Mining Timber To Be Supplied From Granville Forest

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 June 1948, Page 4

Mining Timber To Be Supplied From Granville Forest

The beech forest in the GranvilleWaipuna district, which is now being “managed" by the State Forest Service, will shortly become an important source of mining timber for West Coast mines. The silvicultural operations conducted in connection with the Granville project have already resulted in small stocks of mining timber' being produced and as the work of thinning the natural beech forest proceeds.- the quality available will increase. No definite instructions have yet been issued regarding the disposal of the mining timber from the managed forest, but it is expected that it will be sold “at the roadside”, to the contractors now supplying .mining timber to the mines in the district. . Some classes of mining timber, principally heavy pieces, are not in good supply and it is expected that the contractors will welcome the extra quantity made available at Granville. ] Sale to Contractors | Ultimately, it is expected, this area will supply a fair proportion of min-j ing timber needed in the district, but it is not proposed that the State Forest Service should supply .the mines direct. It is more likely that the timber will be sold to the timber contractors at a fixed point on the roadside, at a price which will give them a sufficient margin. The proceeds will be used as an offset against the general cost of the management, of the forest. From an early date, it is considered that the Granville output will enable the timber contractors in the district to supplement their own output and whoever is successful in obtaining the rights to the State-produced timber will have a permanent source of timber, upon which he can rely. There are now 12 men employed in the nursery at Totara Flat and in the forest management at Granville. A big RD 8 tractor was recently added to the mechanical equipment at the station and has resulted in faster progress being made with road formation and the cutting of fire breaks in the forest. Sixty chains of road was recently formed at Granville, and in connection with the silvicultural operations at Waipuna almost two miles of road was reconditioned. Exotic Plantings Apart from the management of the indigenous beech forest, good progress is being made with the planting of exotics in the Granville area. Last season 190 acres were planted and it is expected that another 120 acres will be covered this year. Actually, the programme calls for the planting of 100 acres a year, but the growth of the young trees in the Totara Flat nursery last year was so rapid that planting-out operations had to be speeded up. The growth in ; the area has been excellent, particu- ' larly in the case of macrocarpa. ,