SA’s Primary Industries Minister will send staff to Kangaroo Island to assess what timber stocks can be salvaged in the wake of a company’s “crazy” decision to burn thousands of hectares of plantation forests – a move prompted by the Planning Minister axing its proposed timber port.
Kangaroo Island Plantation Timbers says that thousands of hectares of its forests will be felled, piled and burned and the company will walk away from the industry following the State Government’s decision to reject its plans for a port on the island’s north coast.
State Planning Minister Vickie Chapman has rejected plans by Kangaroo Island Plantation Timber to build a $40m port at the island’s Smith Bay, despite her department recommending that the project, which has longstanding Major Development status, could be approved.
In part three of InDaily’s special report on the national timber shortage, thousands of tonnes of structural grade timber is ready to be shipped to sawmills from Kangaroo Island but transport issues and high costs are hampering efforts.