Jamax Forest Solutions

21/09/2026

Three Aussie finalists in World Architecture festival

Three of this year’s finalists – the New Sydney Fish Market, the Adelaide Aquatic Centre and The Forest at the University of Tasmania - have been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival, which opens in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on 18 November. Source: Timberbiz

https://www.timberbiz.com.au/three-aussie-finalists-in-world-architecture-festival/

18/09/2026

Better forest data should mean better forest policy.

This is an encouraging development in Australian forest science. Researchers are trialling ground-based forest sensors capable of transmitting data almost continuously through low-Earth-orbit satellites, measuring factors including soil moisture, tree growth, microclimate and plant water stress.

Importantly, the researchers also acknowledge something that is often lost in forest debates: satellite imagery alone is not enough. Ground measurements are needed to understand what is actually happening.

That creates an opportunity Australia should embrace - consistent, transparent cross-tenure monitoring of comparable forests in State forests, National Parks and other tenures.

If we want to know how forests respond to harvesting, prescribed fire, wildfire, drought and different management regimes, measure them consistently over time and publish the results.

Remote sensing can detect change. Ground monitoring can help explain that change. Neither should be used to assume the cause before the evidence has been examined.

The same principle matters for forest-carbon projects. Better monitoring can tell us what happens in the forest, but it cannot by itself establish the counterfactual - what would have occurred without the carbon project. Baselines, additionality and leakage therefore remain separate questions.

More measurement, more transparency and genuine cross-tenure comparison would be a substantial improvement on arguments built around selective examples.

Collecting data from sensors in remote woodlands has long required arduous treks. What if sensors could transmit data in real time?

17/09/2026

SkyForest: A nationally consistent forestry picture

What are Australia’s forests? Where are they? What do they contain? How are they changing and what is driving those changes? Can we answer these questions consistently across the Australian landscape? Not yet.

Australia’s forests are ecologically and economically significant landscapes. They support biodiversity, store carbon, provide timber, and sustain a wide range of environmental and social values. Developing a consistent understanding of these forests is therefore becoming increasingly important for their effective monitoring, reporting and management.

Australia already has a wealth of forest data, but these observations are often collected by different agencies using different methods, technologies and standards. The challenge is not simply a lack of data, but the difficulty of bringing these datasets together consistently across regions and through time.

SkyForest, an Australian Forest and Wood Innovations (AFWI) initiative, delivered via AFWI Centre for Climate-Smart Forestry (CCSF), is responding to this challenge by contributing to the framework of a nationally consistent forest inventory framework for Australia.

In partnership with the NSW Natural Resources Commission (NRC), Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW), and CSIRO, the project is prototyping a transparent, auditable and open operational data platform, called Monitoring and Observation System for Australian Forest Inventory and Change (MOSAIC), that brings together existing forest observations across spatial and temporal scales.

It is at this intersection between detailed field observations, remote sensing and forest change that Aakash Chhabra, based at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE), Western Sydney University, brings his research experience and capability in developing operational monitoring systems to SkyForest. He works with Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn, who leads SkyForest at Western Sydney University.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/skyforest-towards-nationally-consistent-qjg0c/

Source & image credit: AFWI Centre for Climate-Smart Forestry (CCSF)

What are Australia’s forests? Where are they? What do they contain? How are they changing and what is driving those changes? Can we answer these questions consistently across the Australian landscape? Not yet. Australia’s forests are ecologically and economically significant landscapes.

16/09/2026

Timber has taken the biggest building jobs in four Australian capitals inside eight months, with landmark projects opening in Sydney and Adelaide, topping out beside Central Station, and breaking ground on the Hobart waterfront.

Kylan Low on why Australia's landmark timber buildings are no longer unusual, with 57 projects judged before the Sydney gala on 21 October.

15/09/2026

OCTOBER IS NSW SMALL BUSINESS MONTH - HELP ME RECOGNISE OUTSTANDING LOCAL BUSINESSES!

Our local businesses are the backbone of our community; providing jobs, services, and support to residents across the Mid North Coast.

I am inviting community members to nominate outstanding local businesses that have gone above and beyond in customer service, innovation, community involvement or business excellence.

Whether it's a family-run cafe, a trusted tradesperson, a thriving retailer, or a business making a positive difference in our community, I'd love to hear about them and shine a light on what makes the Mid North Coast such a great place to live, work and shop.

To nominate a business, please share the business name and a brief explanation of why they deserve recognition.

Business nominations may be returned in person, via email or online:
- Printed forms may be returned to Michael Kemp’s office at 72 Elbow Street, West Kempsey
- Email to [email protected]
- Visit www.michaelkemp.com.au and complete the Small Business Month Nomination Form

Nominations close Saturday, 31 October 2026

15/09/2026

Forestry Industry Supply Chain Support Program: Planning and Transition Grants

This program aims to assist downstream businesses that have been impacted by the moratorium on harvesting in the Great Koala National Park Assessment Area. Its purpose is to provide financial support to impacted businesses as a result of the reduction in timber supply following the moratorium on harvesting in the GKNP.

The objectives of the program are to provide impacted businesses downstream in the timber supply and processing chain:

* Professional advice: Financial support to access professional business planning advice on how to transition to a new operating model.

* Transition support: Financial support to transition to a new business operating model which includes diversifying or downscaling, or to support the closure of the historic business structure.

Grants of up to $275,000 (GST exclusive) are available, which can include the following:

* A maximum of $25,000 (GST exclusive) for a business planning grant to assist with the costs of business planning support.

* A maximum of $250,000 (GST exclusive) for a transition grant to assist with:

* Transitioning the business by diversifying the business structure or downscaling current business operations, and supported by a business plan.

* Closing down, in which case a letter signed by a professional financial advisor will suffice to support the application.

A total funding pool of $5 million (GST exclusive) is available.

Eligible activities must meet all or some of the following requirements:

* Engaging a professional to conduct business planning advice including financial analysis, strategic advice, business viability assessments, transition planning, market analysis, diversification or business closure advice.

* Business transition, including business diversification or business downscaling (where supported by a business plan) or business closure (where supported by a letter signed by a professional financial advisor)

https://www.nsw.gov.au/grants-and-funding/forestry-industry-supply-chain-support-program-planning-and-transition-grants

14/09/2026

Forestry Industry Supply Chain Support Program Extended

This program aims to provide financial support to impacted businesses as a result of the reduction in timber supply to certain mills and associated impacts on harvest and haulage operations, following the commencement of a moratorium on harvesting in the GKNP.

Grants of up to $100,000 (GST exclusive) are available.

A total funding pool of $5 million (GST exclusive) is available.

Applicants can only submit one application.

Eligible expenditure include:

* Costs to offset the incremental cost difference between the previous supplier's price and the new supplier's price for the purchase of the same or similar hardwood, or alternatives to hardwood, or by-product from a new supplier.

* Freight costs associated with sourcing the same or similar hardwood, or alternatives to hardwood, or by-product from a new supplier.

https://www.nsw.gov.au/grants-and-funding/forestry-industry-supply-chain-support-program

Photo: Shippy George

08/09/2026

Australia's forests face threats that don't respect tenure boundaries - fire, invasive pests, disease and climate are among them.

This ABC story on polyphagous shot-hole borer is another reminder of why maintaining Australia's forest-management and biosecurity capability matters.

The beetle has more than 400 recorded host species and poses potential risks not only to horticulture and Perth's urban tree canopy, but also to Australia's native forests. Scientists are warning that early detection will be critical if it begins moving beyond its present containment area.

Importantly, eradication in WA has already been judged technically infeasible. The response has therefore shifted to surveillance, containment, integrated pest management, research and building the skills needed to manage the pest over the long term.

There is a broader lesson here.

Protecting forests is not achieved simply by drawing a boundary on a map and calling an area "protected". Healthy forests require monitoring, access, skilled people, research and the capacity to intervene when threats emerge.

Whether the threat is fire, pests or disease, passive management is not a forest-health strategy.

And as governments confront multiple biosecurity emergencies simultaneously, maintaining enough trained people and operational capability to deal with them must be treated as essential national infrastructure.

With the nation's biosecurity experts tied up managing the bird flu outbreak, there are concerns that attention has been diverted from the destructive shot-hole borer beetle.

07/09/2026

Forest decline is rarely explained by a single symptom.

In Part 2 of his examination of snow gum dieback, forest scientist Vic Jurskis challenges the proposition that Phoracantha beetles are necessarily the primary cause of decline, and asks whether they may instead be exploiting trees already stressed by drought, altered soil and root conditions, and the legacy of repeated high-intensity fire.

It is an important distinction for forest management. If insect attack is a symptom of underlying physiological stress, simply identifying the beetle does not tell us why the trees became vulnerable in the first place.

Jurskis argues that future research should look more closely at soils, roots, water stress and fire history, particularly how changes in forest structure and fire regimes may be affecting tree health.

Whatever conclusions further research reaches, healthy forest management starts with understanding the whole system, not just the most visible symptom.

An interesting and worthwhile contribution to the continuing debate on snow gum health and management.

I reckon research should look at how soils and tree roots and bark have been affected by the recent unnatural history of high intensity fires rather than at the beetles that have benefitted from that history.

04/09/2026

Farmers need inaccurate mapping fixed - and fast

This week, the NSW Government’s Native Vegetation Regulatory (NVR) Map came into effect statewide.

Farmers have been saying for years that the map does not accurately reflect what is actually on the ground, particularly when it comes to grasslands.

NSW Farmers will keep pushing for a practical, transparent and timely process to fix inaccurate mapping and reduce unnecessary red tape.

https://www.nswfarmers.org.au/NSWFA/Posts/Media_Releases/MR051.26.aspx