Thank you to our Sponsors

Thank you to the below organisations for their support of the Forestry Australia 2021 National Conference.

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment represents interests across agriculture, water and the environment and is a large and diverse portfolio. This includes agencies, statutory and non-statutory bodies, independent advisors and industry representatives. We have 5 ministers across the portfolio.

• Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia—The Hon David Littleproud MP
• Minister for the Environment—The Hon Sussan Ley MP
• Minister for Resources and Water – The Hon Keith Pitt MP
• Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management
  —The Hon Trevor Evans MP
• Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries—Senator the Hon Jonathon Duniam

What we do is defined by our purpose, objective, priorities, and values. Collectively they set the foundation for our strategic direction for forward years. It provides clarity on who we are, what we are here to do, and how we work together and with our stakeholders, governments, and the public to achieve our objectives.
Our purpose is enhancing Australia’s agriculture, environment, heritage and water resources through regulation and partnership.

Further information on our objectives and key areas of focus, as well as the Future Department Blueprint can be found at https://www.awe.gov.au/about/what-we-do.

Forico is more than Tasmania’s largest plantation forest and supply chain manager.

Forico continue to challenge the status quo and create value from the unique assets under management. So, whilst we are refining our conventional fibre assets and supply chain, we are also leading the charge on new initiatives

• Natural capital accounting – we know we cannot manage what we cannot measure. Environmental services are important to Forico, and we are leading the charge on sophisticated systems to demonstrate value and create new markets.
• Climate change – we consider that we have a strong role to play in a changing climate. We are focused on optimising our approach to assets that mitigates risk, as well as recognising our leadership role as part of the solution at a global scale.
• Carbon neutrality and trading – we understand the carbon value of our enterprise, and we recognise the mandate to deliver on it.
• Renewable energy – we are exploring new ways of harnessing energy from the forests we manage. This includes wind energy infrastructure, as well and embedded energy from our harvest residues.

At the end of the day, Forico seeks to add value, develop a culture of knowledge and innovation, and maintain industry leadership.

Midway is a leading company in the Australian forestry sector and is Australia’s largest high quality woodfibre processor exporting to producers of pulp, paper and associated products in China and Japan.

Founded in 1980, Midway wholly owns or is a majority shareholder in strategic processing and export facilities in Geelong, Portland and Brisbane. Overall, Midway sells six woodfibre products from five export facilities (including Tasmania and Tiwi Islands) with a combined processing and export capacity of over 5.0 million GMT per annum. Since commencing exports in 1986 Midway has exported over 30 million GMT.

Midway owns significant areas of freehold plantation land in Victoria and through its subsidiary Plantation Management Partners, provides exclusive forestry management services to the 30,000 hectare Tiwi Islands’ forestry plantation project in Northern Australia.

Midway engages contractors to harvest and haul timber to processing sites, including company owned mills and to third party facilities. In 2018 Midway expanded to provide harvesting, haulage, processing and materials handling services directly to plantation owners through its investment in Midway Logistics, a wood fibre and biomass harvesting, processing and logistics business in southwest WA.

VicForests is a State-owned business managing the harvest, sale, and regrowing of sustainable timber from Victorian state forests on behalf of the Victorian Government.

It’s important to us that anyone who buys timber products harvested by VicForests can be secure in the knowledge that it has been harvested responsibly, sustainably and with care and respect for our forests.

Our “tree to table” story is social, economic and environmental.

We are proud of the way we harvest, sell and regrow sustainable timber, while ensuring that protecting our precious wildlife in our native forests is central to everything we do.

The products made from the wood we sell have a unique hardness, strength, durability and beauty that only slow grown native hardwood timber can produce.
Each year we harvest around 3000 hectares, or 0.04% of Victoria’s native forests.

Before any harvesting we conduct extensive flora, fauna and habitat surveys which tell us which prescriptions are needed to protect important environmental and cultural values, including retaining hollow-bearing trees to protect species that live and dwell within them.

Forest regeneration is essential to our work and values. We replant harvested areas with the same type of forest that was originally there for the future enjoyment of generations to come.

Our harvesting and regeneration story is underpinned by our passionate biodiversity scientists and forestry experts.

New Forests is a global investment manager offering high-impact strategies in sustainable forestry and related sectors, with A$6 billion in assets under management across 1 million hectares (2.4 million acres) of investments. New Forests’ investment portfolio consists of sustainable forest plantations, areas of natural forest conservation, carbon projects, rural land and row-cropping, and timber processing.

New Forests’ vision is to see the forest sector as a key sector in the transition to a sustainable future. To achieve this vision, New Forests’ investment strategies support the role of forests as nature-based climate solutions, provide sustainable timber for the growing circular bioeconomy, and contribute to the sustainable development of regional economies and rural communities. New Forests is a Certified B Corp and operates in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the United States.

To learn more please visit: newforests.com.au

Forestry Corporation of NSW manages environmental conservation, tourism, fire and renewable timber production in around two million hectares of public State forests.

We manage multiple-use native forests, as well as NSW’s largest plantation estate comprising approximately 230,000 hectares of softwood timber plantations and 35,000 hectares of hardwood timber plantations.

We manage a million hectares of high value forests permanently set aside for conservation, partner with Aboriginal communities to manage and protect cultural heritage, maintain free visitor areas, manage fire, control pests and weeds and facilitate access for primary industries including apiary, grazing and quarrying.

We also sustainably produce renewable hardwood and softwood timber products, meeting the community’s demand for timber and wood products and supporting regional employment.

Our forest management is independently certified to the Australian Standard for Sustainable Forest Management and our operations underpin a vital and vibrant renewable timber industry in regional NSW.

Forest and Wood Products Australia Limited (FWPA) is a not-for-profit services company – sometimes referred to as an RDC (Rural Research and Development Corporation) – funded by the Federal government, member levies and research grant to provide national, integrated research and development services to the Australian forest and wood products industry.

We are committed to helping the forest and wood products industry to be collaborative, innovative, sustainable and competitive against other industries and products available in the marketplace.

Supporting Innovation and Sustainability
We support research and development that promotes internationally competitive and environmentally sustainable practices. We promote activities that enhance employment opportunities and contribute to growing Australia’s reputation as an innovative producer of high-quality forest and wood products.

Our Mission
FWPA collaborates with government and industry stakeholders to determine strategy and deliver programs designed to grow the market for forest and wood products, increase productivity and profitability across the value chain, and ensure positive environmental and social outcomes.

At OneFortyOne we’re dedicated to the ultimate renewable – timber.

Our forests and mills in Australia and New Zealand produce wood products that are used daily.

OneFortyOne harvests and plants millions of trees every year. These millions of trees form our 175,900 ha of forests, including thousands of hectares of conservation land that significant species of plants and animals call home. Our forests also contain important historical and cultural sites as well as artefacts that we are committed to protecting.

Our Jubilee and Kaituna sawmills manufacture timber products such as structural timber, decking and posts, which are used to build homes, fences, vigneron posts and even chicken coops.

OneFortyOne operations are an integral part of our communities. We are major employers in the regions we work and we’re proud to invest in supporting our local environment and local people.

Sustainable Timber Tasmania is a Tasmanian Government Business Enterprise responsible for sustainably managing approximately 812,000 hectares of public production forest (Permanent Timber Production Zone land).

Our people work in a variety of forest management areas across Tasmania, including regeneration, firefighting, work health and safety, conservation, certification, research, forest health, planning, harvesting, finance, administration, stakeholder engagement, communications, information technology, natural capital, geographic information systems, land management, project management and people and culture.

Sustainable Timber Tasmania’s core objectives are to efficiently and effectively make available agreed wood volumes and other services to our customers; professionally manage public production forests to maintain wood resource and other environmental, cultural and economic values; for our people and contractors to go home safe and well every day; and to achieve and maintain financial sustainability.

There has never been a better time to plant trees.

Private Forests Tasmania is a government authority with a legislated role to facilitate and expand the development of the private forest resource in a manner which is consistent with sound forest and land management practices.

Tree Alliance is a marketing campaign run by Private Forest Tasmania.

The campaign aims to raise awareness of farm forestry and the benefits of trees on farms, and to encourage and facilitate farmers to plant commercially viable trees in the agricultural landscape.

Our treety: to grow our future economy and ecology through trees.

Planting trees in the right place on farms with the intention of harvesting and replanting is a win-win for the environment, society and landowners.

Trees can deliver increased primary production productivity while simultaneously growing high value timber products, delivering biofuel, improving water quality and efficiency, and improving the carbon balance.

Trees also protect the land for future generations while growing high value products. Trees and farmers will grow the future.

There has never been a better time to plant trees.

Conference Dinner Sponsor

Esk Mapping are spatial information specialists for the forestry industry. Noticing a gap in the market for an easy-to-operate system that manages resources, assets and operations of your forestry business, they set out to develop their own product.

Introducing SPARQS. A software platform designed to change how your forestry business operates.

With a range of features including; intuitive map-centric workflows, detailed historical data to help make future business decisions and location and layer management for storing data. Plus, it will help make your business more scalable with 24/7 access from any device that is connected to the internet.

Women in Forestry Breakfast & Session Sponsor

HQPlantations – Growing for generations
Managing productive, healthy forests in a sustainable way is at the heart of everything we do and is critical to our long term success.

We conduct our business with this in mind – everyone, from our ethical investors to our passionate employees, valued customers and contractor partners, is committed to our vision to create and sustain plantation value and security for generations.

This vision is built on seven strategic pillars – a safe workplace, one HQPlantations culture, innovation, business excellence, resource endurance, sustainable cash flows, with a focus on environment and communities to maintain our social licence to operate and manage our landscape with integrity.

FFI Function Sponsor

Southern Cross University is powered by passion. We are surrounded by ambitious students, amazing and dedicated colleagues and environments of stunning natural beauty. Our campuses, on the Gold Coast across the road from Kirra Beach, at Lismore in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and in picturesque Coffs Harbour, are the envy of Australia. Southern Cross is deeply connected to its regions and demonstrates that world-class research, teaching and learning thrives outside metropolitan centres. We create and apply knowledge in partnership with our communities in fields that are regionally relevant and globally significant. We are a world-ranked university, but the greatest measures of our success are the careers we have fostered among more than 70,000 alumni, who live and work in 120 countries around the world.

Plenary Sponsor

Indufor is a specialist forest sector consulting group with global operations. We provide independent, robust advice to a broad range of public sector and private sector clients worldwide. We advise clients on resource management and key strategic issues, based on deep sectoral expertise and analytical rigour. Indufor Oy was established in Finland in 1980. Today, Indufor is an international consulting company with offices in Helsinki, Melbourne, Auckland and Washington DC, with a global team of over 50 staff. Further information is available on our website: www.induforgroup.com

Satchel Sponsor

From humble beginnings, 20 years ago, Technical Forest Services has grown to become a trusted independent advisor on all aspects of silviculture, right across the growing cycle, and across all forest types. Bringing an enviable mix of practical forest management experience, and staff with tertiary backgrounds in forestry, science, geology and environmental management, we are an agile and productive team.

Our operations and personnel now extend across TAS, VIC, SA, NSW, and QLD. We are able to tailor services to meet your needs at all levels of involvement, from full project design and oversight through to the provision of personnel.

Session Sponsor

The Forest Practices Authority manages the Tasmanian forest practices system on both public and private land, based on the Forest Practices Act 1985. We operate independently, alongside government and private businesses, to regulate forest practices and land clearing.

The system operates through co-regulation with the forest industry, training, planning, advice, and continual improvement through adaptive management.

Our organisation includes:
• the Chief Forest Practices Officer and a staff of around 20
• an independent board
• the Forest Practices Advisory Council
• around 150 Forest Practices Officers, authorised by the FPA and employed in the forestry sector.

More information: www.fpa.tas.gov.au

Session Sponsor

Responsible Wood (the Australian Forestry Standard Ltd) is a not-for-profit standards development organisation, established to develop the Responsible Wood Certification Scheme (previously known as the Australian Forest Certification Scheme). The scheme is underpinned by two Australian Standards® – Forest Management (AS 4708) and Chain of Custody (AS 4707) – which provide guidance and accountability to forest managers, manufacturers and suppliers. They protect and promote Australia’s unique environments by ensuring a forestry industry that is environmentally, economically, socially and culturally sustainable.

In 2004, Responsible Wood (then known as the Australian Forestry Standard) joined the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the global authority on sustainable forest management. Along with Chile, Australia became the first non-European certification system to be endorsed by the PEFC.

Responsible Wood-certification is carried by more than 90% of Australia’s commercial forestry, along with 300 chain-of-custody businesses in the forest products value chain and is the ultimate trust mark for Australian grown, Australian made timber and paper based products.

Hand Sanitiser Sponsor

Tasmanian Hand Sanitiser originated as an idea between two Tasmanian Pharmacists in early 2020. Born and bred in the north of the state, Matthew Will and Martin Quinn wanted to manufacture a pharmaceutical grade product using local suppliers. To assist setting up a local distribution network the pair brought Tasmanian businessman Charles Beaumont on board. Together the three formed M2 Logistics, based in Launceston, which now co-ordinates manufacture and supply of Tasmanian Hand Sanitiser to the local and national market.

Since March 2020 the team have co-ordinated manufacture and distribution of over 80,000L of medical grade Hand Sanitiser. In addition to this they also provide a wide range of cleaning and sanitation products as well as PPE. They continue to expand their service to meet the needs of customers all over Australia. Clients include the Tasmanian Government, Australian Antarctic Division, TT-Line, University of Tasmania and numerous sporting clubs and organisations as well as businesses all over Australia.