North East
NSW is the heartland of the State’s hardwood timber industry. Thousands of
people are employed in growing, managing, harvesting, transporting and processing
hardwood timber.
Each year around 850,000
tonnes of hardwood logs are sourced from native regrowth forests and hardwood
plantations. Approximately 70% of this timber comes from publicly-owned State
forests with the balance from private property.
Many of the region’s regrowth forests
have been working forests for over 150 years, being sustainably managed for timber
and other values.
Logs are selectively harvested,
serviced, and graded before being transported to wood processing mills.
Mills process up to fifty different eucalypt species. Supply is dominated, however, by a
much smaller number with Blackbutt, Spotted Gum, Tallowwood, Sydney
Blue Gum, Brush Box, and Ironbark accounting for over two thirds of the log mix.
There are more
than forty hardwood mills that are operating within the region. Most of these
mills are family-owned and operated. The mills process hardwood logs into a diverse
range of timber products with the most common products being flooring and
decking. For more information on wood products click here.