Due to consumer pressure, it is now possible to buy environmentally responsible timbers. Buyer Logical Options, a group which is an affiliation of major conservation organisations from around Australia, aims to encourage "green-minded" architects, builders, engineers, owner builders and designers to use their buying power to end the abuse of our precious native forests.
Campaigning for Consumer Choice
Jill Redwood & Judith Grey
Buyer Logical Options
Most people know that buying rainforest timbers helps destroy the world's rainforests, but how many people link a length of "four by two" hardwood timber from the local hardware to Australia's equally appaling forest destruction?
Buyer Logical Options is a group which emerged from despair over our governments' unwillingness to protect Australia's native forests from logging. The group is an affiliation of major conservation organisations from around Australia which aims to encourage "green-minded" architects, builders, engineers, owner builders and designers to use consumer power to end the abuse of our precious native forests.
The objectives of Buyer Logical Options are to:
- Encourage the use of alternatives to native forest hardwoods (unless recycled);
- Work with trade, industry and consumer groups to gather and distribute information about such alternatives; and
- Persuade governments to move the logging industry out of native forests and into Australia's large untapped plantation resource.
History Repeats Itself
Forest destruction to satisfy short term needs is not confined to post industrial societies. Many civilisations have fallen in unison with the forests they destroyed around them. Why is it that the ancient societies of New Mexico chose to build such enormous multi-storied pueblos in the middle of a barren desert? One massive, five storey, 650 roomed dwelling at Chaco Canyon used 200,000 roof beams in its construction. When these homes were first built, the surrounding landscape was not barren; it was a healthy Pinyon-Juniper woodland, with adjoining forests of Ponderosa pine. One thousand years later, the area remains a desert. Maybe these communities were also told by their leaders not to worry, that the forests would grow back!
The Woodchip Tail Wags the Sawlog Dog
Although the public doesn't buy woodchips, it does buy sawn timber and products made from native hardwood (masonite, chipboard, wafer weld, medium density fibreboard and veneer composites). The claim that the woodchip industry mops up waste from sawlogging operations is a bloated distortion of the truth. This is an attempt to justify the felling of one cubic metre of sawlog to every five to thirteen cubic metres that are chipped1 and sent to overseas pulp factories. Over the years sawlog production has been falling while woodchipping has increased. Without the facade of the sawn timber industry to hide behind, the powerful woodchip industry would have no "waste" to mop up.
Consumer choice has great potential to wean the timber industry off public forests and into growing its own resource - as other self-respecting primary producers do. If the 80% of Australians who oppose the woodchipping of our forests refused native timbers in building or renovating, the industry would turn to plantations overnight.
Market Trends
Native hardwood timber is already finding it difficult to compete with plantation alternatives. Over the past twenty years, the native forest sawn timber industry has seen an average 2.2% drop in its production annually, whereas sawn timber from plantations has increased production by 5% a year2. At the same time woodchipping has increased exponentially. In theory, no export woodchipping operations can exist without associated sawlogging operations. Even a small drop in native forest timber sales could see large sections of this industry teetering.
Consumer Pressure
Public pressure and awareness during the campaign to halt the Wesley Vale pulp mill in northern Tasmania in the late 1980s increased the demand for recycled paper products. Consumers now have the choice to save native forests by buying forest-friendly materials.
Plantation-grown or recycled timbers can replace Australian hardwood for every building application. Many builders and architects are now beginning to realise that there are alternatives. Some suppliers and builders will try and convince their clients that alternatives do not exist. If consumers insist on forest-friendly timbers, suppliers and builders will have to respond, and the less native flora and fauna will have to pay with their homes, for ours.
In the same way that the political parties cannot survive without our vote, neither can the manufacturer without the consumer. There is a power invested in the buyer when it comes to altering the patterns of ecological ruination that native forest logging brings. Architects and their clients, along with owner-builders and designers, are all in a position to specify forest-friendly timbers - and thus save our native forests.
The Economy of Waste
It is worth examining the amount of destruction it takes to produce one unit of timber from a standing native forest. The lower timber-yielding forests (but not necessarily lower-value habitat) are able to produce about twenty cubic metres to the hectare - or as much as one truckload of sawlogs to every twelve or thirteen of woodchip logs3. On average, a native sawlog yields about 33% of its volume as timber, while the waste is chipped. This makes the ratio of sawntimber to woodchips even higher. And this ratio only covers the commercially-valued trees, not the multitude of understorey plants such as blackwoods, rainforest species, wattles, banksias, ferns, hakeas, vines etc. - right down to the tiny orchids and ground plants - all essential for the ecology of the forest. What's left behind may account for as much as 50% of the biomass of the forest before clearfelling. If this is included in the ratio it becomes apparent that for every one unit of wood which is purchased by the consumer, more than fifty times that amount may be crushed under bulldozers, woodchipped and burnt.
In industry terms, the "higher yielding" forests (lush mountain areas with higher rainfall and thick with diverse old growth forests) are estimated to produce one sawlog to every 4.5 woodchip logs3. That's about 18% of the trees being solid enough for recovery of sawn timber. In some forests - often untouched ancient stands that have evolved unhampered for over forty million years, supporting hundreds of known species - as little as 5% ends up as sawn timber.
These ecological costs do not even include the toll on wildlife. In addition, the industry has been propped up by taxpayer's money for the past fifty or so years to the tune of $5 billion4.
Buying native timber is without doubt an extremely destructive way to provide timber for home building or renovating.
The Solutions
It's one thing to tell people why native forests should be left as forests, but it's another to show people practical alternatives. Here is a list of some of the plantation timbers available, their uses and origin.
Radiata Pine (Pinus radiata)
Pine is available all over Australia. While plantations of pine in rows may not be particularly attractive, they are certainly a stop gap until other more appropriate timbers are ready for harvesting. They are not nearly so ugly as a native forest that has been clearfelled and burnt. These plantations can take the pressure off what little native forest still survives, until hardwood plantation timbers are more widely available.
The use of radiata should be seen as an architectural challenge. It can be used for virtually anything: structural work, flooring, cladding, mouldings - even house stumps, as testified by the new buildings along Victoria's Great Ocean Road. There are also a wide range of finishes, if the light colour is not the desired effect.
Treated - or tantalized - pine is a trade off. This treatment chemically seals the timber from rot and insect attack. Copper chromium arsenate (CCA) is known to leach out of the timber and contaminate the soil. Disposal is also a problem, while the plants themselves are highly toxic sites5. Treated pine should be painted. There are some less toxic treatments currently being developed with other, organic compounds.
Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii)
Hoop pine is Australia's only native tropical timber to be successfully grown in plantations, which now spread over 47,000 hectares, largely in Queensland. It has been given good publicity and is in all mainstream markets. It is available in all mouldings, and if treated can be used for decking. It is cheaper than old growth Canadian timber and has a similar F (or strength) rating. Avoid large slabs or "clear" grade, as this timber is likely to be from native rainforest.
Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii)
Slash pine is similar to hoop pine, and is grown largely in south east Queensland, where there are 72,000 hectares of plantation. It is equal to hoop pine in terms of strength, hardness and appearance and produces a high quality veneer that is cheaper than imported rainforest equivalents.
Poplar (Populus euramericana)
Poplar is grown in plantations in New South Wales, while New Zealand is also producing for regional markets. Some of Australia's plantations were established for the matchstick industry. Poplar yields an attractive timber with a fine grain and can be stained to any shade. It makes a fantastic veneer as its very fine grain mimics that of rainforest timbers.
Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Also known as Oregon, Douglas fir is grown in limited areas in Western Victoria and across large areas of New Zealand. Plantation grown timber has a an attractive salmon colour and a wide grain. It is equal in its load bearing qualities to North American timber, which may very likely have come from the last remaining old growth forests of the US and Canada. It requires water proofing for external use.
Laminated Veneer Lumber
LVL is produced by laminating small strips of timber together to produce very strong structural beams. They are becoming increasingly more popular. Some hardwood LVL is produced using native forest timbers, so insist on 100% plantation grown. The laminating glue, phenol formaldehyde, is toxic, but some companies such as CSR are looking at using non-toxic glues. Once again this is a toxic stop gap.
"Valwood"
This uses regrowth jarrah and Tassie blue gum thinnings. Small pieces of marri and karri (100mm X 80mm) are glued together, capable of producing quality sawn timber. Regrowth thinnings should be avoided, as management techniques are converting native forests into plantations. Plantation thinnings are now able to be used much earlier.
Glued Wood and Composite Products
Chipboard, medium density fibreboard and other wood composites are still being sourced from native forests, and also use phenol formaldehyde. Fortunately there are now plantation-grown alternatives, including radiata pine and hoop pine.
Compak Strawboard
This is a fantastic new product that is totally formaldehyde free. It uses agricultural waste such as straw and sugar cane bagasse which would normally be burnt. The fibre is glued with a polyurethane MDI binder. Compak is an environmentally benign product which is cost competitive against particle board. Its very high moisture resistance and formaldehyde free binding agent gives it the edge over traditional products, even without environmental considerations. It comes in various thicknesses and some of its applications include flooring, wall panels, shelving, bench tops and door facings. There are two plants operating in Australia which sell through the national timber company Le Messurier. In Melbourne they can be found at 57-63 0McNaughtons Rd, Clayton, Ph: 03 9562 7400; in Sydney: 84, Lilyfield Rd, Roselle, Ph: 02 818 3500.
Radial Sawing
This is a radical new method of sawing which enables sawn timber to be cut from far smaller diameter logs by slicing wedges of timber. It also saves on wastage. The inventor, Andy Knorr and his business, Radcon in South Gippsland (Victoria), needs support for this product. Radcon does use some native forest timbers, so specify your preference for plantation stock. This technique adds a further threat to the native forest-based industry from plantation alternatives.
Flooring
A major use of native forest timbers is for flooring, and this could be used as a future justification to continue clearfelling for this section of the kiln-dried timber market.
Bamboo Parquetry
An Australian company called "Plyboo" has recently introduced an exciting alternative to native forest timber parquetry flooring - a laminate made from the mature stems of the bamboo plant. A joint venture between the Bamboo Institute of the Netherlands and the Chinese Academy of Forestry has developed a product that combines the natural organic quality of bamboo with the strength and durability normally associated with hardwood.
Bamboo grows extensively in the tropical and sub tropical zones and is a recognised hardwood, reaching maturity for harvest at four to five years. This rapid growth rate combined with its regrowth capabilities makes it an attractive, environmentally friendly renewable resource.
Plyboo is constructed of three layers of bamboo strips laminated together to form a 90mmX15mm tongue and groove floorboard which has been developed to comply with German building specifications. The low-moisture absorbing properties of bamboo also minimise expansion and contraction in the finished floor - making it a plus for Australia's humid conditions. It is available in lengths up to 1.8 metres in either natural blond or a warm brown. The result is an easy-to-handle flooring material that is versatile, durable and appreciably harder than the majority of American oak flooring.
The species used to make plyboo is a clumping variety, and does not escape as readily into the Australian bush as running bamboo7.
Recycled Timbers
This is of course the perfect alternative, but is not an infinite resource. Its price varies from more than native forest green scantling to considerably cheaper. Rural second hand markets and salvage yards also have varying prices. Used timbers have a delightful character, showing past bolt holes and the like. They are certainly a very useful stop gap until hardwood and other plantations are producing more sawn timber.
Sorting the Wood from the Trees
In Australia, early settlers soon logged out soft-figured timbers such as Red cedar (Toona Australis), King Billy and Pencil pines (Athrotaxis spp) and Huon pine (Largostrobus franklinii). These were gradually replaced by "Oregon" (Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii), Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and Redwood (Sequoia sempivirens). As with domestic supplies, these timbers have become gradually more scarce, and the ecosystems from which they come increasingly more threatened. The plight of the Olympic National Forest, Clayoquot Sound and Headwaters Forest has outraged the world.
And how are the timber merchants dealing with this economic and ecological reality? By opening up their markets to other less well-known old growth timbers. The Western Wood Products Association now promotes the following: Western larch (Larix occidentalis), Western and Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga spp), Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and Noble fir (Abies procera) - to name but a few. Hemlock, once ignored as a "trash tree" (and hence still readily available) is now being exported for woodchips, and extensively marketed in Australia and elsewhere for building purposes as "hemfir".
Follow these rules of thumb when buying timber: stick with species you know are plantation-grown. This is easier in Australia than the US, where many "plantations" were once biodiverse forests. Don't be fooled by the word "sustainable" or by species that aren't listed as threatened - they soon could be! Look for recycled timbers or other building methods (stucco instead of cedar cladding for example)6.
The Future of Plantations
Farms are increasingly planting a wider range of native species and in time a much more interesting range of timbers will be available. The future of the logging industry depends on the move out of native forests and onto the farm.
For further information contact:
Jill Redwood
Buyer Logical Options
Bonang Highway
Goongerah
Vic 3888
Ph/Fax: 051 540 145
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