Timber continued

Piles of Mountain Ash awaiting Transport Photographer - Ross Field

By the 1920s, timber companies were beginning to use steam powered winches, which made the timber in the steep ash forests accessible and millable. The reconditioning process with steam heating restored the timber's original shape and removed all stresses, making the Mountain Ash probably the most important forest tree in Victoria. Technology developed to improve the harvest yield: impressive aerial cable or skyline systems dragged or lifted logs across valleys to the mill; and tractors and new milling processes made the job easier. The ash forests were clearfelled, initially for economic reasons and then because it was argued that the forest had most chance of regenerating if this policy was followed.

Axeman Climbing Source - Department of Natural Resources

It was a dangerous industry, requiring strength and bravery. Photographs and film show men sawing the tops off trees, linked to the ground only by a thin rope; climbers 'walking' up tall trees, and logs twisting in the air as they were winched across valleys. Accidents in saw mills were common, and many men lost fingers or whole hands. The industry was crippled by a strike of timber workers in 1929 and the collapse of demand for building timber during the Depression. Stockpiled timbers were washed away when the Yarra flooded in 1934; and many mills and their communities were destroyed in the 1939 bushfire. During the 1940s, much of the burnt timber was successfully salvaged, and then the emphasis turned to the exploitation of the re-growth forests.

Clear felled logging site which has been burned to encourage regeneration Photographer - Ross Field

Foresters undertook research on whether the ash forests could regenerate without fire. Botanists showed that tall forests need a catastrophe to survive, and that fire, light and forest-floor disturbance are all required for ash regeneration. The rise of the conservation movement in apparent opposition to the values of foresters has created a new dilemma for forest managers, and brought to the fore new questions about the effect of tree management policies on the ecology of the whole forest, including its fauna.

Modern technology makes timber work much safer. This mechanical harvester fells the tree then takes off the bark in an efficient process (shown here operating in Alpine Ash forest). Source - Department of Natural Resources and Environment