The largest replanting program in the State’s history has been announced to help fire-affected forests recover from the bushfire season.
Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Forestry, John Barilaro said $46 million had been allocated to the Forestry Corporation of NSW to plant more than 10 million new seedlings over the next 12 months.
“The forestry industry was devastated by an unprecedented bushfire season, with more than 50,000 hectares, or around 25 per cent of the State’s pine plantations burnt,” Mr Barilaro said.
“Tumut was one of the worst hit areas, losing around 35 per cent of its state-owned plantation so I’m thrilled to see the first round of replanting efforts are getting underway,” he said.
“This investment will see us get back to pre-bushfire levels of stocked trees in state-owned pine plantations within a decade.”
Mr Barilaro said the stimulus funding would also support new contracts, job opportunities and rebuild lost infrastructure.
“NSW’s forestry industry supports around 23,000 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs and they’ve had a really tough start to the year,” he said.
He said the Forestry Corporation of NSW provided about 25 per cent of the timber needed for housing construction across the country, as well as a significant proportion of the fibre used for food packaging.
