Published 30 July, 2010

Local landholders interested in farm forestry opportunities are being encouraged to take part in an interview with researchers who are looking at the viability of a bio energy industry based around plantation biomass in the Central Tablelands region.

The collaborative research project involves the University of NSW, Sydney University, the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute, Catchment Management Authorities and Local Councils.

Researchers for first phase of the project are planning to consult widely with landholders, community groups, government agencies and the forestry and energy sectors to work out what options might be viable, what barriers exist and what measures would be needed to make commercial farm forestry viable in the Central Tablelands.

The one hour interviews will take place in the Mudgee area August 30th and 31st.  Researchers hope to learn from landholders who have previous experience with farm forestry, as well as from those who have established trees for their ecological services such as salinity mitigation, erosion control and micro climate impacts.

An open forum on Wednesday September 1st will present key themes and results for people who participate in the interviews.
The information from these interviews will feed into a much bigger project (involving the CSIRO and NSW Industry & Investment amongst other partners) which plans to use the Central Tablelands as a case study area for the development of a bio energy industry.
Landholders who take part in the August interviews have an opportunity to voice their opinions on the potential for such an industry, to guide its development and to get in on the ground level if such an industry proves to be viable.

Participating landholders will also have the opportunity to take part in workshops early 2011 which will focus on commercial aspects of developing a bio energy industry in our region.

Please contact Thea at Watershed Landcare if you are interested in taking part.

About bio energy:

Bio energy is a renewable energy derived from biomass – eg. Timber, that accounts for the majority of renewable energy consumption (almost 5% primary energy consumption compared to only 0.3% of wind and solar combined).

For example, Delta Electricity (who run nearby power station Wallerawang) are running a trial of “renewable fuel pellets” (derived from Mallee timber) to supplement coal by up to 20%. They have initiated tree planting projects for feedstocks in the Forbes district (source www.dpi.nsw.gov.au)