FPN vol 11 no 2 January 2012 - The Forest Practices Authority

Forest Practices Awards 2011John WebbExcellence in forest practices planpreparationThis award is judged on the basis ofconsistency, clarity, high quality, freedomfrom errors and innovation or excellence indealing with complex or challenging issuesfor one or more forest practices plans.John’s planning work over several years hasbeen consistently characterised by attentionto detail and discussion with colleagues,consultants and FPA staff in order to achievegood outcomes. During the past year Johnhas produced several forest practices plansthat have required significant considerationand planning for the protection ofnatural values in pine plantation coupesin the Maydena area, which is one of themore complex regions of Tasmania forgeomorphic land management. Many of theplantations were established in the 1970sand 80s before the Forest Practices Code waspublished, with no reserves around streamsand sinkholes. Consequently, harvestingreforestation have required very carefulplanning. John has worked closely withthe FPA Earth Sciences Program, Norske-Skög contractors and out-of-industrystakeholders to achieve good managementoutcomes.John was nominated by Peter McIntoshand Adrian Slee of the FPA and SandraHetherington of Norske-Skög. Theirnominations said of him:John tends to focus on the more difficultFPPs for Norske-Skög because he has a goodJohn with the results of his planning. (photo by Norske-Skög)operational background and solid experience.With more than 20 years experience inNorske-Skög forests John understands theestate and the potential issues very well. Heis meticulous with his field work planning andsets very high standards for himself and thecompany in his FPP preparation.John produces very good maps that operatorscan follow well. This often takes a lot of extratime to get details correct, but it is the bestway of communicating some of our specialissues.John's plans have scored very well in FPAaudits.John’s interview with ForestPractices NewsHow did you start working in forestry?I started working with Australian NewsprintMills 27 years ago. The company haschanged owners three times since that timeand is now Norske-Skög. I went throughtechnical forester training with them andbecame a Forest Practices Officer in 1995.What forest practices plans have youworked on recently?An interesting forest practices plan (FPP)I worked on recently was the HumboltRiver log jam. Logs came down the river asa natural process, but got snagged in theplantation area which created a dam. Thedam diverted the Humbolt River into theplantation, which undermined the trees andthese also fell over into the river channel. Itwas good to work with Peter McIntosh andAdrian Slee of the FPA on a solution. Underthe salvage clause of the Forest PracticesCode, we got the Chief Forest PracticesOfficer’s approval to operate within awatercourse and removed the logs from thedam. We have set up a wider riparian zonefor the next rotation.Another interesting forest practices planwas for a pine plantation on both sides ofthe Junee River which had been establishedbefore the Forest Practices Code wasenacted. The landowner in the 1950s, 60sand 70s was a legend for dam creation, riverdiversion and mining and he had created astraight, artificial new channel for the JuneeRiver. He drained the original meandersand fan and converted them to pasture. Inthe early 1980s, ANM bought the land andplanted pines all over the old river channelsand right up to the edge of the new riverchannel. This plantation is only a fewhundred metres from the exit of Junee RiverCave, probably one of the most well knownriver cave systems in Australia, or even theSouthern Hemisphere or maybe even theworld.We had to try and salvage the wood fromthis plantation. It was a learning experienceand a challenging operation but we didmanage to get the wood off by building atemporary crossing over the Junee River,which is a class 1 river. A few sinkholeswere uncovered in the operation, whichcomplicated things further but we workedin conjunction with the FPA and achieved areasonably good outcome.On the eastern side of the Junee River theland where the plantation was is Stateforest. We’ve been working with the localcommunity and Forestry Tasmania and thatarea will be returned to native forest, exceptfor some open space which the communityrequested. On the land owned by Norske-Skög we are putting in a softwoodplantation but we will return the areabetween the old and new river channelsto native vegetation. We are returning anyareas to native vegetation if it means that bydoing so we can avoid any forest practicesissues in the future.What skills do you think you need toprepare a forest practices plan?The most important skills are goodcommunication and listening skills. Thereis so much involved in preparing a forestpractices plan that no one individual canhold all the necessary skills so you need toable to communicate well with others to getthe information you need. When preparinga plan, we do the background work anduse the planning tools provided by the FPA.We only consult the FPA specialists whereit is really required and then we have tobe able to convey the issues clearly in theframework provided by the FPA. I think ifyou know the system and can communicateclearly, the system works well.We have core groups of people whowork on either the roading, harvesting orreforestation stages of an FPP, and I consultwith them during the planning to make sure2 Forest Practices News vol 11 no 2 January 2012