks and unoccupied Crown Lands, plus a buffer extending one mile beyond their margins onto private land. (A.K.A.Continue reading “Fire Management – 101. Fire Protected Area (FPA).”

Backburning to build or thicken a control line from a strategic fuel break, road, ridgeline or 4WD track is a common and effective dry firefighting technique, particularly in remote and rugged country. But indirect attack using backburning increases overall fire size and therefore fire perimeter. It also introduces more fire into the landscape, often underContinue reading “Fire Management – 101. Backburning.”