Forestry based industries

The main areas of forest production are the northeast and southeast parts of the Murray-Darling Basin. Forestry based industries produce wood, wood products and furniture and paper and paper products. Sawmills are found in many communities, but the other activities are much more localised, being dependent on both native hardwood forests and softwood plantations. CSR is one of Australia’s largest sawmiller and producer of sawn softwood timber located in Tumut and Australia’s largest newsprint mill is located at Albury, using timber from Pinus radiata plantations in the region and recycled paper.

However it should be noted that most of the Basin’s native forests and woodlands are in national parks and other reserves and are not available for production purposes.

Photo: MDA

Content sourced from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission Resources Book by Peter Crab