Wagga MP Joe McGirr has said the Snowy Valleys timber industry faces a "lean period" despite being able to make better use of bushfire-damaged trees than first thought.
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The truck carrying salvaged burnt logs from the 'Black Summer' bushfires was waved into the Hyne Timber mill at Tumbarumba on Tuesday morning.
A 15-month salvage harvesting has seen over 1.6 million burnt plantation pine logs processed at the Hyne Mill alone.
The salvage operation to remove burnt bark and turn the logs into quality timber has kept one of the region's key industries going after the Dunns Road Bushfire destroyed about 40 per cent of Snowy Valleys' timber plantations.
"We've actually had four or five months longer in salvage than some people thought was possible, we've been lucky, and it's a great tribute to all those involved," Dr McGirr said.
"Obviously, we are now going to face a decreased supply of wood and for the timber industry it's going to be a lean period, there's no question about that, for some years but it still has a future.
"The important thing for them is the replanting process and the retooling of the factories and the mills so that they can maximise wood use from the wood that they do get and I understand that is going on at the moment."
Hyne at Tumbarumba has processed 75.5 million linear metres of timber from salvaged logs, which is enough to almost wrap around the world twice.
Hyne chief executive Jon Kleinschmidt said the last log truck marked the end of a historic event of collaboration and incredibly hard work.
"To still be accepting burnt log 15 months after the fires has completely exceeded industry expectations of three to six months," he said
"We have been able to maintain the mill's capacity and supply of locally grown timber throughout the high demand we have experienced for which we thank the Morrison government's Home Builder stimulus.
"The efforts of all involved from the growers, the harvesting crews, the haulers, the staff here at the Tumbarumba Mill and our by-product customers has been remarkable and deserves to be celebrated."
Mr Kleinschmidt said the hard work by the team at the Tumbarumba mill had been "coupled with the uncertainty of the future".
"Not only do we celebrate this unprecedented achievement, but we have been able to work with suppliers to source some logs from further afield, securing jobs here on site which is welcome news for our team and the community of Tumbarumba," he said.
"Further, we currently have several job vacancies and encourage people to consider joining our resilient business, industry and commitment to the supply of quality, Aussie timber for our construction sector."
Dr McGirr said the Snowy Valleys faced years of waiting for the plantations to regrow but in the meantime there would hopefully be new jobs available with the Snowy 2.0 hydroelectric scheme expansion.
"The good news for Snowy Valleys is that Snowy Hydro will pick up and provide a lot of jobs as that expands and secondly I know that they have applied for funding for a number of projects in improve tourism and I think diversifying the economy is an important strategy," Dr McGirr said.
The NSW and federal government provided millions of dollars in grants to help multiple timber industry businesses in the Snowy Valleys recover from the bushfire.
Forestry Corporation of NSW regional manager Dean Anderson said it was good to see that much of the damaged pine plantation was salvaged despite the bushfire's devastation.
"Over 45,000 hectares of pine plantations were impacted by fires in the local area, which is just under 40 per cent of the area planted. More than half of the area affected by fire was too young to salvage and our focus has been on getting all the trees older than 19 years old and as much as possible of those older than 12," he said.
"Thanks to the significant cooperation of our customers and contractors we have managed to just about achieve this, except for a few steep areas, salvaging over 2.7 million tonnes in the Tumut and Tumbarumba region."
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