The south west of Western Australia provides the perfect climate and soils for timber growth, but aspects of this industry such as pulping and logging have seen that this industry hasn’t always enjoyed the best of reputations.
In 1992 groups from the State Government, the timber industry itself and community farmers came together to formulate a strategy to overcome this and an initiative called Timber 2020 was promulgated.
Timber 2020 has redesigned the timber industry on two fronts. Firstly by establishing a series of plantations on already cleared farm land, dotted around the region planted with renewable Blue Gums which provides the industry with the timber it requires and secondly it has established an on the job training centre to train workers in the industry.
Albany as a regional centre is reaping the benefits of this forward thinking strategy by way of increased job opportunities for locals and existing business owners are also tapping into the timber industries needs by providing services to the Timber 2020 initiative.
We talk to Steve and Helen Catts who have one such business benefiting from Timber 2020 and we also look at Great Southern Plantations Redmond Plantation where the training centre is based.
