Welcome and introduction
Welcome to the first newsletter of the CRC for Forestry’s
Research Programme Three, Harvesting and Operations.
Our newsletters are produced to give team members across a very
broad geographical region an opportunity to get to know one another
and the activities that are being conducted within (and sometimes
external to) the research programme; to keep you up to date with
research progress; and to advise you of workshops, training
sessions and other activities that may be of interest to you. You
are invited to contribute to this process when you come across
things worth sharing and, importantly, we invite you to provide
feedback on the newsletters when they do or don’t meet your
needs and how they could be improved. We see this two way process
as an important communications tool.
The Harvesting and Operations team is proud to
have achieved three significant milestones recently:
- Our new Programme Leader Mark Brown (see profile below) has
arrived and is settling in to his home in Ballarat, Victoria, and
office at the Creswick Campus of the University of Melbourne
- Programme Advisor Loren Kellogg has settled into Hobart,
Tasmania and the CRC Forestry office until January 2008; he will
move to Victoria in January and have an office at the Creswick
campus until July 2008.
- We have commenced and made good progress with our first
significant field trial in Eden, New South Wales (see article
below).
Mark’s first task was to finalise research documentation.
In doing so, he has drawn together all the valuable input received
from our industry partners and has drafted a strategic plan for the
programme that he can now share with you (see link below).
As you are all aware, despite all the best intentions of all
those involved, Harvesting and Operations had a rocky start. I
doubt that anyone anticipated the difficulty we have had in filling
our research scientist positions and good research can’t be
done without good scientists. Despite our rocky start and our
continued efforts to fill the position in WA, the Harvesting and
Operations team is now well positioned to start making a valuable
contribution to this important research area in Australia with
direct benefits accruing to our industry partners in particular,
and the Australian forest industry in general.
Thank you for you support and patience so far and we look
forward to a productive association with you in the future.
Tom Fisk
Meet the Harvesting and Operations research team:
 Tom Fisk, Executive Programme
Manager
Mark Brown, Programme Leader
Leon Bren, Associate Professor
Loren Kellogg, Professor and Programme Three Advisor
Martin Strandgard, Research Fellow
Mauricio Acuna, Research Fellow
Profile: Mark Brown, Programme Leader
 New Programme Leader Mark Brown was
professionally trained as a forest engineer and brings recent
experience as a programme leader in transportation systems with the
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.[read more]
Industry commentary
by Darrell Clark
Chair, Harvesting and Operations
Programme Coordinating Committee; Gunns Limited
 With the plantation estates
continuing to expand, driving an increased demand for
mechanisation, the timing of this new programme could not be
better. Engagement with industry has been identified as a key
issue. The CRC's engagement with industry is fostering strong
two-way communication.[read more]
Strategic plan for Programme Three
The mission of Programme Three is to innovate and develop
harvesting and operations with new knowledge, work methods,
technology and tools through sound and practical research; and
assist the Australian forest sector in its implementation to
improve the safety, efficiency, effectiveness, environmental impact
and overall competitiveness of their operations. Research and
implementation is grouped into the following six focus areas:
- Harvesting technology and equipment
- Harvesting systems, planning and procedures
- Value recovery and waste reduction
- Workforce management and training
- Transportation technology and equipment
- Transportation systems, planning and logistics
[read
more]
Native forest regrowth thinning research
With a growing trend toward a significantly greater proportion
of native forest regrowth thinning in many forested regions
throughout Australia, Research Fellow Mauricio Acuna’s
regrowth thinning, harvesting productivity and cost study in the
Eden area of New South Wales is particularly relevant.[read more]
Harvesting workshops for the forest industry -
“Coupe/compartment level harvest planning skill
development”
December, 2007
Loren Kellogg has developed a series of harvest planning
workshops that will be presented with Oregon State University
colleague John Sessions, and offered in Tasmania, Western Australia
and South Australia. A cable logging workshop will also be
offered in Tasmania only.
The workshops will cover relevant topics that will contribute to
skills development for harvesting planners, establishment foresters
and conservation planners that are working in pine or eucalyptus
plantations, or native forest regrowth thinning. The
workshops are also relevant for logging supervisors, and
contractors working in either plantations or native forests.
Each workshop is either one or two days in duration and has been
designed to minimise participant travel and time away from the
job. Early registration is open until 28 November.
Download the information sheets:
Harvest
planning workshop - December 2007
Cable
logging workshop 7 December 2007
Research technical report summaries
A number of draft consultancy reports were completed during the
first year of the programme. We are working on highlighting the
results and disseminating this information through future technical
reports, websites or newsletters for greater awareness and
potential follow-up applications of this relevant work that has
been completed to date. To view a list of the reports produced so
far, and a summary of Technical Report No. 165 (“Growth in
blue gum forest harvesting and haulage requirements in the Green
Triangle 2007–2020”) click
here
Programme Three in the field
The Programme Three research team has been busy meeting with
members, planning field trials and new workshops; conducting
harvesting productivity studies, and other activities. Find out more by
viewing some photos
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