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Programme two newsletter - The Wood From The Trees - Issue one

Newsletter of the High-Value Wood Resources
research programme of the C­RC for Forestry

ISSUE ONE: DECEMBER 2005

From the Programme Manager
Dr Chris Harwood

Season's greetings everyone! Best wishes for an enjoyable holiday break, and I hope we all return refreshed and ready for a great year of research and development. My thanks to all who have helped to develop our programme thus far.

Since my last update sent on October 31, you will be aware that CRC funds have started to flow and the research projects are now getting under way. Detailed plans and budgets for the first experimental studies are being developed by the research providers in consultation with those industrial partners who manage relevant field trials and tree populations.

We are now formally setting up the Project Steering Committees (PSCs) and Programme Co-ordination Committee (see below). PSCs will need to approve the detailed experimental plans early in the new year.

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Programme committees and their roles

It is now necessary to formally constitute these committees for Programme Two. The CRCF Board has endorsed the following guidelines on the roles of these committees. Read more on the CRC for Forestry members' website*.

*only members of the CRC for Forestry will be able to download this document. Members will need to register for access to the members' website.

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Provisional membership of committees for Research Programme Two

To get things started, I have formulated provisional initial memberships of the committees as follows, based upon the listed project participants and their likely active participation in the projects, and availability of individuals. Read more on the CRC for Forestry members' website*.

We will lodge concise written minutes of the committee meetings as they occur, on the relevant project and programme pages of the CRCF members' website.

*only members of the CRC for Forestry will be able to download this document. Members will need to register for access to the members' website.

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What's on

Several CRC people made presentations at the recent International Conference on Plantation Eucalyptus: Challenge in Product Development (November 28 - December 1) at Zhaniang, China. You can access the slide presentations here.

On the CRC for Forestry members' website (under the RP2 group) I have posted an interesting review paper that Ryde James co-authored for FAO, titled "The potential for fast-growing commercial forest plantations to supply high value roundwood".

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Project news

Welcome to post-doctoral researchers and students

  • Melbourne University has recruited a post-doctoral position for the molecular genetics studies of E. globulus in Project 2.1 and should be able to announce the successful candidate shortly.
  • Dr Jane Medhurst has commenced a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Tasmania, studying Forestry Tasmania's silvicultural trials of E. nitens for Project 2.2.
  • Phil Alcorn is a PhD student supervised by Ryde James at the Australian National University working on the response of plantation-grown subtropical eucalypt species to thinning and pruning, in collaboration with Forests NSW. Phil's research project lines up strongly with the objectives of Project 2.2, so he will be inducted as a CRCF postgraduate student.
  • Juan-Carlos Valencia, a Chilean with strong forestry experience, will commence MSc studies with the University of Tasmania next February. His interests are in the silviculture and processing of E. nitens for solid-wood products and we anticipate his studies will contribute to projects 2.3 and 2.4.

Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for PhD candidates! We have additional places for PhDs across our projects.

Field work starting at Gould's Country

Forestry Tasmania's Eucalyptus nitens pruning/thinning trial at Goulds Country, NE Tasmania, was planted 1984 and the pruning and thinning treatments established in 1990. Assessment of growth, stem and crown form in the different treatments of this trial, is now under way in Project 2.2, prior to processing and wood sampling studies that will be conducted on logs from the trial in 2006 under Projects 2.3 and 2.4. The photo above (taken by Maria Ottenschlaeger, Ensis) shows an unthinned, pruned plot, with stocking now approximately 700 trees per hectare. In the foreground is an unpruned buffer tree.

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