The Wood From The Trees - Issue four - processing studies informed by Green Triangle visit

Project Leaders Dr Geoff Downes and Dr Tom Baker in a ten-year-old blue gum plot that has received non-commercial thinning and pruning treatments at Rennick, in the Green Triangle (managed by Hancock Victorian Plantations Pty Ltd and Victorian Department of Primary Industries). An unthinned, unpruned plot of blue gum can be seen in the background on the right.

CRC for Forestry High Value Wood Resources scientists and industry partners visited silvicultural research trials established in the 1990s across Western Victoria and the Green Triangle in November, in a tour organized by Project 2.2 leader Tom Baker.

During the tour, CRC research was discussed with project partners and the ways in which research outcomes will be applied in practice were considered. Project Steering Committee meetings for Projects 2.2 and 2.4 were held after the tour.

The scientists inspected plantations and research trials belonging to Hancock Victorian Plantations Pty Ltd, Midway Pty Ltd, Timbercorp Ltd, Victorian Department of Primary Industries, Integrated Tree Cropping Ltd, PIRSA Forestry, Great Southern Limited and the Southern Tree Breeding Association.

With the potential use of blue gums (Eucalyptus globulus ) for  solid wood products in mind, logs were sourced for Junli Yang's study which looking at ways of non-destructively measuring branch-related defects in unpruned blue gum trees.

Silvicultural trials such as the Rennick trial shown in the picture on the left provide information about growth responses that support empirical and process-based models, and are also a great resource for studying the effects of silvicultural treatments on wood properties and processing performance.

Contact Tom Baker