Big Picture - Research
This is a start - more to come as we delve deeper into forest research history.
Prior to formation of the FCV, in October 1919, there is no evidence that formal research programs were in place. However, the FCV was to become strongly committed to forest research and development, but in its earliest days the focus was on protecting the forest estate from further loss of area, and getting areas poorly managed in the past back into production. In time the FCV was to adopt continuous improvement approach to ensure good management of native forests and softwood plantations available and suitable for timber production. This involved rapid incorporation of research results into field practice, continuous monitoring of field performance, analysis of monitoring data and review of results to continually improve forest management practices. This approach was contiunued by successor agencies.
1910
The Newport Seasoning Works were established by the State Forest Department and among the objectives were to:
- Undertake research into techniques for seasoning Victorian hardwood species.
- Demonstrate the viability of producing Victorian hardwood seasoned timber.
1926
The FCV established a eucalyptus oil distillery in the Wellsford Forest to enable investigation and improvement of all aspects of eucalyptus oil production.
1950
"The first experimental fertiliser trial of the Forests Commission was established in 1950 at Anglesea on a site where the original 1920’s plantation of Radiata Pine had failed." (Source: Hopmans and Flinn). This was the start of a program extending over more than 60 years into soil and tree nutrition in Victoria's plantations.
1950s
From 1950 a strong research focus developed, with Walter Zimmer in the lead role. "In 1950 Walter relocated to Head Office in Treasury Place, Melbourne as Silvicultural Officer and, in the early 1950s, set about establishing the Forest Commission’s Research Branch, which had its beginnings in the basement of a building at 188 King Street. Here under his guidance another visionary, RJ Grose, set about unravelling the laboratory germination characteristics of Victorian eucalypts (among many other studies), assisted by young foresters, several committing their careers in forest research with high distinction." (Source: WJ Zimmer)
"Forestry research had become an important aspect of forest management by the early and mid-1950s, with the realisation that the greater demands on the forests for all of its values, including recreation and wildlife habitat, called for increasing skill in management. This in turn meant access to sound ecological and silvicultural information." ... "In 1956, the thirty-first meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science met in Melbourne and, for the first time, technical forestry papers were presented." (Source: FR Moulds)
" Mountain Ash and Alpine Ash had attracted substantial and invaluable research work by Dr Cunningham and Dr Grose (FCV) respectively ..." (Source: FR Moulds), and that work was to be reflected in silvicultural practice for these two species for the next 50-60 years.
The first Forest Pathologist appointed by the FCV was Helen Lee (nee Purnell) Source: Forest Pathology Research
"Forestry research had become an important aspect of forest management by the early and mid-1950s, with the realisation that the greater demands on the forests for all of its values, including recreation and wildlife habitat, called for increasing skill in management. This in turn meant access to sound ecological and silvicultural information." ... "In 1956, the thirty-first meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science met in Melbourne and, for the first time, technical forestry papers were presented." (Source: FR Moulds)
" Mountain Ash and Alpine Ash had attracted substantial and invaluable research work by Dr Cunningham and Dr Grose (FCV) respectively ..." (Source: FR Moulds), and that work was to be reflected in silvicultural practice for these two species for the next 50-60 years.
The first Forest Pathologist appointed by the FCV was Helen Lee (nee Purnell) Source: Forest Pathology Research
1957/58
A Forest Research Branch appears in the organisation chart of the FCV, as a consequence of the major FCV wide organisation implemented at that time
"Principal projects carried out in the Commission's silvicultural research laboratory were standard testing of seed lots, further tests on eucalypt seed longevity, completion of investigation of light requirements for germination of eucalypt seeds, further work on seed dormancy, stratification, and temperature studies, and studies on early growth of eucalypt seedlings. Combined field and laboratory investigations of alpine ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) regeneration, which have been proceeding for a number of years, were continued. ... Experimental plantings to test the efficacy of various eucalypts and other species for afforestation in dry northern and north-western localities were extended." (Source: Annual Report 1957/58)
"Principal projects carried out in the Commission's silvicultural research laboratory were standard testing of seed lots, further tests on eucalypt seed longevity, completion of investigation of light requirements for germination of eucalypt seeds, further work on seed dormancy, stratification, and temperature studies, and studies on early growth of eucalypt seedlings. Combined field and laboratory investigations of alpine ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) regeneration, which have been proceeding for a number of years, were continued. ... Experimental plantings to test the efficacy of various eucalypts and other species for afforestation in dry northern and north-western localities were extended." (Source: Annual Report 1957/58)
1960s
Regeneration problems in red gum forests were comprehensively addressed by Barrie Dexter. (Source: FCV Bulletin 20)
"The Sirex Wood Wasp is an insect which attacks softwood timber species with disastrous effect – particularly Pinus radiata which is planted extensively in Victoria to supply timber for house construction. Originally from Northern Europe, the wasp was found in softwood plantations in New Zealand in the early 1900s. ... The presence of the insect in Victoria was confirmed on 20th of December 1961 in pine logs at a sawmill and which were traced to a small privately-owned plantation on a dairy farm near Woori Yallock, about 40 kms east of Melbourne." (Source: B Fry) (See: FCV Bulletin 29)
"Peter (Attiwill) was the very first in Australia to recognise and demonstrate that it was only through nutrient cycling that our native forests can prosper in the face of bushfires, droughts and floods."
"As far as the author can determine, the first formal experimental trials on controlling Silver Wattle and eucalypt regrowth during the establishment phase of Radiata Pine plantations on cleared native forest sites were conducted between 1965 and 1967" Source: Forest Weed Management Research
"The Sirex Wood Wasp is an insect which attacks softwood timber species with disastrous effect – particularly Pinus radiata which is planted extensively in Victoria to supply timber for house construction. Originally from Northern Europe, the wasp was found in softwood plantations in New Zealand in the early 1900s. ... The presence of the insect in Victoria was confirmed on 20th of December 1961 in pine logs at a sawmill and which were traced to a small privately-owned plantation on a dairy farm near Woori Yallock, about 40 kms east of Melbourne." (Source: B Fry) (See: FCV Bulletin 29)
"Peter (Attiwill) was the very first in Australia to recognise and demonstrate that it was only through nutrient cycling that our native forests can prosper in the face of bushfires, droughts and floods."
"As far as the author can determine, the first formal experimental trials on controlling Silver Wattle and eucalypt regrowth during the establishment phase of Radiata Pine plantations on cleared native forest sites were conducted between 1965 and 1967" Source: Forest Weed Management Research
1970s
"Fungal pests had long been on the research agenda. The notorious Phytophthera cinnanomi was first found in Victoria in willow trees about 1935, but is suspected to have been in Queensland since about 1890." In the 1970s areas on forest extending from the Grampians to East Gippsland were badly affected by "die-back" and "Commission research officers worked closely with scientists at Melbourne and Monash Universities on die-back problems. Dr Gretna Weste, from the Department of Botany at the University of Melbourne, together with Dr G. Marks, were responsible for much of the detailed research on the fungus." (Source: FR Moulds)
"Plantations at Myrtleford and Bright were often established on steep land cleared of native forest and there was considerable public concern about soil erosion and the potential deterioration of water quality affecting the water supply of down-stream users of the Ovens River. This prompted the FCV in 1973 to establish the Cropper Creek Hydrology project comprising three 1st order catchments of native forest in the Black Range at Dandongadale." (Source: D Flinn)
"In the early 1970s the FCV initiated critically important flora and fauna survey work. This was a response to concerns about the potential for loss of biodiversity due to clearing native forests to establish pine plantations." (Source: G Suckling)
"Plantations at Myrtleford and Bright were often established on steep land cleared of native forest and there was considerable public concern about soil erosion and the potential deterioration of water quality affecting the water supply of down-stream users of the Ovens River. This prompted the FCV in 1973 to establish the Cropper Creek Hydrology project comprising three 1st order catchments of native forest in the Black Range at Dandongadale." (Source: D Flinn)
"In the early 1970s the FCV initiated critically important flora and fauna survey work. This was a response to concerns about the potential for loss of biodiversity due to clearing native forests to establish pine plantations." (Source: G Suckling)
1971 and 1974
1971 - STANDSIM is a Fortran-coded program for simulating the growth and yield of an evenaged monospecific stand. It is assumed that tree spacing is at all times fairly even. Any site quality and practically any treatment (initial density by thinning regime) that satisfies the spacing assumption can be examined ... " Source: FCV Research Branch Report 008)
1974 - MASH - "A comprehensive system for planning and scheduling regional wood production." Source: FCV Research Branch Report 048 (copy not yet available)
1974 - MASH - "A comprehensive system for planning and scheduling regional wood production." Source: FCV Research Branch Report 048 (copy not yet available)
1973
"In the 1970s in Victoria about 60% of Municipal Sewerage Authorities used secondary treated wastewater to irrigate pastures, sometimes grazed by livestock. At the start of the decade, extensive trials were carried out in south-east Melbourne testing the suitability of treated wastewater for irrigating agricultural and horticultural crops. In 1973 the Forests Commission Victoria started trials to test the irrigation of planted trees with wastewater." (Source: H Stewart)
1976
"Infection of Eucalyptus obliqua and Eucalyptus globulus subsp bicostata by Armillaria spp." (Source: FCV Research Branch Report 081)
1978
"Effects on Utilisation on Flora and Fauna in Boola Boola State Forest" (Source: FCV Research Branch 116 See also: FCV Research Branch Reports 117,118,119.120, 121)
1980s
" ... nine major research programs were still being pursued ... under the direction of Dr DW Flinn. They were in the fields of agroforestry, ecological impacts of fire, forest soils and tree nutrition, insect pests, native forest silviculture, plant ecology, salinity and irrigation forestry, softwood and hardwood diseases, and tree breeding and genetic diversity." (Source: FR Moulds)
1984
"In response to a severe lack of knowledge on the ecological impacts of repeated fuel reduction burning (FRB) in Victorian dry sclerophyll forests, a multi-disciplinary research program was initiated in January 1984 ... The study was conducted in the Wombat State Forest some 80km northwest of Melbourne. The broad objectives of the program were to assess and describe the effects of repeated spring and autumn fuel reduction burning on:
- the flora, fauna and soils
- the functional processes of dry sclerophyll forest ecosystem, and
- the short and long term stability of such ecosystems. (Source: D Flinn)
1986
"The Value Adding and Silvicultural Systems Program (VSP) was a key research initiative under the Timber Industry Strategy (TIS), which was released in 1986. It combined two major projects into one large, native forest multi-disciplinary research and development program: (1) The Silvicultural Systems Project (SSP), and (2) The Value Adding Utilisation System Trial (VAUS)." (Source: S Murphy)
1987
"Accordingly, the Victorian Government entered into an agreement with CSIRO for a three-year collaborative study on regrowth thinning in East Gippsland. The study, which involved a large number of scientists, technicians and operational staff from CSIRO and DCE ..." (Source: D Flinn)
1991
"Following research in the greater Murray-Darling Basin by a range of research providers indicating the potential of growing commercial tree crops for land and water care in low rainfall and saline environments, a major research initiative {the Trees for Profit (TFP) program} was launched in 1991." (Source: D Flinn)
1993/94
"In 1993/94 that the Branch underwent a major transformation into the Centre for Forest Tree Technology (CFTT) ... CFTT was set up as a Business Unit within the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (CNR) with a view of attracting more external funding to support and add value to research funding from CNR." (Source: D Flinn)
Mid 1990s
"Victoria’s hardwood plantation area expanded rapidly from the mid-1990s to a peak area of about 210,000 ha in 2012 and was about 160,000 ha in 2022." "The expansion of the hardwood plantation area from the 1990s was primarily for export woodchip markets (for Victoria ex Portland, Geelong and Eden ports), and for additional/alternative pulpwood for papermaking at the Maryvale mill in Gippsland." "The wider Victorian R&D contribution to the development of the hardwood plantation estate was supported by or provided through Commonwealth and State policy initiatives, programs and agencies; by private industry; and formal and informal project collaborations ... "
(Source: Native Hardwood Plantations in Victoria)
(Source: Native Hardwood Plantations in Victoria)
2010
"Victoria, through the Department’s (DSE and DEPI) LandCarbon project, was the first state to model the amount of carbon stored across this broader estate, including public forests, parks, and reserves, and to attempt to understand the impact of drivers of change on carbon stocks." (Source: S Murphy)