THE collection of firewood is destroying Australia鈥檚 native forests and
putting bird species at risk, wildlife ecologists told a recent conference in
Victoria. But, with some alteration in government policy, wood use can easily be
made sustainable by using the waste from harvesting pine trees, establishing
eucalypt plantations, and building more efficient wood heaters.
The Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) became concerned about the
effects on wildlife of using box ironbark for heating. So it convened the
conference in Bendigo on the future of firewood. The VNPA estimates that about
six million tonnes of ironbark is burned each year in southeastern Australia. It
is especially popular because its dense timber provides more heat energy per
unit volume than most other species.
Nowadays about 85 per cent of fallen timber is removed for firewood,
ecologist Barry Traill told the conference, and with it goes habitat for
insects, reptiles, ground-feeding mammals and birds. Firewood cutters tend to
target dead or mature trees. But these old trees provide hollows for the nests
of possums, parrots, bats and other wildlife. Dead trees also provide foraging
sites for insects and insect-eating mammals like the brush-tailed phascogale or
tuan.
Advertisement
Not all at the conference was gloom and doom, however. An ACT wood merchant
told the conference of a successful initiative called Eco Loads, where 25 per
cent plantation pine is mixed with boxwood. In the three years since her
company, Woodstock Firewood, has offered the mix, Julie Hayes says sales of the
product have grown to 35 per cent of the business. Eco Loads is consistent with
the ACT government鈥檚 code of practice, designed in part to protect the remaining
woodland around Canberra. Unfortunately, the code is voluntary, and has been
adopted by only three of the 24 wood merchants who advertise in the local Yellow
Pages.
All present wood heating needs could be met from the residues left behind
when pines are cut, conservationists Linda Parlane and Judy Clark told the
conference. 鈥淥ur first, very conservative estimate, suggests that between 7.5
and 10.1 million tonnes of firewood could be harvested from wood that is
currently wasted in softwood plantations in Australia鈥檚 cooler regions,鈥� Parlane
said. That鈥檚 more than the total current demand for firewood.
Another option is to plant rapidly growing eucalypts. If carbon
credits鈥攃ompensation for growing trees to offset greenhouse gas
emissions鈥攂ecome available under the Kyoto treaty on climate change, the
planting of trees will be economically attractive. Roger Holloway of Victorian
company Tree Bank Carbon Services said his calculations showed that sugar gum
grown for firewood in 15-year rotations would be profitable in low-rainfall
areas. At present prices, net returns of about A$90 to A$150
million could be generated using only 15 per cent of the available cleared
land.
AN innovative scheme to turn chicken litter into energy caught my eye in the
June newsletter of the Federal government鈥檚 Biomass Taskforce. West Australian
Consolidated Power has signed an agreement to buy the entire 10-Megawatt output
from a poo-power station. By processing the 100 000 tonnes of litter produced
each year by the state鈥檚 chicken industry, the power station will be removing a
significant health hazard as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about
70 000 tonnes. It鈥檚 a great example of turning a problem into a commercial
opportunity, made possible by Western Australia鈥檚 green energy policy.
AN Olympic competition with a difference was described at last week鈥檚 Science
in the Pub in Sydney. Ray Kaslauskas and Graham Trout of the Australian Sports
Drug Testing Laboratory in Canberra described the Herculean race between the
researchers who develop drug-detection technology and the innovative scientists
who help athletes and swimmers to conceal any chemical assistance. The chance of
a clean Games rests in their labs.