"If the demands for timber for post-war purposes are to be met, it is most necessary that measures should be taken immediately to secure to the State the reservation in perpetuity of all those areas at present carrying milling quality timber or which have in the past carried such timber and can be regenerated. In this connection, attention is again directed to those extensive areas in the eastern portion of the State carrying excellent stands of millable timber, but which have not yet been dedicated as permanent forest. These forests are expected to play an important part in the post-war development of the State.

The completion of salvage operations in the areas killed by the 1939 fires necessitates the transfer of a considerable number of mills within the next three years, and it is to these at present unreserved forests that the State must look for its future supplies of milling timber. The expenditure of a considerable amount of money on road construction and fire protection works will be necessary, and the Commission is of the firm opinion that permanent dedication of the areas should be effected without delay in order to protect the assets thus created."

"Mansfield and Merrijig residents are no doubt becoming aware that something is doing in the general direction of Forests Commission activities generally, and much interest has thus been aroused, leading to the usual flood of rumors and contradictions. In order to get the truth of the whole matter, we interviewed Mr JC Westcott, of Mansfield, who is the Forester in charge of the Commission’s interests and activities in this part of the State, and we have his word for the authenticity of the following information:-

The vast amount of timber killed and otherwise ruined by the 1939 bush fires caused a very serious reduction in the amount of log timber available for future supplies for sawmills. Then, on top of this came the present war, and people not versed in the industry of forestry would be amazed if they knew of the tremendous and insatiable demands made by our defence needs on the forests of Victoria for all kinds of sawn timber, peeler logs for match manufacture, timber for paper manufacture, and so on.

Gippsland has long been the chief timber centre of Victoria, but supplies of timber there have dwindled, due to the fires and the war, far more rapidly than expected, with the result that virgin forests in the North-East will have to be looked to for supplies in the near future. Accordingly, to be prepared for this, the Delatite Forest District, the headquarters of which are at Mansfield, has been marked down to be the next exploited for log supplies to keep Victoria’s sawmilling industry going.

As logs can be extracted from a Victorian forest only by rail or road, and as rail propositions are impracticable in the virgin alpine country to the east, north-east and south-east of Mansfield, the Forests Commission is instituting a vast programme of logging road construction in the mountains comprising the upper reaches of the Delatite, King, Howqua and Jamieson rivers, in the vicinities of Mt. Buller, Mt. Stirling, Mt. Howitt, The Bluff, Mt. McDonald, etc. In these localities occur large areas of valuable Alpine Ash previously known as Woollybutt or Red Mountain Ash, which are at present almost entirely inaccessible, and, broadly speaking, situated between the 3000 feet and 5000 feet levels of altitude.

The Commission’s road construction programme is aimed at tapping these timber resources by providing first-class metalled roads capable of carrying the heaviest of motor traffic. The technical side of these works is under the direction of the Commission’s Chief Engineer, Mr. W. J. Lakeland, and Assistant Engineer, Mr. P. Avery, while the works location and actual management comes under the jurisdiction of Mr. Westcott and the Inspector of Forests at Wangaratta, Mr. W. J. Zimmer.

Since the beginning of February, a surveying unit of about sixteen men, under Surveyor J. MacDonald, has been camped in the Mt. Buller locality carrying out the necessary trial surveys, and it is expected that construction work will be able to commence in about two months time.

For some time past the nucleus of a highly-trained team of specialists has been in the process of formation, and the road foreman (Mr. L. K. McHarg) and head bulldozer operator (Mr. O. H. Grant) are already living in Mansfield.

The country to be traversed by these roads is, of course, very rugged, and the work will call for a high degree of skill on the part of all concerned. The job will be essentially one for heavy machinery, the main items of such being the much-heard-of and remarkable bulldozers. Mr. Westcott is anticipating the early arrival of the first bulldozer, which will be used to prepare a camp site and carry out various preliminary jobs.

Mr. Westcott expects that the main through road to the upper Howqua river country will leave the present Mt. Buller road near Christensen’s sawmill and run on the north side of the Delatite river on a ruling rising grade of 7% to pass through The Gap, which is the lowest saddle on the main Mt. Stirling – Mt. Buller ridge, while the main through road to the King river country will branch off this road at a point about five miles from the mill and go to the north through one of the low saddles on the main ridge between Mt. Stirling and Razorback.

Mr. Westcott went on to say that these roads will ultimately join away to the east of Mt. Stirling, near localities known as Clear Hills and Stanley’s Name. Mt. Stirling will thus be ringed by roads running through the Alpine Ash belt which surrounds the mountain. Many minor and spur roads will be constructed off these two main through roads to enable motor trucks to penetrate all parts of the timber belt.

When asked his opinion on how many timber concerns would be drawing their log supplies from the area to be opened up, Mr. Westcott said that it was impossible to give an estimate at present, but he would hazard a guess that thirty would not be an excessive figure. He pointed out what a big difference future Forests Commission works would make to Mansfield, and he said that civic authorities would be well advised in planning for the future to allow for a big increase in trade and business generally, population and railway and road traffic (in timber especially). He says further that Mansfield will probably be the biggest timber centre in Victoria in ten years time, depending a good deal on the duration of the war.

Departing from the Delatite-Howqua-King-Jamieson rivers road construction programme, Mr. Westcott gave us some very interesting and, we are sure, relatively unknown particulars concerning his district, and forestry works therein. He told of how his forests are particularly deficient of track of any sort, and thus very hard to cope with as regards the arch-enemy of forests, ie. fire. To overcome this, a widespread scheme of fire-protection road construction has been carried on in spite of war-time difficulties.

In Delatite Forest District (which extends along the Melbourne-Albury railway from Avenel to Wangaratta, and south to the Goulburn river as far upstream as Kevington, thence south-east and east to the Dividing range between Mt. Skene and the Barry Mountains, and taking in Rose river, Whitfield, Edi Upper and Carboor on the north-east) such fire-protection roads are in various stages of construction, between Barjarg and Strathbogie East, Dry Creek and Strathbogie East, Strathbogie North and Lima East, Tatong, Molyullah amd Toombullup, Toombullup and Myrhee, Whitfield and Edi Upper, Tolmie East and Merrijig, and along Buttercup creek from Rowan’s to the top of the range at No 3 Mount. In addition to these motor roads, horse patrol tracks have been constructed for many miles in the more inaccessible mountain country.

The foregoing, we were told, represented only a part of the fire-protection activities being carried on. Then, apart from fire-protection altogether, the Commission’s workmen were required to produce firewood for Melbourne, boat timbers for urgent priority defence works, and fencing timbers for burnt-out settlers, as well as perform various other duties. To the work involved in all this is added the supervision of the operators of hundreds of licensees, such as sawmillers, firewood contractors, timber hewers and so on scattered over the whole district."