Bushfires in southern New South Wales spark race against time to save billion-dollar timber industry
ABCHarvesters and timber mills are racing against time to fell bushfire-ravaged pine trees in the Riverina before they become worthless. Key points: Almost 50,000 hectares of pine plantations in the Riverina, owned by Forestry Corporation, were burnt in the Dunns Road bushfire Harvesters and mills are racing against the clock to process the pine trees before they become worthless There could be a shortage of timber, woodchips, and paper as a result "It was just tremendous," Elle Kromar said of the enormity of the Dunns Road bushfire, which has now ravaged more than 330,000 hectares of the New South Wales Riverina region since the blaze first started just before New Year's Eve. "The heat — you don't know what it's like until you're right there." "We're trying to get as many of the burnt trees into the sawmills as quickly as possible while they're still fresh, and by fresh I mean the sap is still there," Forestry Corporation's regional manager Dean Anderson said. "All this salvaging comes at a very, very significant cost, and then there's the rapidly accelerated wear and tear on harvesting machines and sawmill equipment," Mr Crowe said.
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