Alex Donaldson MICFor is one of two candidates selected for the Young Professional Foresters’ Exchange Programme (2024-2025) and is spending three months in Australia working for the Forestry Corporation of New South Wales. Alex has shared an update on his experience so far, one month into the exchange programme.
I arrived in Sydney, Australia on 8 March, after 28 hours of travelling from London. The first thing that hit me was the heat, it was 36°C compared to the 7°C we’d been having back in the UK! Regardless, I spent my day wandering around Sydney, which is a wonderful city. I did the typical tourist spots: Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour and the Botanical Gardens, as well as some of the museums.
I then hopped on the smallest plane I’ve ever been on, from Sydney to Wagga, it must have only had 20 seats! I was picked up in Wagga by my new manager, Roger. We drove through the vast country; mountainous native and plantation forests as far as the eye could see. Roger described to me the challenges facing forestry in Australia, the biggest being fire. In 2020, huge wildfires ripped through this region, over two million hectares (ha) burned throughout New South Wales. Forestry Corporation lost 30,000ha of their 100,000ha Pinus radiata plantation in a matter of weeks.
Upon arrival in Tumut, I was welcomed into my foster family for the next three months by Phil and Pat. Phil works for Forestry Corporation and I am incredibly grateful to them for opening their home to me. I brought them some UK delicacies: Marmite, Yorkshire Tea & Tunnock’s Tea Cakes to name a few!
Week one & two
I spent my first couple of weeks getting to know my new colleagues, everyone was incredibly welcoming and friendly. I was placed within the different departments so could understand their roles and how they work together. This included Planning, Silviculture, Roading, Harvesting and Haulage.
What came apparent to me is the sheer scale of the work programme they have for a relatively small team. Pre 2020 fires, they were harvesting, prepping and replanting 6,000ha every year. This has since reduced to 3,000 – 4,000ha, but it is still a massive undertaking.
Within Forestry Corporation, due to the large scale of operations, a supervisor specialises in a single discipline. For example, one Silvicultural Supervisor manages the whole 3,000ha+ cultivation work programme. As sites are completed, they are handed onto their colleague who manages the next operational programme.
I have been placed within the Silviculture team, which is where most of my own experience lies e.g. cultivation, competition control and planting. So, I am hopeful to be a contributing member of the team in my short time here.
Week three & four
I have now been given responsibility to plan and supervise 800ha of cultivation operations across a multitude of sites, as well as some competition removal and planting preparation work. This enables me to fully appreciate how operations are conducted here in Australia.
We have been using machinery such as dozers and excavators to prepare our sites. Using techniques such as chaining, chopper rolling, mulching, windrow stacking and ripping. Sites require thorough preparation as they have huge issues with weeds such as blackberry, which was introduced by the European settlers. They joke that they only have one blackberry bush, however it stretches from Victoria to Queensland.
Unfortunately, we haven’t had enough rain to begin the hazard reduction burnings, but I’m hopeful to see some of this work over the coming month.
Weekends
I have been exploring the bush on the weekends, there are some amazing places to visit in NSW. My absolute favourite so far was camping in the Blue Mountains one weekend, I walked the Grand Cliff Top walking track, down into Grand Canyon. It was the most incredible hike I’ve ever done, huge vista across the Eucalyptus wilderness and red sandstone cliffs, this is then contrasted by the rainforest hidden within the canyon, just amazing.
– Alex Donaldson MICFor
Stay tuned for more updates!
The Young Professional Foresters’ Exchange Programme is an exciting initiative administered by the Canadian Institute of Forestry/Institut forestier du Canada (CIF-IFC), the Institute of Chartered Foresters (United Kingdom), the New Zealand Institute of Forestry, and Forestry Australia.
