Bushfires ‘cost timber industry $500m’
Bushfires ‘cost timber industry $500m’
7 April 2009
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — The chief executive officer of VicForests, David Pollard, says bushfires have cost the industry $500 million.
Mr Pollard has been in East Gippsland, in south-east Victoria, to visit the site of the ongoing anti-logging protests.
He says the recent Black Saturday bushfires have further shaken up the industry, after years of decline in customer numbers and timber cuts.
Mr Pollard says three “mega fires” in the past six years in Victoria means forest management must be more closely scrutinised.
“We have lost something like half a billion dollars in delivered value, and we will over the next few months, together with the Department of Sustainability and Environment … to revisit our forward estimates of timber production, to ensure that the way we do it remains fully sustainable for the indefinite future,” he said.
