2007/08 AVONGRO Committee and independant advisors

 

Some new AVONGRO committee members were elected at the 2007 AGM held in Northam in September 2007. The current committee are:

Ian Hall (farmer) - Chair

Roger Underwood (consultant and forester) - Vice Chair

Helen Job (Southern Brook Catchment Goup and brushwood industry representative)

Peter Harding (CY O'Connor TAFE)

Paul Brennan (Forest Products Commission)

Simon Dawkins (Oil Mallee Company and Oil Mallee Association)

Independant advisors, representatives from:

Department of Agriculture and Food WA

Avon Catchment Council

Department of Environment and Conservation

Department of Water (Prue Dufty)

Minutes of the 2007 AGM

 

Brushwood Industry Development Plan

Funds have been granted by the Wheatbelt Development Commission for a Brushwood Industry Development Plan. Key Stakeholders will be invited to contribute and guide the development of this fledgling industry.

 

 

Review of the Avon River Basin Tree Crops Development Strategy

The Strategy, developed in 2003, that has guided tree crop development, investment and AVONGRO activities is in need of updating. Some activities have been completed, new developments need to be included, national objectives for Private Forestry Development Committees need to be incorporated. AVONGRO is fortunate in that we have recieved funding from Lotterywest to conduct a review of the Strategy over the next twelve months. Key Stakeholders will once again be invited to contribute to the direction of tree cropping and investment in the Avon. Please contact AVONGRO if you would like to contribute to the review. Contact Us

AVONGRO would like to acknowledge funding from Lotterywest which is funding this review.

(www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au)

 

 

Bioenergy in the Avon Case Studies - the report and presentations from the Fourm held in August 2007 can be found at:

Bioenergy

AVONGRO would like to acknowledge funding from the Western Australian Sustainable Energy Development Office for funding the Report.

 

 

Research Into Direct Seeding

The number of plants that are required for any tree crop to be truly commercial is huge - many millions of any one species will be needed to ensure a continuous volume of resource to supply most new industries based on tree crops in the Avon.

Current establishment with seedlings is reliable but costly. To supplement nursery grown seedling numbers, direct seeding techniques need to be developed to significantly increase the area of land that can be planted. Dr Geoff Woodall (Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, Albany) will be trialing a variety of direct seeding methods and AVONGRO has been fortunate in securing funding from Lotterywest to contribute to his project. Hopefully Geoff's work will result in a more cost effective way to establish vast areas of commercial and biodiversity plantings in a range of conditions.

AVONGRO would like to acknowledge funding from Lotterywest which is contributing to this research.

(www.lotterywest.wa.gov.au)

 

 

 

Revegetation As Carbon Sinks

In early February 2006, a short series of workshops and information sessions were held in Western Australia by the Australian Greenhouse Office, an international lawyer specialising in carbon legislation and other experts in this emerging field.

There is enormous interest in carbon sequestration using revegetation with either biodiversity plantings or planting of commercial species. Some of the key points that came out of the sessions were that .... Download Report >

 

 

Become an AVONGRO Member . . .

... to keep up to date with the exciting developments happening in the tree cropping industry. Join Now >

 

Submit Your News . . .

If you have news regarding the tree cropping industry send it to mdurcan@iinet.net.au and if suitable we will post it on our site.

 

If the information you are looking for can not be found on our website please contact AVONGRO directly on (+61) 08 9291 8249 or mdurcan@iinet.net.au to request this information.

If you have articles relevant to the tree crop industry and would like to add them to the AVONGRO website please email them in PDF format to mdurcan@iinet.net.au.